NoTeamGB – Absolute clarity from all uninterested parties!

Written by Smithy on February 2nd, 2009

Absolute clarity from all uninterested parties!

Press Statement
30/01/2009

FOR IMMEDIATE USE
JOINT STATEMENT FROM:
The Association of Tartan Army clubs (ATAC - Scotland)
Football Supporters Federation (FSF - England)
Football Supporters Federation Cymru (FSF - Wales) and
Amalgamation of Official NI Fans Clubs (AONISC - Northern Ireland)

Absolute clarity from all uninterested parties!
The No Team GB campaign is delighted to welcome the recent joint statement from three of the four FAs who are being coerced into risking the autonomy of each Home Nation to meet the desires of the very few.

The SFA, FAW, and IFA have been clear and consistent in their views that a football Team GB has no place in the Olympics irrespective of whether it’s in London in 2012 or in any other country at any other time. Once again, in their letter to Jerome Valcke of 28th Jan 2009, they have raised concerns about the validity of football as an Olympic sport and questioned the merit in removing players from their club commitments at the beginning of domestic and European campaigns to take part in a tournament which remains a nonentity in the world of football.

With three of the four FA’s taking this opportunity to make it unequivocally clear that they will not be taking part in this politically motivated scheme, NoTeamGB.com calls upon the FA in England and the UK Government to finally accept the views of the majority and publicly drop their calls to proceed with this pointless exercise.

NoTeamGB.com spokesman Simon Johnston said “following on from the FIFA Executive meeting in Tokyo (19th December), Sepp Blatter called upon the four FA’s to get together, discuss the issue and come back with an agreed proposal for taking this forward. This latest statement from 3 of the 4 FA’s makes it clear that they have taken this on board, considered the matter and provided a clear and unequivocal response.”

“It has been said on a number of occasions (by FIFA officials, Lord Coe, the BOA and members of the UK Government) that this is an issue for the four FA’s to decide, therefore we hope that they will accept that this has now happened and that three of the four FA’s are in clear and complete agreement that there is no way forward for this proposal. For the English FA and the BOA to push ahead and insist on fielding an all England team under the guise of a TeamGB would be not only completely false, it would also be completely unrepresentative of Great Britain as a whole, completely at odds with everything the Olympics stand for and at odds with the views of the England supporters.”

As always, NoTeamGB.com is fully supportive of all the athletes and participants in the British Olympic team and wish them every success as they aim to reach the pinnacle of their chosen discipline. We’d now like to see the UK Government and the FA doing the same. Accept the decision by the majority of the FA’s and defend our professional footballer’s ambitions to play for their home countries, whether it be England, Northern Ireland, Scotland or Wales, when they reach the pinnacle of their chosen sport, the FIFA World Cup or UEFA European Championships, for many years to come.

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