John Welsh

On 26th July the Great Britain Olympic team kick off their 2012 Games schedule with opponents Senegal against a background of indifference and political infighting. With only the English Football Association keen to field players in the competition, the burden of selecting a squad was allocated to England Under-21 boss Stuart Pearce, and he has faced a series of controversial decisions which have seriously underpinned the merits of including a Team GB team in this year’s London Olympiad.

Not since 1972 have Great Britain entered a team in the Olympic tournament, when amateur footballers were allowed the privilege of competing. When the FA ended the distinction between professional and amateur players in 1974, the idea of a British Olympic football team was frowned upon, even when rules were changed in 1992 to allow under-23 professional squads with three over-age players.

But from the moment the 2012 Olympic Games were awarded to London, the idea of fielding a British team resurfaced due to the inheritance of the role of host country. Following a complex series of negotiations regarding national sovereignty, Team GB are now ready to compete despite the Scottish, Welsh and Northern Irish FAs’ reluctance to release players.

The respective FAs have received conflicting signals from FIFA regarding their international standing should they support the British team and are unwilling to commit their trust even though all issues have now been resolved.

With five Welsh players ignoring the wishes of their FA by affirming their desire to play for the British team, Pearce has managed to assemble a squad of 18, with the remainder composed of Englishmen. Yet cynics argue that Aaron Ramsey, Craig Bellamy, Ryan Giggs, Joe Allen and Neil Taylor have been selected purely on the grounds that one of the Team GB matches is scheduled for the Millennium Stadium in Cardiff.

Notwithstanding the problem of selecting a broad spectrum of British players has been the unending saga of choosing appropriate over-age candidates. The controversy surrounding David Beckham’s omission has been widely discussed, but the rules for the tournament are perhaps the chief culprit in inflaming this unwarranted situation.

With three over-age players allowed in the squad, the team manager was assigned the impossible predicament of choosing the most viable personnel. The options were in siding with the national mood in preferring Beckham against that of selecting experienced Premier League players covering defence, midfield and attack. It required a delicate balancing act and a decision which would not be universally acclaimed.

By opting to stress purely footballing reasons, Pearce upset many who believed that Beckham had earned the privilege of playing in the tournament. The entire charade appears to demonstrate that the Olympic competition should be completely restricted to under-23 players, with selection based on the judgement of the manager in terms of footballing ability. This would remove any further distractions for the coach and may have actually provoked more interest in the squad from the home public.

For most other sports represented at the Olympics, winning a gold medal is the pinnacle of achievement, yet national football federations are unable to send their strongest available squad to this tournament. The World Cup is rightly considered the most prestigious football competition, but by exclusively reserving the Olympics for under-23 players, it may earn the tournament more credibility. It then becomes the world’s under-23 championship with selection based on merit, and football digesting the youthful talent on view.

Perhaps on the home front it would be difficult to obtain agreement from the respective FAs to create a Great Britain team every four years, but if amended rules allowed for a proper championship at the Olympics, the squads may reflect true genuine ability.

Meanwhile the show must go on and Pearce must persevere in the hope that some success is achieved. Tickets for the tournament have not been sold in vast amounts despite the presence of some strong squads, in particular Brazil’s. For Pearce, though, surviving the group stage will be paramount as he bids to demonstrate that Team GB can thrive without the presence of Beckham.

Only goalkeeper Jack Butland of the England Euro 2012 squad is selected, while Daniel Sturridge, Aaron Ramsey, Joe Allen and Scott Sinclair have earned a reward for their performances in last season’s Premier League. While both Ryan Giggs and Craig Bellamy were not always the first names on their respective team-sheets during the previous campaign, they still made significant contributions and this will probably be their only opportunity to play in a significant international tournament.

Pearce has unquestionably chosen some real talent within the Team GB group, although medal prospects are difficult to determine when considering most of the competing squads contain many unknown talents.

The success of the 2012 Olympic Games football tournament may eventually be judged on the quality of play and entertainment provided and whether any genuine international prospects are unearthed. However, should Team GB win the gold medal, the reaction of the viewing public may be very different than that to a similar home gold performance in one of the main Olympic arenas.