Written by Smithy on October 23rd, 2009
A press release on the SFA website now says all members of the SSC will have the opertunity to receive a match ticket for the Wales V Scotland match. That includes those on zero points.
Those on 4-10 have until 9pm tonight (23rd) to buy there ticket. Those on 2 or 3 points also have till 9pm to register their interest. Those on one or zero points will be able to register from Monday to Friday 30th October.
From the SFA website:-
We are delighted to confirm that the Scottish FA has secured 2,000 more tickets for the Nationwide International Friendly Match against Wales on 14th November.
This means that every Supporters Club member will be eligible to register their interest for a ticket for the game at the Cardiff City Stadium.
Our entire allocation of 4,000 tickets is 2,000 more than our entitlement, so we are hugely grateful to the FA of Wales for this added bonus.
Those supporters on 4+ points still have until 9pm today to buy a guaranteed ticket and those on 2 & 3 points can also register until then too. We'll then notify them on Monday 26th October if their registration is successful.
All remaining Scotland Supporters Club members on 1 & 0 points will be contacted by email or post with full details on how to register. The booking period will run from 9.00 am on Tuesday 27th October to 9.00 pm on Friday 30 October.
Posted in: Wales
Written by Smithy on July 22nd, 2009
In Hamburg over the weekend of July 20th and 21st, representatives of football supporters from across Europe met at the Second European Football Fans’ Congress to launch for the first time a legally-constituted, Europe-wide, independent, democratic and representative football fans organisation.
Football Supporters Europe (FSE) has been established to provide a representative collective voice for football fans and their organisations towards football and governmental authorities at European level. The conference, attended by more than 350 representatives from 29 countries representing some two million football fans, agreed on statutes and structures for the new organisation, and elected eight of their number to serve on FSE’s executive board.
The elected members are: Kevin Miles and Dave Boyle from England, Emilio Abejón from Spain, Christina Magnussen from Norway, Michal Riecansky from Slovakia, Shay Golub from Israel, the Belgian Dirk Vos and Tam Ferry from Scotland, all of whom are representatives of national fans’ organizations back in their home countries.
It was also announced at the Congress that the FSE is to organise and coordinate, through its Fans’ Embassy Department, a three-year project, “Fans’ Embassies Go East”, to develop the fans’ embassy network with a particular focus on Eastern Europe and Euro2012 in Poland and Ukraine. The project has been generously supported by UEFA, whose Executive Committee has decided to grant the project an overall budget of €500,000.
The event was organized in cooperation with the HSV Supporters Club, several fans’ groups of FC St.Pauli and together with both fans’ projects and the clubs themselves. Several workshops took place on topics such as “Kick-off times”, “Policing in football”, “Club licensing” or “Involvement of minority groups in football fan culture”, the results of which will be further elaborated and used as a basis for campaigning by working groups after the congress.
The European Fans’ Congress was also supported by UEFA, whilst the European football association fully acknowledges the independence of the network. William Gaillard, personal advisor to UEFA president Michel Platini, gave the keynote speech. Participation in the congress was free of charge, the congress had been sold out for weeks.
Further info
Football Supporters Europe (FSE) is an independent, representative network of football fans with its Coordinating Office located in Hamburg/Germany.
Fans‘ Embassies are specific info and support services, organized for fans and often also by fans at international football matches. They are aiming at ensuring a welcoming atmosphere, in particular for visiting supporters, by providing specific information and guidance relevant to fans. Experiences from previous tournaments, like Euro 2004, World Cup 2006 and UEFA Euro 2008 show that Fans’ Embassies are thereby making a significant overall contribution to the prevention of problems and tensions and can play an important role for the successful course of these major football events.
Press Contact:
Football Supporters Europe, Coordinating Office, P.O. Box 500403, 22704 Hamburg
Tel. +49 40 64 88 90 86
Posted in: Tartan Army - General
Written by Smithy on May 29th, 2009
JOINT STATEMENT FROM:-
The Association of Tartan Army clubs (ATAC - Scotland)
Football Supporters Federation (FSF - England)
Football Supporters Federation Cymru (FSF Cymru - Wales)
Amalgamation of Official NI Supporters Clubs (AONISC - Northern Ireland)
Fans blast U-Turn on Team GB
The No Team GB campaign today launched a scathing attack towards the Football Associations of Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland as it was revealed they will set aside their previous objections and will allow an all England team to participate in the 2012 Olympics, badged up as a Team GB.
Spokesman Tam Ferry said;
“We are shocked and disgusted with this U-turn and apparent endorsement of a Team GB.
It was only 2 months ago that the SFA, IFA and FAW sent a joint letter to FIFA, BOA and the FA, stating categorical opposition to the creation of a Team GB Football team. Furthermore the SFA, IFA and FAW explicitly mentioned they would not participate in any more discussions on this topic.
Given this statement of intent, we were astonished to find out that there was a secret meeting of the 4 FA’s to discuss Team GB.
The decision to remove their opposition and thus allowing England to play as Team GB sets a dangerous precedent which could lead to the end of our identities as independent international football nations.
The 4 FA’s clearly fail to realise that this decision could not only end up costing them their positions and could also be the beginning of the end of the Scottish, English, Wales and Irish FA’s.”
He continued;
“This is not the end of the fight. The very futures of our independent International teams are at stake here.
The England and Scotland - two oldest international teams - along with Northern Ireland and Wales could disappear forever if FIFA decide to vote through a change to the special privileged articles which allows the teams to participate, despite not meeting entry requirements to FIFA.
The fans, the REAL football fans of the 4 countries will be convening a meeting in Newcastle next month to decide the next steps in the fight to preserve their independence.”
ENDS
Posted in: NoTeamGB.com
Written by Smithy on March 11th, 2009
JOINT STATEMENT FROM:-
The Association of Tartan Army clubs (ATAC - Scotland)
Football Supporters Federation (FSF - England)
Football Supporters Federation Cymru (FSF Cymru - Wales)
Amalgamation of Official NI Supporters Clubs (AONISC - NorthernIreland)
The BOA and UK Government were today accused of acting like schoolkids in a playground after yesterdays revelation that a GB football team will be entered in the 2012 Olympics, against the express wishes of the IFA, SFA and FAW. The statement from government minister Gerry Sutcliffe MP was branded as a childish, "we're taking our ball back" stance, in expressing the intent of entering a GB football team, regardless of the views of the football fans and the other Football Associations.
NoTeamGB.com Spokesperson, Tam Ferry said:-
"The BOA have no moral authority to enter a GB football Team into the 2012 Olympics, against the expressed wishes of the SFA, IFA and FAW. Reassurances from any FIFA individual, namely Mr Blatter and Mr Valcke are meaningless. No individual can make any reassurances on the future existence of our home nations teams, as its the entire FIFA membership, not any individual that would decide the future of our national Teams."
He continued:-
"The FA, SFA, FAW and IFA have a special privileged position within FIFA which is looked on with envious eyes by many FA's worldwide. All this talk of Team GB simply highlights our special membership of FIFA despite the membership criteria being "......an independent state recognised by the international community." (FIFA Statutes 2008, Article 10.1)
A GB Football team manufactured solely for the purpose of winning medals and boosting attendances at the 2012 Olympics flies in the face of the Olympic creed. A GB (professional U23 with 3 overage players) football team does not exist.
FACT.
GB Football Team has no players, no fans, no home, no strip, and no history.
FACT.
The BOA are going about this the wrong way if all they want is Team England disguised as Team GB to compete at the Olympics. Instead of the BOA asking FIFA for reassurances that cannot be guaranteed, the BOA should be asking the IOC for special dispensation for Team England, Team Scotland, Team Wales and Team NI to participate in the Olympic football.
If the BOA are intent on bending the eligibility rules to enable participation in any event, then they should bend their own Olympic rules and allow extra teams instead of breaking the rules of an unrelated organisation and endangering the very existence of 4 other unrelated organisations.
With this compromise the stadiums would be full, medal chances would be increased but most importantly, there would be no dangerous precedent set which could threaten the very existence of our international football teams."
The football fans of all 4 home nations are united and will continue to fight under the NoTeamGB.com Campaign.
ENDS
Posted in: NoTeamGB.com
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.
Posted in: NoTeamGB.com
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