Hi! I´m Swedish so I´m not very knowledgeable about your leagues, but I was just wondering why the leagues of Northern Ireland, Scotland, Wales and England are not combined into a national league for Great Britain?? And on the same subject, why don´t Great Britain have a single, unified national team? Wouldn´t that improve the football all over the country since it seems to be a huge leap in class between for example English Premier League clubs (Liverpool) and the best clubs in Wales (TNS)? I fear TNS will be gumiliated in the upcoming Champions League qualification clash tomorrow... Or is a matter of local pride, independence or cultural differences?? Please enlighten me...
Hi! I'm English so I'm not very knowledgeable about your leagues, but I was just wondering why the leagues of Denmark, Norway and Sweden are not combined into a national league for Scandinavia?? And on the same subject, why don´t Scandinavia have a single, unified national team? Wouldn´t that improve the football all over the peninsula since it seems to be a huge leap in class between for example Swedish, Norwegian and Danish club teams and those from the bigger trophy winning competitions such as the English Premiership, Italian Serie A and Spanish La Liga... Or is it a matter of local pride, independence or cultural differences?? Please enlighten me...
No need to be sarcastic! I´m just curious, and sure a Scandinavian league is something I would like, but that doesn´t answer my question to you, and UK is still one country, so a unified league and national league would seem more natural than combining the leagues of three different countries.
Toon: yes, but they would have to improve if they had to compete with English clubs which would likely improve the standard of their clubs a lot...
Yes it does answer your question. Scotland and Wales are nations, therefore they should have their own national teams and national leagues. Simple as that.
sendorange: Not nations like Sweden, Denmark and Norway? You still have the same currency, language, military and government, right? And isn´t Great Britain competing as a nation in Olympic Games?
I don't want a British team, i see myself as english not british, i even wish went into the olympics as England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.
The scots and welsh have there own languages (no used much) and govenments..they have very strong national identities and so have there own football leagues..It is also a good thing that they have there own leagues. it allows the people of these areas to see players born there play and clubs from that area play in europe..if iwas all grouped into a british league and national side then no scottish or welsh sides would qualify and next to no players would be picked for the national side
Toon: yes, but don´t you think the Welsh, North Irish and Scot teams would improve dramatically if they merged with the English league? At least Celtic and Glasgow Rangers would have potential, and I think those teams would improve by playing against tougher opposition each week...
No because all the english clubs wouldn't let the other clubs into the tv deals that they have at the moment...it's never going to happen so it doesn't really matter
It's not a sensetive subject for me. There are other examples of other nations being politically bound but competing separately. After all they are different nations if you get my point. Great Britain is a political union between different nations but they're still individual nations.
To take this to your ultimate conclusion if I may Daniel. Would you expect their to be a unified team representing all of the EU?
Without wishing to get too serious, the idea that the "nations" of the UK are nations in the same was as, for instance, the member states of the EU (to validate that analogy) is nonsense. The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland is a nation in the legal, geopolitical and, preponderantly, the social and cultural way as well. There are many good and valid reasons why there should not be a Great Britain league or team in this or any other sport, but this hooey about it not being a nation is just daft.
Agreed agreed never in your dreams scouse! such as the Scandinavian or European argument to start with! agreed! One question I have, is why are you answering an obvious troll moderator???
I don't think it is an obvious troll, but even if it is, my actual reply was aimed at a subsequent contributor and their use of the old "Britain is not a nation" misconception. As to the cultural and social homogeneity across the four constituent parts of the British nation, you're having a laugh if you think there's no such thing. Just because you don't deep-fry your Mars bars doesn't mean 2000 years on the same island hasn't made us all merely different shades of the same colour.
Sorry, but you are inaccurate on this. Nation = a grouping of people sharing a common identity or origin. Country = denominating a territory. State = a legitimised administrative institution. Scotland, Wales and England are nations and countries which are part of the sovereign state of the United Kingdom. So although Scotland and Wales are not seperate sovereign states in their own right, they are nations and should be entitled to their own national teams. As stated in my post. Examples of other nations which are not sovereign states in their own right, but have FIFA recognised national teams: Faroe Islands, Puerto Rico, Tibet and several others I can't be bothered to look up.
I think we should have a Commonwealth team, no bollocks an old Empire team, we wouldn't have anyone to play against but it might stop all the 'Team' GB threads.
Right - like the British. Look, I'm not arguing in favour of a British team, nor am I denying anyone their right to view their own strand of interbred Island DNA as somehow distinct from the general melting pot (as inaccurate and illogical as this is). I just wanted to move the debate about why we don't have a combined team on from the red herring pretence that the constituent tribes of the British Isles are somehow the principle and best reason. Far better and more real reasons abound, like for instance the fact that the last good Scottish footballer is nearing pensionable age, or the fact that allowing the Welsh to join would compel the rest of us to learn really crappy valley hymns and have odious hicks like Robbie Savage and Craig Bellamy represent our nation on the world stage.
What's funny is that despite your snide little tirade, they do actually have a combined competition for those countries now. Also those three countries are autonomous, Northern Ireland, Wales and Scotland are not. So it's at least a fair question...
Despite your ignorant post, I will give you a response. Firstly Scotland, Northern Ireland and Wales are autonomous to varying extents. The Welsh Assembly, Scottish Parliament... I don't expect you to be aware of them though, that would be asking more than 10 seconds of research In any case the degree and extent of autonomy is largely irrelevant in this context. They are nations. They are entitled to their own national teams and national leagues. As for the Royalleague as an example, that is a glorified friendly tournament, designed primarily to generate money for the out of season Norwegian and Swedish clubs. Comparing that to the Premiership is like comparing the Champions World Tours to the Champions League. Ridiculous.