Blatter lets slip Team GB would endanger Scots football identity

Published on Sunday 1 March 2009 21:46

FIFA has admitted that Scotland's independent existence as a football team would be jeopardised by any involvement with a British Olympic team, according to the president of the Scottish Football Association.

George Peat claimed the admission – which also applies to the other three Home Nations – was made by Sepp Blatter, the Fifa president, before this weekend's International Football Association Board meeting in Belfast. Blatter's apparent comments contradict official assurances to the contrary, and according to Peat vindicate the SFA's opposition to the establishment of a unified Team GB for the London Olympics in 2012.

"Mr Blatter told us at an informal function that, if we agreed to be part of Team GB, our position would be in jeopardy," Peat said. "My immediate reaction was one of surprise. I glanced over at the English table and their two guys, Lord Triesman and Sir David Richards, just looked at each other.

"David Will, who was Fifa vice-president for 15 years, has always told us on no account to get involved. David Taylor (the Uefa general secretary and previously SFA chief executive] says the same thing. So we're viewing this as a serious warning."

Wales and Northern Ireland have joined Scotland in opposing the formation of a British team to compete in the London Olympics, but the FA has given its backing to the idea. The British Olympic Committee want a united team to take part as hosts in the football tournament in 2012, and Gordon Brown, the Prime Minister, has supported the idea.

Following a meeting of its executive committee in December, Fifa said the independence of the four home nations would not be jeopardised by joint participation in the Olympics, but Will, among others, argued that such assurances were worthless in the longer term. Whatever Blatter's views on the subject, Will argued, and no matter how much influence he might wield at present, he was not in a position to impose his policies on future generations of administrators.

Craig Brown, the former Scotland manager, joined in the campaign earlier this year by launching a petition against the proposed joint team. "I am utterly convinced that a British team at the Olympics in London will bring Scotland the thin end of the wedge, that we could lose our autonomy as a footballing nation," he argued.

The Scottish Government has also opposed a British football team on the same grounds. "Who on earth would really want to jeopardise or sacrifice the future of Scotland as an international football country so we could have a couple of players in an under-23 team?" Alex Salmond, the First Minister, asked last year.

The SFA recently wrote to the British Olympic Committee outlining its opposition to a Team GB in a joint letter with their colleagues in Belfast and Cardiff. And Peat has insisted there will be no going back on their opposition despite lobbying from the UK Government.

"(FA chairman] Lord Triesman has told us we've upset the Olympic committee with our letter, but that doesn't make any difference to us or our stance on the issue," he said. "We're not going to change our opinion."