AM speaks against UK football team for 2012
26 Awst 2008
Plaid Cymru Assembly Member for South Wales West, Bethan Jenkins, has rejected calls for a UK football team to compete at the next Olympics.
Ms Jenkins’ comments come as Wales welcomes its Olympians back home following Wales’ best showing at the Olympics in over 100 years.
Neath-based Ms Jenkins said:
“I firstly want to congratulate all those athletes from Wales who performed terrifically in the Beijing games. We should all be truly proud of their remarkable achievements. We should take confidence from their performance which goes to prove that Wales is more than capable of competing at the highest level.”
Ms Jenkins expressed opposition to Gordon Brown’s hopes for a UK football team at the 2012 Olympics in London.
Ms Jenkins added:
“Gordon Brown’s push for a UK football team threatens the future of the Welsh football team. FIFA chief Sepp Blatter has on more than one occasion said that if the UK fields a team at the Olympics, then football associations across the world will ask why there cannot be a single team for the UK at all competitions.
“More than a hundred years of Welsh football tradition are under threat should Gordon Brown get his way. Welsh fans will not forgive the sacrificing of their right to a team in the name of Gordon Brown’s obsession.
“It is time to iron out the inconsistency in world sport and allow Wales to compete as a nation at every level, including the Olympic Games.”
ENDS
Notes to Editors
For Further information please contact Steffan Lewis on 07961 732 405
