Talk:Great Britain Olympic football team

UK 48-0 Sweden, October 2014?

This needs editing IMMEDIATLY. (I don't know how so I can't do it). The medals box saying Gold Medal at the 2012 olympics needs to be removed aswell. —Preceding unsigned comment added by Resitate (talk • contribs) 20:42, 6 July 2010 (UTC)

Hope Powell

Guess we have never had a women's team before? Maybe this article needs renaming to include the word 'men' and another created just for the female team?--Egghead06 (talk) 16:00, 20 October 2011 (UTC)

See Great Britain and Northern Ireland women's Olympic football team. NB There is no need for an equivalent article in other countries because their teams are basically the same as their full national team, with there being no age restriction in the women's tournament, and the UK situation is pretty much unique in terms of sub-national entities competing in FIFA tournaments. Jmorrison230582 (talk) 17:36, 20 October 2011 (UTC)

Universiade team

An Ip is adding stuff about the World Student Games ('Universiade') to this and the women's team article. The student team is selected by BUCS and, as far as I know, has nothing to do with the Olympic team selected by the FA on behalf of the BOA. No disrespect to the women's team who won bronze medals in the 2009 Belgrade Universiade, but displaying it on an Olympic medal record table is not accurate.

I'd be grateful if someone could remove this stuff off the women's article, as I tried to but was reverted. I see it was quickly taken off this article. Thanks, Clavdia chauchat (talk) 12:39, 31 October 2011 (UTC)

I agree with you - it has no place on either article! --Pretty Green (talk) 13:00, 31 October 2011 (UTC)

Gareth Bale

Perhaps the article should be updated to include Gareth Bale's modeling of the Team GB kit all but coming out and saying he'll be playing for the team? I'm not sure if it would be too crystal as he hasn't been formally selected, but it's certainly notable in the context of the debate over non-English players. -- MichiganCharms (talk) 07:17, 14 November 2011 (UTC)

Yeah, I think a sentence on this would be relevant. --Pretty Green (talk) 10:05, 14 November 2011 (UTC)

Although it doesn't explicitly say waght was said between Gary Speed (Wales manager) and Gareth Bale and Aaron Ramsey (both moddelled the shirt), this article (10.11.11) states:

GARY SPEED has spelled out his Team GB fears to Wales stars Aaron Ramsey and Gareth Bale after a clear-the-air meeting.

Also following photops of Gareth Bale and Aaron Ramsey modelling the Team GB supporters shirts appeared, former Wales footballer John Hartson wrote in his column in the Western Mail (9.11.11):

And I’m sure I would feel quite honoured if I was chosen or even talked about to represent Great Britain.

But if the FAW then asked me not to – for the reasons that are out there – I would have said ‘OK’ and, as a proud Welshman, stayed loyal to my own association.

As this is such i burning issue, at least in Wales (where players concerned are from), both 'sides' need to be fairly represented, in my opinion.--Rhyswynne (talk) 11:31, 14 November 2011 (UTC)

Forthcoming fixtures

The only sources listed in the forthcoming fixtures section only refer to the pre-tournament friendlies. Does anybody have a source that confirms that GB will be playing in Manchester, London and Cardiff on the days specified? — Preceding unsigned comment added by Elfbadger (talk • contribs) 13:09, 28 February 2012 (UTC)

Yes, I'm not sure why I added it and didn't source it but there are plenty eg http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/olympics/15674327 --Pretty Green (talk) 19:00, 28 February 2012 (UTC)

Victor Moses

Victor Moses plays international football for Nigeria, how is he in the Team GB squad? Jimmy Skitz's Answer Machine 19:19, 28 June 2012 (UTC)

Source

Can we get a source on the team selection? Cannot find anywhere. — Preceding unsigned comment added by Tam1hibs (talk • contribs) 20:56, 28 June 2012 (UTC)

It's been reported in a number of different places ([1]) --Pretty Green (talk) 21:13, 28 June 2012 (UTC)

EDIT - ah sorry, you're referring to the previous full squad that was on the page, not the three confirmed over-age players. Yes, that hasn't been confirmed yet. --Pretty Green (talk) 21:15, 28 June 2012 (UTC)

Individual Country?

As well as the country of the club they play for, wouldn't it make sense to also include the players actual nationality with a flag? I don't think you should have to click each player to find out where they are from — Preceding unsigned comment added by 24.197.192.200 (talk) 17:28, 2 July 2012 (UTC)

In this context, they are from the United Kingdom. The nationality is their sporting nationality which, temporarily at least, is British. --Pretty Green (talk) 19:54, 2 July 2012 (UTC)

I totally disagree; in this context they are Team GB players, but that doesn't remove their individual Home Nation affiliations. Apart from anything else, the ratio of English to Welsh players and the lack of Scots and Irish players is likely to be a subject of substantial media discussion in the run-up to the games. It feels intellectually dishonest to omit it. I've boldly added it. — OwenBlacker (Talk) 20:24, 2 July 2012 (UTC)

It is mentioned already in the text. --Pretty Green (talk) 20:25, 2 July 2012 (UTC)

Agreed, it is already in the text. The home country nationalities aren't taken into account in any other Olympic sport. Should we also break down Spain national football team into Castillian, Catalan, Canarian, Basque? Should we break up the USA into which state each player is from? Del_♉sion23 (talk) 20:30, 2 July 2012 (UTC)

As per the section heading (Individual countries?) - Spanish regions and US states are not relevant examples because they are not countries, nationalities or international football teams. The original question (paraphrase) was 'is it useful to show the flag of the players country of birth'...or a similar question is 'is it useful to show the international team that the player is affiliated to' ?Pwimageglow (talk) 11:00, 3 July 2012 (UTC)

Some of the Spanish regions are considered nations by the people that live there, for example Catalonia and Basque Country. And they do have their own football teams. See: Catalonia national football team and Basque Country national football team. The players are playing for Great Britain anyway so the home nation isn't relevant. The fact that the teams is made up for players from exclusively England and Wales is mentioned in the article text anyway. Del_♉sion23 (talk) 18:09, 3 July 2012 (UTC)

Agreed Spanish reqions have identities/history/culture (like Cornwall) but its a big generalization that all the people that live there consider that region a nation. In any case thats irrelevant - currently they aren't countries and they don't have international football teams. This is a football page so please avoid a nationalist/unionist debate. The question is whether the home country flags for GB footballers are useful. Personally I'm not bothered either way.Pwimageglow (talk) 20:26, 3 July 2012 (UTC)

• Don't see a problem with having flags. Similarish case at League of Ireland XI DjlnDjln (talk) 23:31, 4 July 2012 (UTC)

Well that's an unofficial representative team, whereas this is much closer to a national team. But I'm with Pwimageglow, I don't really care. There isn't a right or wrong answer here although my inclination would be to avoid them, following WP:MOSFLAG: "Flags should never indicate the player's nationality in a non-sporting sense; flags should only indicate the sportsperson's national squad/team or representative nationality". In this context, the representative nationality is UK. Pretty Green (talk) 09:29, 5 July 2012 (UTC)

National flags should not be included next to players, they are all representing the Great Britain team not individual countries. This should not be a place for national bias, it is easy for anyone to click on the players to find out where they are from, no need to include national flags it looks childishBen200 (talk) 01:29, 12 July 2012 (UTC)

Flags next to clubs

The flags are next to the clubs. I wonder why the clubs are here at all but surely the flags if anywhere should be next to the players and their own flags used. I don't see why the nationalities of the clubs is relevant in any way. The table needs recasting. Britmax (talk) 13:48, 4 July 2012 (UTC)

See the section above - the table is the standard international team template. Pretty Green (talk) 09:26, 5 July 2012 (UTC)

I don't like having flags next to the clubs and not the players. I appreciate it's a standard format, but with the whole focus on the nationalities of the players in the text, it's only going to confuse people. It should either have no flags, or flags on both the clubs and players. I have no preference which. Cracker92 (talk) 18:29, 5 July 2012 (UTC)

I would have the flags of the players next to them and no clubs. We can find out which club the player is with in their articles and what have the clubs to do with the Olympics? Britmax (talk) 18:32, 5 July 2012 (UTC)

Again, it's a standard template, so I don't see any harm in it. Or, it has as much relevance as the nationality of the clubs of the players in the Spain national football team or Wales national football team or whoever.

It might just be easier to have no flags, however, due to the national focus in the text. Where flags cause controversy, it is better to have none than have arguments/confusion! --Pretty Green (talk) 18:41, 5 July 2012 (UTC)

Since flags have been reintroduced, it has caused further confusion with a number of (well-meaning) editors trying to change club flags to reflect player nationality. I am minded of this statement at WP:MOSFLAG: "If the use of flags in a list, table or infobox makes it unclear, ambiguous or controversial, it is better to remove the flags even if that makes the list, table or infobox inconsistent with others of the same type where no problems have arisen." I think this is very appropriate here. Pretty Green (talk) 10:17, 11 July 2012 (UTC)

Hi - I don't disagree and personally I dont care if the flags are there or not. However, the fact is people will keep screwing up the template by adding and deleting flags based on a personal view or misunderstanding of what the flags represent. The simplest solution is to put flags against both the players and the clubs - then no-one can misunderstand or gripe. It will all be over in a few weeks anyway. Cheers Pwimageglow (talk) 11:00, 11 July 2012 (UTC)

You're presuming that people will add flags. In the 17 hours that there were no flags on the article, no-one added them until you did. I disagree with the claim "The simplest solution is to put flags against both the players and the clubs - then no-one can misunderstand or gripe" - the above section on this talk page would suggest otherwise. As I say, I don't see why the standard advice shouldn't apply - if flags are going to confuse/complicate, don't bother with any. The more I think about it, the more I become actively against having flags.Pretty Green (talk) 11:16, 11 July 2012 (UTC)

17 hours? hardly a lifetime. You deleted them after 1 hour so if you have a point at all you just countered it. Flags have been added/deleted in various permutations since the squad was announced 2July. I wont be adding flags again but I think you'll be deleting flags for the next month and probably thereafter. Sometimes a practical approach is needed.Pwimageglow (talk) 12:27, 11 July 2012 (UTC)

<reduce indent> 17 hours wasn't proving anything I agree and maybe I've been proved wrong - the point I was making was that you also hadn't given not having them a chance. Anyway, someone has just added them so you might be right. I just think you weren't giving a potentially better outcome a chance. Pretty Green (talk) 17:08, 11 July 2012 (UTC)

Squad numbers

I was wondering where the squad numbers have come from? I can't find any mention of numbers on the internet anywhere but this page. Sam-cossey (talk) 13:38, 7 July 2012 (UTC)