THE arrogance of the Football Association, as well as the naivete of their Scottish, Welsh and Northern Irish counterparts, was evident on Thursday when the “Team GB” squad for the Tokyo Olympics was announced.
Far from offering concessions to the other three associations to acknowledge their acquiescence in allowing the ill-judged Olympic venture to go ahead, the FA did the opposite. “Team GB” has 19 players (including four reserves) from England – with a token two from Scotland and one from Wales to keep the Olympic authorities happy.
Baroness Sue Campbell of Loughborough, the director of women's football at the FA, understands what's required for high performance success far better than most. As a former chair of UK Sport she knows the prospects of England winning Euro 2022 on home soil will be greatly enhanced by as many of their players as possible participating in the Olympic tournament.
Returning from Japan with medals, followed by a drinks reception in Downing Street, would be the perfect double for the Baroness. She has already stated that gold would achieve a key FA target – despite this not being a fully English team.
“The Football Association has launched a new national strategy which is very clear that one of the game-changers in the next six years is the men's and women's teams winning a major tournament,” she said in March when talking about the Olympics. “This is a major tournament.”
The Scottish FA and the other two associations have been taken for mugs. They rejected a “Team GB” at the Rio Olympics in 2016 on the grounds that London four years earlier had been clearly designated a one-off – yet illogically acceded this time because they didn't want to deprive their players of an Olympic opportunity.
Having ceded all responsibility for selecting the squad to the FA, it's now a lose-lose with so few of their players chosen.
Enabling this charade was also a gross dereliction of their primary duty not to do anything which might jeopardise the privilege of the four home nations competing in their own right at World Cups and European Championships.
The danger now is that any “Team GB” success at the Olympics – assuming they happen despite 80 per cent of Japanese people wanting them cancelled – will only encourage other Fifa nations to question why the UK associations are being allowed to enjoy the best of both worlds.
IF the highs of Celtic's season have been the three wins over Rangers, their game against Forfar Farmington in December ranked at the other end of the spectrum.
Or at least it did at the time. But, with a resurgent Celtic having harvested 31 points from a possible 33 in their last eleven games, head coach Fran Alonso is able to review that K-Park encounter in a more favourable hue.
Goals from London Pollard – now with Celtic – and Donna Paterson left Forfar needing just to see out the remaining two minutes (plus time added on) to secure a memorable win. Instead, Chloe Craig and Natalie Ross netted to snatch a 2-2 draw.
Two points lost, or an invaluable one gained? The answer will be clearer next Sunday night when the dust has settled on the Scottish Building Society SWPL1 season.
At that juncture Celtic will know whether they are playing Champions League football next season or, if leaders Glasgow City stumble, even celebrating a historic first title.
“At the time we thought it was the end of the world,” Alonso said of the December game at the K-Park. “It was a very dark post-match talk we had as a team.
“We were very, very tough on ourselves because we felt we dropped two points that we shouldn't. Now we can see it as a very important point we got.
“It gave us the belief that we are Celtic and we are fighting until the referee blows the final whistle and says you can't fight any more.”
Alonso's side won the subsequent game between the sides at Station Park 8-0, and while Celtic boast the best current record in the league, Forfar have the worst. There are mitigating circumstances certainly, with a number of significant coaching and playing departures, but just one point from the last eleven games – 30 less than today's opponents – suggests Celtic will view today's encounter as an opportunity to lessen their goal difference deficit on City.
The defending champions have a much tougher assignment away to Spartans in the BBC Alba match, while third place Rangers, whose defeat by Celtic last Sunday is likely to cost them dearly, host Motherwell.
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