London 2012

Insideworldfootball

It was always to be expected that the London 2102 Olympics would see a Team GB in football for the one and only time in the modern era. This was inevitable given the vehement opposition of the Scots, and the lukewarm response of the other home nations; fearful that an Olympic Team GB will mean the end of Britain’s unique position in world football, the only country with four teams.

But while Team GB in the wider football world will never come about, I get the strong sense that the London Games marked a major, indeed historic, shift in the relationship between the FA and FIFA, and the other home nations. It is, in many ways, a further development of what has been a steady progression for some time. And when the change is finally confirmed, as I expect it to be soon, it will mean that the English FA, which has often had a turbulent rollercoaster ride with FIFA, will have finally come to terms with the world organisation. In essence, what the change amounts to is that the FA no longer wants to be tied to the home nations when it comes to international football.

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In the last few days, I have fulfilled a long term ambition: to go to the Edinburgh Festival. It came about because I was asked to speak about my book, The Spirit of the Game, at the Edinburgh International Book Festival. My wife, Caroline, and I decided we would combine the trip with an extended stay in Edinburgh, taking in the shows and events of the Festival we had heard so much about.

The book festival discussion, of which I was a part, chaired wonderfully by Ruth Wishart, was illuminating. It showed how much the London 2012 Games have had an impact on the country. The most interesting moment was when a P. E. Teacher from Perthshire (I think I have the region right) said that funding for sport inhis school had been cut from £5,000 to £1,700. At the end of the meeting, a businessman in the crowd offered him a donation. To think that a discussion on sport can have such an impact is wonderfully uplifting.

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Insideworldfootball

The Olympics always puts football in the box, if only for a brief two-week period.

Indeed, the very nature of football’s participation in the Games, with teams composed of players who hope to aspire to be the best, but are not yet the best, give it the status of an interloper. And as if to emphasise this status, football starts even before the Opening Ceremony. In the wider world, it may be the greatest of all sports, but in the Olympics it is just one of 26, and by no means the most important – that distinction going to track and field.

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It’s not easy to make Club England like Team GB

PlayUp

So goodbye Team GB and welcome back club England. The timing of England’s match against Italy, three days after the end of the Games, was very telling. For while this pre-season friendly – albeit it showed English football is not quite bereft of ability – is no time to make judgements about the post-Euro 2012 state of the game, it does allow us to assess the lessons the Olympics holds for the national game.

The first thing we have to avoid is a knee-jerk, exaggerated response that the Olympics and the wonderful glow it has created could now bathe English football in a new light. The idea that the spirit generated by Team GB could be taken and just bolted on to football and all other sports is nonsense.

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PlayUp

Image courtesy of PlayUp

2012 has created a host of memories and the success of the games has exceeded my most optimistic hopes.

But there is one memory of these games that I still cannot get over. The scene is the Archery at Lord’s. I am sitting on the top tier of the pavilion, a place very familiar to me. But now I am watching a Korean and a Mexican battle it out.

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