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Why Great Britain entering a football team in the Olympics for the first time in 52 years is a good thing.

Jack Rodwell modeling the Team GB football shirt.

For too long, 52 years to be precise, the Great British Olympic committee has overlooked entering a football team into the Olympic games. The main reason for this has always been to protect the independent footballing identities of the four Home Nations, as England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland all compete as individual nations in FIFA competitions. Since all four countries have failed to win anything between them since England’s World Cup triumph in 1966, surely we would all stand a better chance of winning something if we combined our talents in one united Great British team?


The Scottish, Northern Irish and Welsh FA’s put their foot down and refused their players to be involved in the Olympic team, however, they have no objections to England making up the team with their own players.


England fans have always found it bitterly disappointing and somewhat unfair that Ryan Giggs is Welsh and unable to play for England, and then when Gareth Bale emerged as one of the brightest young talents in the Premier League, the frustration escalated. What might have been if those two had been English?


Unfortunately for the Welsh FA, the lure of being involved in the Olympics has proved irresistible to Wales’ finest talent, including Bale, their captain Aaron Ramsey and the experienced Craig Bellamy. Giggs, having retired from international football, is on Team GB manager Stuart Pearce’s radar to link up with his former Manchester United teammate, David Beckham.


It would be a great shame if Bale and Ramsey were denied the chance to represent Great Britain in the Olympics. It is every sportsman’s dream to be involved in the pinnacle of sporting events and have the chance to win a gold medal and for the Welsh FA to stand firm and not allow their players to participate would be a huge blow to their professional careers.


The Olympic rules state the football teams must feature players below the age of 23, with the exception of three experienced heads. It is essentially a youth tournament with the luxury of adding accomplished players into the mix, Giggs, Becks and Rooney perhaps? The new wave of young English talent in the Premier League, combined with the possibility of adding the best young players from the home nations, means Team GB will have a squad worthy of a podium finish. As a collective, this is our big chance to win a tournament.

Going For Gold

The top Team GB athletes to look out for in London


It has been 64 years since the Olympics last turned up in London and after bidding for the games for the last 20 years, it is back for its third showing. In 1948, Great Britain managed a total of 23 medals, finishing in a miserable 12th place in the overall standings. Team GB’s hopefuls will aim to prevent history from repeating itself in front of the home crowd.

Great Britain’s biggest hope for a gold medal lye with Jessica Ennis, the former World and European champion. Ennis didn’t have to wait long for her first medal as a senior athlete, when she picked up a bronze medal in her first major championships at the Melbourne Commonwealth Games in 2006. The bright new talent of Ennis continued to shine through at the 2009 World Championships in Berlin, when she became the World Champion and she added to her glory by winning gold in the World Indoor Pentathlon and European Championship in 2010. Ennis has been at the centre of attention throughout the build up to the London games and with her impressive CV, we hope that she also turns up with her world beating form.


The African dominance in Olympic long distance running is under threat, as Mo Farrah has been causing a stir in Europe. The man who was born in Somalia, but now a Londoner, will be hoping to impress his home fans when the Olympic games arrives on his doorstep. Farrah impressed in the European Championships when he took it by storm, winning the 5,000 metres and 10,000 metres event. We’ll all be hoping he can take his current form into the Olympics and bag Great Britain some golds.


Just like Team GB’s football team, the dynamic duo of Pete Waterfield and Tom Daley combines experience and youth. With his old partner, Leon Taylor, Waterfield won silver in the 10-metre event at the Athens Olympics and his decision to pair up with the extremely talented Daley has already proven to be a success. The second event they competed in together saw them defeat the lethal partnership of Cao Yuan and Zhang Yanquang. Finishing in front of the Chinese pair doesn’t happen often and when competing against them, most divers think of silver as gold. Waterfield and Daley have a natural synchronization and when it usually takes years to perfect timings, the British hopefuls look a real contender for a podium finish already.