EDITOR'S NOTE:- This blog will be making no further comment on the on-going case of I can't Believe It's Not Rangers, until such times as there is a new development worth commenting upon. Thank you.
TO other matters - the Olympic football tournament and last night's Team GB v Senegal match.
I saw the Senegal equaliser coming long before it did, for the simple fact that this whole Team GB football effort has been a nonsense since it was first mooted. The great Doug Gillon, British journalism's go-to man when it comes to the Olympics - no he didn't get the first post-race comment from yon Greek shepherd after he won the 1896 marathon, but he's seen more Olympics than most - told Colin, now Lord Moynihan back when London won the games, putting-up a football squad was a case of "don't go there".
Between the fact it was an FA/LOCOG decision to go for it; the BOA's stupid intervention to force through pan-UK squads, even after the four Home Nations FAs had decided to make the squads England-only, has been an avoidable own-goal and the fact the all-powerful FA Premiership doesn't want Premiership players involved and in any case feels their competition is bigger than the Olympics, since to them, football is the only game in town - it was all always going to end in tears.
I have pointed out before, when a Team GB football squad last played in the Olympics, in the 1972 qualifiers, back in the good old, amateur days, they had ten warm-up games and still managed to lose 1-5 to Bulgaria, the lack of preparation this time round was always going to be a huge problem.
The FA, the BOA and indeed, the other three FAs have had seven years to get ready for this. In that time, LOCOG has managed to build the splendid Olympic Park and get the infrastructure ready. For most of that time the athletes in the other disciplines, from archery to yachting have learned the dates on which they would be competing and been able to prepare properly, whilst football, the richest sport in the UK, has stumbled towards the start line.
It ought to have been decided within the first two years - how the football squads would be organised, a proper series of warm-up games could have been sorted out - why, for instance, wasn't an England Under-23 squad, in effect the shadow Olympic Games squad, taking part in those faux Home Internationals the season before last? And why wasn't there another such competition last season, if only to continue the warm-ups?
The team against Senegal looked like what it was, a scratch team, hurriedly thrown together. At least, because Hope Powell has taken the sensible decision to strengthen an already strong England Women's team by fitting-in two great Scots in Kim Little and Ifeoma Dieke into the squad, the Women do have a chance of medaling. The men, because of all the meddling, will win nothing.
But, what have been the big discussion points around the squads - well we had the hectares of Scandinavian forests chopped down to feed the media lust after Stuart Pearce had the gall to omit the Blessed David Beckham: how could he?
Now, the BIG issue amongst my erstwhile colleagues in the mainstreat media is the fact that some of the "foreigners" with the Team GB football squads, have failed to sing the National Anthem during the pre-match ceremonials.
The Daily Mail is, of course, livid, in which case - well done Messrs Bellamy and Giggs and Mesdames Dieke and Little. I am all in favour of anything or anyone who gets the Mail's corporate knickers in a twist.
The mainstream media has missed the big story of the Team GB football fiasco - the fact that by selecting the teams as they have, the FA has clearly breached FIFA rules and got away with it (so far). They have missed the slightly smaller story of the amateurish and inept preparations; but hey, no worries - they got the really huge stories - Beckham wasn't picked and some of the non-English players chose not to sing an anthem which everyone knows really belongs to the entire United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, but has, over many years, been hijacked as "England's Anthem".
Finally, is anyone surprised about the Hampden fiascos - ok, the Korean flags mix-up was London's fault rather than Glasgow's, but the delays at the turnstyles and in the food areas at Hampden yesterday, well that simply confirmed what the whole Rangers fiasco has proven these past six months or so - the SFA couldn't run a piss-up in a brewery.
No comments:
Post a Comment