Imagine a year where a group of the best players in the world were told to avoid representing their country at the Summer Olympics.
That’s exactly what’s happening in Great Britain.
Okay, so we all know that sort of happened with USA Basketball. At the same time, however, the players got over the fact that they might get hurt playing and showed the world in Beijing why we’re still the best basketball country in the world.
The Dream Team cleaned house.
But in soccer, this is different. The players aren’t worried about getting hurt, or not getting paid for their efforts. In fact, every one of them is used it.
Instead, the respective soccer federations for Scotland, Northern Ireland and Wales are actively discouraging their players from playing for Team Great Britain at the 2012 Olympics in London.
As far as I know, this is the only sport where this is a problem. There were Scots who represented Britain at the Winter Olympics. And according to Wikipedia at least, athletes from all four nations (England, Wales, Northern Ireland and Scotland are all technically equal sovereign nations united as Great Britain) competed during the 2008 Summer Olympics.
So why the problem with soccer?
First of all, soccer is the be-all, end-all. It’s easily the national sport of all four nations. Also, all four nations have soccer federations that are run by old geezers who have been around for years. Four separate teams are all they’ve ever known. Every four years, separate teams from England, Wales, Northern Ireland and Scotland compete for spots in the Euro and the FIFA World Cup, despite the fact that England is typically the only team that ever qualifies.
Soccer is the one sport where the rifts that separate the four still run very deep.
But I have to ask.
Are they really that childish?
Having the Summer Olympics on a country’s soil is an honor, and Great Britain has the chance to host them. That chance may not come around again for 100 years.
And despite the fact that the soccer tournament at the Olympics is a distant second to the world cup, this is a chance to unite your country in a way that has never before been attempted.
Can you imagine Scots and Welshmen celebrating and hugging each other after goal scored by Gareth Bale that was set up by Charlie Adam? Or a group of Northern Irish going berserk when Joe Hart makes a diving save during a sudden death shootout?
It’d be unheard of. It’d be amazing. It’d be one of the greatest feel-good stories in sports history if a united Great Britain team won.
These guys are missing out on what could be an amazing success story.
Of course, as in everything, there are some politics behind this. According to an article in the Monday edition of The New York Times, the true problems lie with FIFA. The worry is that FIFA may see any success with Team Great Britain as a chance to force the four nations — who are currently recognized as separate — together.
This would mean that the four seats of power in FIFA would become one.
And while this seems like a long shot, FIFA has displayed some loose cannon tendencies lately. Anything is possible.
But still, not all players are opposed to a united team. And although there is some risk involved, the payoff of a united GB team could be off the charts.
They need to do this, and do it right.
Because a soccer tournament in Great Britain without a British team would be a travesty.
Reach the columnist at egrasser@asu.edu
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