Don't worry - it's not going to happen (U.K. Football Team)

Member Name: grahamp3

Product:	U.K. Football Team
Date:	22/09/01 (7 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: British team could enter olympics, Robbie Savage could end up playing in the World Cup (ha!), 1% more chance of winning World Cup

Disadvantages: who cares about the olympics?, leads to regional fury!, political meddling

This hairy old chestnut raises its head whenever some attention seeking politician fancies seeing his or her name in the papers.

It's also used by British football authorities as an excuse never to send a united team to the Olympics. The real reason is that the fans wouldn't go for it, the players aren't interested and the clubs would definitely fight against it, as fixture lists are already too crowded and they don't want players disappearing to compete in the relatively small-time Olympic football competition.

More importantly, a UK team wouldn't ignite the passions that following the individual nations do, but would fuel resentment and indifference.

This leaves aside the question of whether a united team would actually fare any better than England. Even for selfish footballing reasons, combining the countries' resources wouldn't give the UK a better chance of lifting a major trophy.

Dream on FIFA, dream on know nothing politicians, and don't worry Scotland, you'll never have to cheer on a team of eleven sassenachs under the union flag!

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