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Today’s banner
Within a few hundred yards of Commonwealth House, Glasgow
Photograph by
Islay McLeod
Why Scotland
should support
Team GB
Jennifer Flueckiger
Mention the Olympics to many football supporters in Scotland and you will most likely encounter a frown. The Scottish Football Association and a chorus of commentators suggest that a Team GB threatens the future of the Scotland team and that football should not be an Olympic sport.
Whatever the truth is with these claims, the situation is casting a shadow over a competition that provides an unprecedented opportunity to promote the sport and inspire many young players, especially girls. Many Team GB critics complain that the media and others neglect Scotland. These same critics have neglected to address how the decision to shun the Olympic team hurts the women’s game.
I want to say at the outset that FIFA politics and the future of the Scotland team are things about which I can only speculate. If losing the national team is the real issue and a real possibility, than I can see why people are very concerned. This would be a terrible result for Scotland and both the men’s and women’s teams. That said, there are some big holes in the other arguments against Team GB. The most common of these include the limited number of places on the team for Scottish players due to age restrictions and the Olympics’ lack of importance in relation to the World Cup.
None of these arguments apply to the women’s Olympic competition. First, Olympic women’s football is a top-flight competition: the best players in the world will be competing for the gold medal with no age limits. The same players who played for their countries in last summer’s World Cup in Germany are competing for a place on their country’s Olympic side.
Second, a number of Scottish women have a good chance of being key elements of a GB side. GB coach Hope Powell will no doubt be considering Scotland and Arsenal midfielder Kim Little and a number of others to be part of a team. After failed attempts to qualify for major competitions with the Scotland team, Team GB may be the players’ best and only shot at proving themselves, and showcasing Scottish talent at the highest level.
Third, because it is a tournament of the best teams at full strength, the Olympic gold medal will be as hotly contested and prized as the World Cup. For Mia Hamm, a US player who has two Olympic gold and two World Cup winner’s medals, the World Cup and the Olympics are difficult to separate in terms of importance to her as a player:
‘At the World Cup, you are striving to be on the top step of the podium, raising the cup for the entire world to see. And at the Olympics, you are motivated to stand on the top step of the podium to have the gold medal hung around your neck and to hear your country’s national anthem. Both experiences are thrilling and both hold a special place in my heart.’
Homare Sawa – 2011 FIFA female player of the year, last year’s World Cup Golden Boot recipient and captain of world champion Japan – said recently:
‘Luckily we could produce the best possible result at the World Cup. But in Japan, conquering the Olympics is what matters most for women’.
While ticket sales for other Olympic events have sold out, football tickets
in Glasgow are still available. Let’s make sure Scottish girls and women
take advantage of this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.
With these differences and much more at stake, Scottish female players are under much more pressure ‘to choose’ where their loyalties lie. Scotland and Arsenal striker Julie Fleeting ruled herself out of playing for Team GB by declaring: ‘I’m Scottish through and through’. Does this suggest that the football players who do take up a place offered to them are not ‘Scottish through and through’? Would anyone make that suggestion to Chris Hoy, Rhona Martin, or any of the many Scots who will be competing this summer for Team GB in other sports?
Despite the controversy, not one of the Scottish women who were sent a letter asking them if they wanted to be considered for Team GB have withdrawn their interest. Kim Little said: ‘I don’t see why anyone would want to stop a player from playing at a massive tournament like the Olympics; it’s the biggest sporting event ever. If I get the opportunity I’ll grab it with both hands – I would definitely play.’
Another issue for the women is about playing in the national stadium for Scotland, Hampden. There has never been a women’s game at Hampden…ever. When I asked how the team felt about not playing at Hampden, a SFA spokesperson said: ‘Naturally any player would love to play at the national stadium’.
The Olympic competition will include the first women’s game in the stadium and would have given Scottish players, if they made Team GB, their chance to play at Hampden. Sadly, they won’t have this opportunity. Team GB will play all of their matches in Cardiff and Wembley. This means that two other national women’s teams – not Scotland, not GB – will be the first to play at Hampden. What a shame. I wonder if the decision to have Team GB play elsewhere would have been different if the SFA hadn’t been so against the team.
However you feel about Team GB and players from Scotland participating, it is a real pity that the controversy is casting a shadow over the competition that provides unprecedented opportunity to promote football and the women’s game in Scotland.
Never before has there been such an opportunity to see top-flight international football in Scotland. Up to 10 women’s teams will play at Hampden. We won’t know who will be coming to Scotland until the draw today, but it could be world champions Japan, defending Olympic champions the USA, defending silver medallist Brazil or all the above.
Finally, and most importantly, there has never been such a great opportunity to show girls and women in Scotland what they can dream about. My first time seeing an international women’s game was such an emotional and important experience for me. Sadly it only happened after I stopped playing.
Also, we shouldn’t underestimate the power of seeing top athletes perform and how this can inspire players of all ages. For years I had a poster of Belorussian gymnast and Olympic gold medallist, Olga Korbut, on my wall. I wasn’t very good at gymnastics and it was a strange choice for a girl growing up in cold war America to look to a Soviet bloc athlete for inspiration. However, my parents took me to see an exhibition event and Olga was the only female athlete and champion I’d ever seen. Long after it was clear soccer was my game, I still saw her as a hero.
While ticket sales for other Olympic events have sold out, football tickets in Glasgow are still available. Let’s make sure Scottish girls and women take advantage of this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.
I will be working in London this summer and I’ve got tickets for the women’s final at Wembley. I am hoping for the gold medal match that would cause me the greatest angst as a fan, but have the greatest impact in terms of the future of women’s football in this country: USA v GB.
Jennifer Flueckiger writes for Youth Football Scotland and on her own
blog, McSoccer For Girls. She is writing a book about her experiences as
a player in the US and coaching girl’s football in Scotland
