The Olympic football is going to be brilliant! There I said it.
You would be forgiven for thinking that these tournaments were nothing special given the negativity of the mainstream media and the thousands of unsold tickets. You’d be forgiven, but you’d be wrong.
I’ll start by addressing the myriad of mistakes made by the FA, LOCOG, Team GB an Stuart Pearce before ending on a high and telling you why it will be great despite them.
Tickets, tickets, tickets
Most sane and rational people (I like to think I can count myself among them) can see the numerous inherent flaws in the London 2012 ticketing system. With Olympic football it’s even worse. I will break this section down into a list.
1. Olympic football tickets went on sale before the draw for the tournament was made. That’s right, they expected tickets to sell for fixtures that hadn’t been announced. This also ensured that there was no initial burst of sales when the draw was made.
2. Speaking of the draw, it received less attention than the Challenge Cup does in England. Nothing says underwhelming than ignoring all opportinities for pre-tournament excitement.
3. Despite a lack of sales, all olympic sports were treated the same and there were periods when tickets could not be bought. Fair enough for the 100m final but when you have half empty stadia maybe just leave ticket sales open.
4. You cannot specify which stand you want to sit in nevermind which seat. For those who are going to see some of the football at Hampden like me, this matters.
5. The pricing structure is weird, unjust and hard to fathom. Under 16s and over 60s get a concession on the two lower tiers of tickets but not the top tier. Don’t want kids and codgers rubbing shoulders with the corporate types do we? Also, bizarrely given the state of the economy, there are no concessions offered for students, the unwaged or disabled people. Twenty pounds is a reasonable price for a ticket but what were they thinking trying to offload them at forty and fifty quid.
Team “GB”
So that’s the organising side. Let’s look at Team GB who we’re meant to be getting behind. They should have been called Team UK so as not to exclude Northern Ireland and in the end for the men’s football they are Team England & Wales.
I have to say I’m glad there are no Scots in the team and I will feel sorry for Wales when Blatter uses this in the future to get rid of their national team. For many others however the lack of any Scottish or Northern Irish players is a big turn off. I find it hard to believe there were none willing who were good enough. Even a token gesture might have persuaded cynics like me. But no. Pearce doesn’t get it.
His role is not to win Olympic gold, it’s to make us care about an under 23 football tournament. Which is why another mistake he made was leaving Beckham out. I’m no fan of Beckham but I will happily admit that the guy has done his bit to support the olympics. Picking him would have been a little reward and also would maybe have shifted some tickets to tourists who don’t know much about British football but have heard of David Beckham.
Pearce could only pick 3 overage players and I think Giggs and Bellamy are fair enough but Micah Richards? He is a good enough player but he’s 24! A year over the age limit, Pearce could have picked any player from four countries as his third overage player and he picked a 24 year old defender. Maybe he just hates Beckham or football or Scottish people. Who knows?
They know FA
With what wisdom did the FA reach the decision where they excluded players who had played in England’s four games in June from competing in the Olympics? Pearce has avoided making popular team selections and the FA have prevented him from making the best team selections. No Walcott or Oxelaide-Chamberlain in this side!
It does then beg the question – what are the men’s team hoping to achieve?
Corinthian spirit
On the bright side Team GB women’s team could actually do something in this tournament. The continuing professionalisation of the Women’s game globally including the Super League in England means that the standard is higher than ever. For all of the cynics, hacks and past it pundits who deride women’s football I say bring ten friends and we can test this Billie Jean King style. Team GB’s opening match will be the first televised event of the olympics – watch it and judge for yourself.
Then of course we have some genuine class amongst the talent in the men’s game. No less than three Euro 2012 winners – Mata, Alba and Martinez – will be in the Spanish squad playing at Hampden on Thursday. They’re up against Japan so it should be an interesting game. Other sides have also gone the way of Spain rather than Team GB bringing squads to win and not appeasing their league clubs.
Another great thing is double headers. Two matches back to back on some if the dates. It’s a feast of international football. It’s an opportunity to see a mix of international stars and teams from countries you’ve never seen play in your country before.
Hampden will be hosting a Women’s quarter final but sadly none of the men’s tournament beyond the group stages.
Olympic football is going to be great.
Always play to the whistle! 