SA Footy

Can anyone shed any light as to why, in some competitions like the Olympics, "Great Britain" competes whereas in other competitions, Scotland, Wales, Ireland, England all compete individually?

Yeah yeah, the jokesters will say its about the medal tally boards, but in all seriousness, is it something to do with the Commonwealth or what?

Jas??? Any clues?

To be honest I've no idea. I know that for the Olypmics it's a Great Britain team and for the Commonwealth Games each country is represented individually.

A search has come up with this

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Brit ... e_Olympics

My own theory would be that at the first games there were not enough athletes to warrent seperate teams for England, Scotland and Wales and the team format stuck.

Regards
JAS

hmmmmmm

the first modern games were in 1896.

Could be a good reason Jas, but with all those countries forging their own identities I'm surprised none have rebelled to go it alone. May be something to do with funding tho...

Just another thought...but, concidering the period in history, possibly something to do with Victorian attidudes towards the Empire etc. British Empire...therefore British team.

Regards
JAS

They even tried poaching Edwin Flack, Australia's first gold medallist, at the 1896 Games...

In regards to the Commonwealth Games they all compete as nations rather then countries as they are now independent nations of the Commonwealth. I think this dates back to when it was the British Empire and most nations were not fully independent but ruled by the British Empire. The 4 nations that make up the country United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland is not part of the commonwealth but each nation is. This also apply the Isle of Man and the Channel Island they are nations of the commonwealth.

In regards to England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland not joining forces to enter a football team for the Olympics they have refused as they fear if the do they maybe forces to amalgamate permanently as a joint association by FIFA rather then being 4 separate associations. There maybe a once off team for the London 2012 games bu this has not been confirmed as yet.

Just as another note at the Commonwealth Games the queen attends not as the head of state of Great Britain, Australia or any other nation but as the head of the Commonwealth. God save the queen is only played at the opening and closing ceremonies. It used to also be played at the end of each day of session of play but I think this was stopped after 2002. The 4 nations of Great Britain all have there own anthems for medal ceremonies.

Thanks for the explanation TB, always wondered it myself, must admit I had no idea there was any difference between a 'nation' and a 'country'.
Learn a new thing every day!

Tassie Blues wrote:In regards to England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland not joining forces to enter a football team for the Olympics they have refused as they fear if the do they maybe forces to amalgamate permanently as a joint association by FIFA rather then being 4 separate associations. There maybe a once off team for the London 2012 games bu this has not been confirmed as yet.

Cheers for (all) the info.

I can understand this from a football perspective, but what about all the other sports they have at an Olympics? I cant imagine anyone being too bothered about separate javelin teams for example.

Like most things I think it would also come down to funding. I think Scotland and Wales would be on a very limited budget if they did try to go it alone at the Olympics. The IOC would also not recognise teams from England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland unless they were independent countries