GB Football In, Rugby Sevens Out For London 2012
The prospect of a combined British football team competing in the London 2012
Olympics is moving closer to reality although the chances of rugby sevens
becoming an Olympic sport in time for the Games look slim.
The British Olympic Association is pressing ahead with plans to enter British
men’s and women’s football teams at the 2012 Olympic Games.
The International Olympic Committee has written to the BOA confirming that
the host qualifying rule will apply to all team sports in London. thus
guaranteeing the GB team a place.
The BOA’s confident stance comes despite opposition from the Scottish, Welsh
and Northern Ireland Football Associations who are concerned that the
participation of a combined team could harm their long-term individual status.
FIFA president Sepp Blatter has moved to calm such fears by stating that
participation in the 2012 Olympics would have no knock-on effect when it came to
the major football tournaments.
Gordon Smith, chief executive of the SFA, reiterated his organisation’s
opposition to a Great Britain team.
‘All the players who are registered under the association or are Scottish
international players would be prohibited from playing. Some individuals may
want to get involved, but I don’t see it as an issue.’
Separately, IOC president Jacques Rogge has said that rugby sevens faces ‘an
uphill battle’ in its bid to gain a place at the 2012 Games.
Sevens was one of five sports put to an IOC vote in 2005 for inclusion at
London 2012 but failed to win enough support to gain admittance.
The sport was up against golf, karate, roller sports and squash for one of
two spots in the Olympic programme freed up after baseball and softball were
voted out.
However sevens was knocked out after three rounds of voting, and the two
sports that advanced to the final stage of the process, karate and squash, both
failed to win the two-thirds majority needed for inclusion in the Olympic
line-up.
While Rogge is known to be a supporter of rugby sevens’ inclusion in the 2012
Games, it appears that time is running out if the sport is to win Olympic
status.
