ONE of the advantages of a classical Scots education is, those of us schooled north of the Solway, who sat O Grades and Highers, rather than O and A Levels are aware that England and Great Britain or the United Kingdom are separate entities.
This fact is often lost on our Sassenach neighbours, who seem to have immense difficulty figuring out where England ends and Great Britain begins. Even Shakespeare, arguably England's greatest man of letters thought England was "a sceptred isle", rather than one of three distinct parts of said island.
This England/Britain thing is currently to be seen in regard to the presence of "British" football teams at the forthcoming 2012 London Olympiad. We have all seen the political machinations regarding this team, which eventually brought the compromise, whereby the "British" football teams, men's and women's in action in 2012 will be English teams, playing under the GB banner.
The compromise which brought this team into being is designed to ensure the independence of the four United Kingdom football associations is recognised by FIFA, while allowing the British Olympic Association to field football teams.
Fair enough, the negotiations were long and at times fraught. but, in the end London got what it wanted - a "British" football team at their Olympics, while the independence of the Irish, Scottish and Welsh FA's was recognised.
But, were the English happy? Apparently not, for, while we up here have been navel-gazing and debating whether we should have a 10, 12, 14 or 16-club SPL, down south, the sports pages are buzzing with stories that factions within the FA, who are football's representatives within the BOA, not to mention non-football people within the BOA itself, are suggesting that individual Irish, Scottish and Welsh footballers should be approached to put themselves forward for selection in 2012 - to ensure a proper British football team.
Given that Allan McGregor and Craig Gordon of Scotland are arguably Britain's top two goalkeepers at present, while Welshman Gareth Bale has been the stand-out British player in the English Premiership this season and given further than Bale plays for a London club, Spurs, who are keen to move into the Olympic Stadium once the Games close - pressure will surely be exerted to ignore their 0wn FAs and make themselves available for the 2012 team.
Given further, the way club football apparently trumps international football in this country just now, it is not beyond he realms of possibility that one or more player from the three Celtic nations will break ranks and declare him or herself willing to pull on a Great Britain strip in 2012.
Such a move will be manna from heaven to the likes of the odious Jack Warner and his acolytes, that faction within FIFA determined to see the four British FAs cut-back to a single British FA. With Mr Warner no doubt thinking he is the perfect man to claim one of the three British places on IFAB, the supreme law-making body in football, which would become surplus if the four "Home Nations" were to become one Home Nation.
This cannot be allowed to happen. But, the trouble is, while the English would surely make all the right noises about, how sorry they were that, after the success of the Great Britain team at 2012, it was inevitable that there should only be one British team playing in the World Cup, the European Championships and so forth and this British team HAS to be English-dominated.
They would surely be outraged that FIFA had gone back on its solemn promise to respect the independence of the four Home Nations, but, after all, the FIFA guys who have decided that four should be one, thereby breaking their promise of continued independence for all four, are the same guys who promised "the future King of England" that England would host the 2018 World Cup.
Should, as a result of one or more individual Irish, Scottish or Welsh players caving-in to English "come and join us" blandishments, a "British" team be legitimised and the nightmare scenario of FIFA declaring that henceforth the (English) FA, IFA, SFA and FAW would be no more and a single GBFA would run the game in these islands, then the English would surely, since they cannot distinguish between England and Great Britain, think they'd be running things.
Then, it would be up to the three "Celtic" nations to stand together and put as many spanners in the English works as they possibly could. Stopping the English FA steamroller will be difficult, but, for the sake of Scottish and Irish and Welsh football, stopped it must be.
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