THERE IS a good-going argument in progress on the Scotsman's website: www.scotsman.com this morning, on the subject of the BOA's Olympic football team. With Stewart Pearce allegedly saddened and unable to fathom the SFA's stance on the matter. I am sorry to return again to this subject, but, it really is serious and yes, the future of Scotland as an independent footballing nation probably is at stake.
So, who is (as I see it) doing well and who is doing badly out of all this.
The FA is doing well (up to a point to which I will return later) - they control football in this country as far as the Olympics is concerned; they are still the only voice football has on the BOA, so, the FA's blazers will get their plush seats and prawn sandwiches at the Games.
Stewart Pearce and Hope Powell are (for the moment) doing well: they've got the coaching gigs and, in Pearce's case, if the team gets amongst the medals, he becomes a credible alternative to "Our 'Arry" as Capello's replacement.
David Beckham is doing well: he has all but been guaranteed the captaincy of the Men's squad and, if they get among the medals, as an OBE he will be bumped up to at least CBE, more-likely KB as Sir David Beckham.
The BOA is doing well: they didn't like the "England as Team GB" option agreed by the four FAs, and forced the FA to renage on that and publish a UK-wide long list; this will have repercussions further down the line too.
Any England Under-21 player with a Championship club who shines at the Games will do well; he'll be in the shop window during the transfer window and could get a mega-move out of it.
Who isn't doing well?
The three "Celtic" FA's. They have shown their lack of professionalism by having been unable to force the FA to accept the compromise of the "England as Team GB" option.
They compounded their folly by not pulling-up the BOA; they should have pointed out to that body that FIFA rules prohibit the FA from selecting Northern Irish, Scottish or Welsh players without the permission of the IFA, SFA or FAW. Had they done that when the BOA insisted on an all-UK team, the row would have been defused.
Once the BOA and the FA ignored them, they ought to have been straight on to the Court for Arbitration in Sport in Switzerland - the CAS would surely have found for them.
The FAW and SFA have further compounded their folly by, while refusing to sanction the use of Welsh and Scottish players, happily agreeing to host games in Cardiff and Hampden. That's like going on a diet but refusing to give up chocolate cake.
Those Scottish players who opt to play are risking not doing well. The wilder elements in the Tartan Army will pounce on every mistake made in any post-Olympics matches, while some of the wilder elements within the SFA may well pressurise Craig Levein not to pick them.
In particular, Stephen Fletcher isn't doing well. Should he play in the Olympics, then, probably following Craig Levein's departure, end his Scotland exile - he will get a terrible time from the Tartan Army, unless he scores the winner against England.
Stewart Regan isn't doing well. Some of his pronouncements have been naive and foolish in the extreme. The future of his organisation might be at stake here - he ought to be getting tough with England.
Then, there is where the FA has, I feel, been short-sighted. They seem to be working under the illusion that, should the forces within FIFA who hate the idea of four separate FAs within the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland and who want - instead of the FA, the FAW, the IFA and the SFA having separate powers - football in this country controlled by a single UKFA: then that new UKFA would simply be the FA, with the other three added-on.
They ought to remember, the four Home Nations are entitled to have one FIFA vice president, that role could go; but, more importantly, almost always, that vice president IS NOT ENGLISH, because the three Celtic FA's gang-up on the English. They got their man in after John MacBeth made his badly-timed press statement about corruption within FIFA - their man was so gash, the other three got rid of him at the first chance.
IF a new UKFA has to be formed, the HQ might well be in London, but I think you would find the top jobs would go to Scotsmen, Northern Irishmen and Welshmen, as pay-back for English arrogance and self-interest, which has kicked-off during the lead-up to these Olympics.
I don't in all honesty see UEFA allowing their four longest-established members to vanish to be replaced by a single new member, who would be another big beast, so loss of independence is highly-unlikely - however, we should never say never.
I feel the real prize for FIFA is to get hold of three of the four places on IFAB, the International Football Associations Board - the body which does little other than tinker with the Laws of the Game.
This is a prize which the Home Nations have, but have neglected. They rarely speak with one voice at IFAB, if they did, they could make a start on sorting-out the mess which is the Laws of the Game as currently promulgated and the way these Laws are interpreted; they could be a genuine force for good in the game.
The FA/BOA stance on the 2012 football squads truly threatens that as yet under-used ability to influence and that is something worth fighting for.
The first battle is for an acceptable compromise to heal the Olympic selection wounds.
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