File :-(, x, )
Anonymous
Hi folks,

maybe you can help me understand why England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland are allowed to send separate national teams to international competitions and do not participate as "United Kingdom".


Here are the the respective statutes of the UEFA:

Article 5

"Membership of UEFA is open to national football associations Members
situated in the continent of Europe, based in a country which is
recognised by the United Nations as an independent state, and
which are responsible for the organisation and implementation of
football-related matters in the territory of their country."

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>> Anonymous
Because england are the only good team at any nation sport in the UK..... Football we're the best, rugby the best, cricket LOL we're the best and all the other sports.... england are the best.
>> Anonymous
>>104569
Yet we're still shit on the world stage.
>> Anonymous
     File :-(, x)
brb, freedom
>> Anonymous
>>104574

Rugby World Cup finalists, and before that Champions.

And we still manage to beat most teams in cricket. Ignore the media constantly slagging off England, they expect World titles every year.
>> Anonymous
Each country of the UK does have its own football association, yet they all fall under the United Kingdom when recognised by the United Nations.

So to ensure each country of the UK can compete on their own (and not contradict Article 5), they decided to include Article 69.

Thats my take on it.
>> Anonymous
They shouldn't really be allowed do it, but they have been playing playing some of these sports longer so it's just a historical quirk I suppose. A British soccer team would be better than it's component parts but it's wouldn't have much support aside from British right wing facists and Scottish neo nazi rangers supporters. Not ideal really.

Having seperate sprts teams doesn't really mean anything in political terms though. It pacifies the populations of the UKs statelets ands allows them to assert their respective cultures and wave their flags, but there's no real push for independence from any of them. Typical working class mentality.
>> Anonymous
We invented it.
>> Anonymous
>>104583

What I'd like to know is how it works in terms of players declaring for different jurisdictions. For example they all have the same passport, so what's to stop a player declaring for England eve though he is born in Wales or Scotland? Does this not mean that England, as the best team from the Uk will always get first choice of world class players rom the Uk or is there some kind of gentleman's agreement? Apparently Northern Irland loses many players to the Republic of Irland because people born there can choose to have a British or Irish passport.
>> Anonymous
>>104594

It depends where you're born, and also your parents/grandparents nationality and also how long you have lived wherever you are.

Manuel Almunia could be eligible to play for England as he has never been selected for Spain and can claim citizenship in England as he has lived here for 5 years (or whatever the rules are).
>> Anonymous
>>104594

Also in Cricket, Kevin Pietersen was born and grew up in South Africa, but chose to play for England as his mother is English.
>> Anonymous
>>104604

But the point is: is there such a thing as English citizenship? I mean could Almunia declare for Scotland, as he has been resident of the UK for 5 years? Is it just a matter for the Scottish and English FA to sort out between themselves or would UEFA have an input?
>> Anonymous
>>104609

I guess as he is registered with the English FA and also lives in England, he couldn't just choose.

You're right though, he will receive a 'British' passport (if he opts to take it/if he hasn't already, im not sure).
>> Anonymous
>>104615
He probably did. Helps with the foreigner quota for the Champ League

or am I playing Football Manager too much
>> CapitalistBastard !!f/pELCnjRD0
Grandfathered in.

No true Scotsman could play under St. George's cross.
>> Anonymous
>>104583
>>104584

My question is: why does UEFA state explicitly that Scotland etc. are excluded from Article 5?

They don't give any reason.

I don't think you can base their permissions to play on the claim that they are "independent countries" with their own cultures and languages (which isn't defined legally).

Then other entities like the autonomous communites in Spain could also perticipate, given they found their own federations.

Having grandfathered in seems to be the (only?) explanation, but judicially it is questionable.
>> Anonymous
>>104588
This is the reason.
>> Anonymous
>>104609

British citizen yes, but he lived in England, not Scotland so he cannot play for Scotland. It's kind of like if Beckham had never played for England and lives in USA for 5 years, he could play for them...but not Canada, despite living in North America for all that time. Not best example but it's sometimes better to think of the UK as a mini-continent I guess.
>> Britannian Anonymous !4bbKDTSEQc
>>104540
Article 69 was added at the request of the 4 'home nations' credited with the invention of modern association football AKA soccer.

FIFA gave special dispensation for the four nations of the UK to enter separately as they each have their own football associations. This is why you never see a GBR/UK Olympic football team. Because London is hosting the games in 2012, there has been some debate about submitting a British football team, Sepp Blatter, the frenchie idiot in charge of FIFA was at first for it saying that it wouldn't affect the legitimacy of the four nations in FIFA or UEFA tournaments. However later he went against it saying that FIFA would want the UK to compete as one nation always should they do so in the Olympics. The GBR team never qualifies for the Olympic football tournament because they use the FIFA U-21 Euro tournaments as qualifiers. Even if England, Scotland, Wales etc were to win said tournament, they would not qualify because they don't exist separately in the Olympics. This would also upset everyone else as GBR would then have 4 Chances to qualify rather than just 1.
>> Anonymous
Britfag here. From England.

Truth is, no one likes Great Britain. I don't. I wish we would sever all ties from Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland. We always have had seperate football teams and when someone brought this up we all just said "lol no scotsmen are shit" and decided that was that.