British 2012 Olympic Team to Be All-English?

UK Sports Minister Gerry Sutcliffe said an all-British representative at the 2012 Olympic soccer tournament could comprise just of English players if Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales don’t cooperate. “[An all-English team] is the sad fact of what is going to happen unless we can try and resolve this issue," Sutcliffe said.

Opposition of a team that would also include players from Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales are their respective federations, who despite written assurances by FIFA that involvement “would not threaten the interests of the individual associations,” still fear that participation in the Olympics as part of a join Great Britain team “could jeopardize their independence and voting rights” within the world’s governing body.

A combined British team has support from Prime Minister Gordon Brown, but his recent suggestion that the team could be coached by fellow Scot Alex Ferguson was not met with the same enthusiasm (read: thanks, but no thanks).