Welsh national football team must be defended – Plaid AM
15 Hydref 2008
Plaid Cymru Assembly Member for South Wales West, Bethan Jenkins, has tabled a statement of opinion at the National Assembly opposing a Great Britain football team for the 2012 Olympics.
Olympics chief Lord Coe this week was reported to have claimed there will be a British side at the 2012 Games – whether Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland like it or not.
Prime Minister Gordon Brown has also given his backing to the idea although leading figures in world football have warned that such a precedent would create a precedent that could threaten the right of the home nations to field their own football teams at future international tournaments.
Speaking today, Ms Jenkins said:
“Our proud footballing tradition goes back more than a hundred and thirty years. Despite our lack of success in qualifying for international tournaments in recent years, our loss of a national team would be a damaging blow to our sporting identity.
I call on all my colleagues at the Assembly to sign this statement of opinion which echoes the sentiments already expressed by the Assembly Government on this matter. We must not let London’s expensive Olympics cost us our national football team as well as our lottery funding.”
ENDS
Notes to Editors
The Statement of Opinion reads:
Defending the Welsh National Football Team
The National Assembly:
Supports the Football Association of Wales’ opposition to the creation of a Great Britain football team for the 2012 Olympics;
Supports the continuation of separate national teams for the nations of the United Kingdom;
Opposes any steps which would jeopardise Wales’ footballing independence;
Congratulates the strong stance taken by the Government of Wales in opposition to these proposals.
