Thetownend.com

What do you guys make of this?

Interesting to see that ginger nob from Sellick saying it shouldn't be called Team GB as there are no Scots in it. What a fud!

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/olympic_games/8072981.stm

 The sooner we rid ourselves of the cash drain that is Scotland, Wales and N Ireland  the better.

Typical Sweaties never happy. We should let them have independence then we'd all be happy

It is a British team though. It will be a team representing the UK, selected from every eligible and available British player. If the SFA etc want to prevent their players from being eligible/available then that's up to them. It's still 'Team GB'

It's either British or UK r4e

Why was it deemed necessary to rebrand Great Britain as "Team GB" for olympic purposes?

Its Gay. end of.

Well this is all part of Gordons cunning plan to make everyone feel more British.

To out gay the Americans.

I don't mind a Great British football team. Who cares if the Sweatie, Taffs and Paddys aren't included, less arguments that way. Think if they were involved, we wouldn't be able to play our strongest team because we'd have to include their players too, for political reasons. Now we can pick the best 11.

Not that football should be in the  Olympics mind.

Ok I realise the difference, but the team represents the UK, and is called Team GB, so it's their fault not mine!

Surely its because official Olympic official stuff has us down simply as Great Britain. As in nationality : British.

Edit: apparently the IOC does govern the entirety of Ireland and Northern Irelandish (sic) athletes can chose who they can compete for, us (GB) or them..

There are a great number of smaller associations, particularly in the Caribbean, who would like to see the four home nations having to compete as a single team.  That riles me a little.  The game would not exist in its current form were it not for the UK.  We have more football history here than those places could even dream of having.  I can completely understand the SFA being wary of losing their status.

The compromise is a bit of a fudge, as compromsises often are.  But it works, more or less.

Better chance of winning with the minnows not included anyway.

The season starts during the Olympics does it not? It also comes after the European Championships.

Who the hell is going to want to play in this? Stick England C or British Universities in and move on.

There's no need for football to be at the Olympics period.

England and Scotland are the original international football teams. If trinidad and tobago or Jamaica dont like it..... then fuck off!

Why dont they just enter a womans team? No one gives a shit anyway. 

The whole idea of getting the four home nations to compete in football as one (ie GB) is complete and utter bollocks and would never happen. I doubt many other countries would want it, all it would do is strengthen the England team - its not as if any of the other nations are a threat to anyone (how often do they qualify for tournaments).

The knock on effects would be horrendous and no one would want to go there. With it being the national sport it would have implications for the independence of the other nations. Can you see FIFA wanting to get involved with the Scottish independence debate, let alone Northern Ireland? What would happen if we had to compete as one nation and then Scotland gained independence?

It would also mean a single FA and single league structure. Cue law suits left right and centre from clubs, the FA's, the leagues, broadcasters and so on. It would be a massive mess that would be in the court system for years.

As regards only England players being selected, is it really that big a deal? I doubt many players from the other nations would have been selected anyway if it was done purely on ability. How many of their senior players would make the full England squad?

Football should not be an Olympic sport for the simple reason that winning the Olympic Gold medal in football is not the pinnacle of the sport, in fact it means fuck all.

Get rid of it - now.

Please also get rid of anything where judges make a score based on their opinion (any non-boolean decision).

Jonathan is not happy........again.  ::)

I agree. The olympics doesn't need football and football needs the olympics even less.

Look on your passport: "United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland"

A GB team would not include N. Ireland, and would therefore not represent the whole of the UK.

OK, I have confused myself now. I may well be talking out of my arse.

Are you saying Northern Ireland is part of the UK but not part of Britain?

I think that's it DRS, that's what it say on my passport anyway and I'd take a passport as a reliable source.

I'm not DRS. I think the vast majority of protestant northern irelanders would consider themselves British even if the passports aren't the same. Not that I'm saying that fact alone makes it official.

You've said that before, and I've agreed with you before.  I agree now too...with every word.

That's correct.  It is also not a country, but a province.  Wales is a principality, England and Scotland are constituent countries.  And for what its worth, I'd happily have English independence, don't want a GB football team, enjoy a wide variety of cheese, ales, largers, porters and stouts.

Well said.
Team GB would be English anyway. There are no players in the other 3 countries that woudl get in Team GB should such an abomination exist. Maybe Giggsy a couple of years ago but no others. There should be no Team GB - end of. 

Go Team GB!!!

Scotland, Norn Iron and Wales have good individual players. England won a World Cup on the basis of a team that worked instead on the stereotypical 'Best XI'.

For gymnastics and stuff they should have difference seniority of judges. First judge decides if they deserve 1 point or not, second if they deserve 2 or not, third if they deserve 4 or not, forth if they deserve 8 or not and fifth if they deserve 16 or not.

Sorted.

Ben am I the one being thick or does your idea not make sense?

Maybe not to you and me, but in some countries the Olympic football tournament is up there with the World Cup.

Yeah countrys too shit at football to ever win or get anywhere near winning a world cup.

The Italians (15 times - 3 medals) and USA (14 times - 1 medal) have entered their teams the most.

Looking at the table of entries for mens football at the Olympics... It doesn't really support jonnys statement - except the Brazilians who do take it seriously, probably because it should be a medal (even they've failed to qualify in recent history)

At the end of the day professional footballs world competition is the world cup and it recognises that England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland are separate FAs and separate countries so all this preserve our independence malarkey seems like a load of shit the sweaties thought up, because they don’t want to be associated with us at all….Sepp Blatter has already encouraged a team at the Olympics and said that it wont have any impact on the four home nations being independent.

The Olympics, in which we compete under Great Britain, hosts a football tournament for teams with squads of under 23 with a couple of overage players allowed. This is completely separate and has absolutely fuck all to do with the world cup or how we run our home nations in professional football. The argument is about as valid as the British and Irish Lions jeopardising the independence of our Rugby Union sides.

The team should be picked on merit of the best players all four countries have to offer that our under 23….if you don’t want to play, pull out, simple as that. Give the job to a respected former manager who is perhaps finished but would entertain the idea of a one off job, someone like Sir Bobby Robson.

The problem certain people….mainly the Scottish, have, is that if a side is picked on merit, with no rules on a minimum number of players from each country, that the squad would be 90% english, but if the team was picked tomorrow there would be plenty of non-english contenders for the squad. I can’t think of a better under 23 British left back than Gareth Bale and I think Johnny Evans would be a serious contender for captain.

I didn't realise it was only under 23's.

In which case it could be a great thing as some fringe players will get international matches.