Britain Football Team?

[Ramseth]

Those who have been following football would know, that there's been no Britain football team since England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland joined FIFA separately more than half a century ago.

They've been mostly failures, and more frequently disastrous failures in FIFA World Cup competitions except for England 1966 and 1990. With London hosting Olympics 2012, Lord Sebastian Coe is trying to reform a Britain football team with Sir Alex Ferguson as coach. What do you think?

 

[Sideswipe]

I like to see a Great Britain football team.

Alex Ferguson as manager
The three over-aged players - David Beckham ( captain ), Ryan Giggs and Michael Owen - The 3 best British players over the last 15 years although by 2012, it's probably too late for Beckham and Giggs.

Does the host need to qualify?

 

[hungary fighter]

it would b chaotic.....the scots & irish hate england soccer players......there would b more in-fighting in the great britain soccer team.....

 

[Ramseth]

I like to see a Great Britain football team.

Alex Ferguson as manager
The three over-aged players - David Beckham ( captain ), Ryan Giggs and Michael Owen - The 3 best British players over the last 15 years although by 2012, it's probably too late for Beckham and Giggs.

Does the host need to qualify?

I think that by 2012, David Beckham and Ryan Giggs would be too overaged.

The hosts need not qualify, but have a field a Britain team, not an England team.

 

[fishcer]

I would not be soo overly enthusiastic about the chances of a Great Britain team. True, it would give them a wider base of players to choose from, but even then, how many world class players are there in Great Britain, and how many of them can actually perform on the international stage? In my humble opinion, its not about the quantity, but the quality. Alot has been said about the stagnation of the game in England, and i also do not see much promise from the rest of the UK countries. Its basically more brawn, kick and rush stuff in their leagues. Most of the great play come from the foreigners in the league. The best thing the UK countries can do is to look into the way they nurture young talents in their game, the coaching and teaching.

 

[jw5]

The whole team would be made up of english players.
Othan than Giggs who will be too old in 2012, can you think of any player from Scotland, Wales and Ireland who will get into the team?

 

[Ramseth]

it would b chaotic.....the scots & irish hate england soccer players......there would b more in-fighting in the great britain soccer team.....

English, Scottish and Welsh athletes have been competing a under Britain in the Olympics without problems. In fact, about a century ago, there was a Britain football team fielded in the Olympics and had won gold medal before. I understand that this Britain football team was disbanded after FAs of England and Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland decided to participate in the FIFA World Cup separately.

Anyway, the UK always have complicated representation when it comes to sports. In the Olympic Games, it's one single Britain contingent. In the FIFA World Cup, it's England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland separately. But not only in football, in the Commonwealth Games, it's England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland separately again.

 

[hughgrant]

lidat might as well include all the british colonies .. sure can win Gold

 

[fishcer]

The whole team would be made up of english players.
Othan than Giggs who will be too old in 2012, can you think of any player from Scotland, Wales and Ireland who will get into the team?

Well, Craig Gordon from Sunderland is a decent enough player, he's Scottish if i'm not wrong. Shay Given (Newcastle GK) from Ireland is not too bad either. Robbie Keane, though not a fantastic player (Irish by the way), i think is at least better then alot of the strikers in the English squad now (Dean Ashton , Emile Heskey ). Damien Duff of Ireland, if he is able to keep himself fit and injury free, is actually quite a good player also.

Midfield of Scots are mainly workhorses, so nothing eye-catching there. However, i like the attitude of the Scots when they are playing for their country. They really wear their jerseys with pride, and give 110% when playing, unlike the English, who don't seem to be really that bothered. Wales is really going through a pathetic period now, so nothing great there either.

 

[Ramseth]

The whole team would be made up of english players.
Othan than Giggs who will be too old in 2012, can you think of any player from Scotland, Wales and Ireland who will get into the team?

''


Forming a Britain football team is now a matter of necessity, not a matter of option. London is hosting Olympics 2012 and have automatic host qualification berth for the football event. However, it must field a Britain team as the IOC only recognise Britain, not England, Scotland or Wales separately. By the way, Ireland is an independent nation and not a "home nation" in the UK, the relationship being something like Singapore and the Federation of Malaysia.

I think there're some good Scottish players in top Scottish clubs like Rangers and Celtic. They always do well in the European Champions League. On the international level, Scotland, though missing qualifying for Euro 2008 by a whisker, have beaten France both home and away. Noticeably, England have also failed to qualify. So a combined Britain team may not be a bad idea after all.

 

[Sideswipe]

I think a Great Britain soccer team at Manchester 2012 is more a symbolic act than anything else.
soccer is their number 1 sport and most British would love to see their team playing at home in the Olympics.
think David Beckham by then 36 yrs old would still love to captain the Great Britain team.

why don't the British use the official name United Kingdom in sports - sound majestic and more exotic.

 

[hungary fighter]

lidat might as well include all the british colonies .. sure can win Gold

if they include spore soccer players in their team.....their performance would b from bad 2 disaster.....

 

[Ramseth]

lidat might as well include all the british colonies .. sure can win Gold

After the 1997 handover of HK to PRC, I don't think that there're any more colony of note left. Anyway, HK, Singapore etc. were also given their own Olympic representation when they were British colonies. Singapore's first Olympic medal was won as a British colony, not an independent country.

If by "colony" you mean countries like Australia, New Zealand, Canada etc. that have retained the British monarch as their head of state, they're politically independent nations now, just like Ireland, India, Malaysia, Singapore etc. Ireland broke off from Britain except for Northern Ireland.

Scotland is in a state of union with England and Wales is a principality of Britain. The Queen of England is also the Queen of Scotland, and the Crown Prince of England is also the Prince of Wales. That's why the official name of Britain is the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland.

 

[hungary fighter]

Robbie Keane, though not a fantastic player (Irish by the way).

robbie keane is from the republic of ireland which do not comes under the united kingdom.....they r a seperate nation.....

 

[fishcer]

robbie keane is from the republic of ireland which do not comes under the united kingdom.....they r a seperate nation.....

Oops...big blunder :o Apologies mate :p

 

[Maverick01]

The whole team would be made up of english players.
Othan than Giggs who will be too old in 2012, can you think of any player from Scotland, Wales and Ireland who will get into the team?

u very wrong ..wales youth damn solid now..two sure get in and within olympic age is gareth bale and aaron ramsey both welsh....now both around 17-18 yo only....while robbie keane from ireland can be overage player..he be 32 at 2012....scotland can have players like mcfadden...

 

[jw5]

Ok maverick, agree about Gareth Bale, I think he will develop into a great player.
Not so sure about Ramsey though, but must admit that I have only seen him play twice and for very short periods of time.

 

[Ramseth]

The golden period of British football was from 60s to early 70s, when most of the British talents are from and concentrated in England. The dark era was the mid 70s to early 80s, when British talents were more or less evenly distributed among England and Scotland. It's just happenstance and course of probability. In 1966, England didn't even need George Best to win the World Cup.

Imagine a British team in which Pat Jennings, Kevin Keegan, Bryan Robson, Kenny Dalglish, Graeme Souness, Ian Rush, Mark Hughes etc. can play together in the same team? It showed up at club level when Liverpool and Nottingham Forest dominated the European Championship those days without restriction of different "home" nationalities. But on the international level, the scattering of talents among the 4 "home" nations resulted in nothing except disappointments and disasters.

 

[hughgrant]

After the 1997 handover of HK to PRC, I don't think that there're any more colony of note left. Anyway, HK, Singapore etc. were also given their own Olympic representation when they were British colonies. Singapore's first Olympic medal was won as a British colony, not an independent country.

If by "colony" you mean countries like Australia, New Zealand, Canada etc. that have retained the British monarch as their head of state, they're politically independent nations now, just like Ireland, India, Malaysia, Singapore etc. Ireland broke off from Britain except for Northern Ireland.

Scotland is in a state of union with England and Wales is a principality of Britain. The Queen of England is also the Queen of Scotland, and the Crown Prince of England is also the Prince of Wales. That's why the official name of Britain is the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland.

Wa bro yr history damn solid. Nice!
for me, my knowledge is rudimentary

 

[Nomad]

they dun participate in the Olympic Football Tournment,
coz at the Olympic,they enter as Great Britain - England,Scotland,Wales and Northern Ireland.
previously,if they want to enter the football tournment in the Olympic,they must also enter as one single team under Great Britain.
so if for Olympic,they can enter only one united team,then FIFA will also ask them to enter one unify team for the World Cup.

but in the next Olympic - 2012 at London,UK...the 4 nations have agreed to enter a single unify team after getting assurance from FIFA that they still can maintain entering 4 individual team,they decide to enter it on their home soil.