EMDEE wrote:Not being a football fan ... does the above discussion imply that if there was a unified Team GB in the World Cup, would Scotland, and indeed England (let’s not forget Wales), be able to get a better result?
Whether in hockey, cycling, rowing, waterpolo - or even football - the best teams are the ones that train together, work for each other, play to a commonly understood method and game-plan – often one that has been practised, almost
ad nauseum. Our rowing and cycling teams famously did exactly that. Likewise Argentina in Olympics football.
So, a GB football team would be unlikely to perform – in practice – to its theoretical potential. It is like pipe bands too, EMDEE. You will be familiar with a well-known Grade 1 band that, when it formed in the late 1980s/ early 1990s, comprised mainly prize-winning solo pipers. That did not make them a great band – a good one, yes, but not as good as it looked on paper. They certainly did not sweep the boards in the early days, and only made a decent impact when they had been playing together for a few years.
I think that the need to enter a GB football team is something of a distraction. Football generates only two medals, while swimming had 46, track and field 47, and gymnastics 51 (approximate numbers ... from memory ... before anyone corrects me
). I can see the
symbolic importance of entering a team in 2012 because as the host nation we can enter for
everything, as I understand it. So even our basketball team (did one go to China?) can put in an appearance – great for the experience, but not much chance of a medal, I would guess.
The idea to have a play-off / tournament among England, Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales international football teams - with the winner representing GB - has a lot to commend it, in my view, if we really want a GB team. I reckon that
any one of the home nations would probably do better anyway than a group of players from
all the home countries, brought together
solely for the London Olympics ...
British Power, we could call them
.