[py0alb]

(Original post by Schmucks)
You have Gordon Smith's word and the decision from 2 or 3 decades ago to back up your argument there. Meanwhile, we have some of the best players in the world wanting to play for their country, and the best youngsters the world has to offer already playing in the competition.

But you're right, lets rule out the biggest, most loved sport there is. It must be embarrassing to see some of the best athletes competing come from Football's creche when you're a curler, eh?

What? Your pro-football bias is just shining through now.


Are you actually telling me with a straight face that you honestly think that if we made Olympic football open to everyone, then each nation would field its strongest teams, only a couple of weeks after euro 2012 has finished?

[Schmucks]

(Original post by py0alb)
What? Your pro-football bias is just shining through now.


Are you actually telling me with a straight face that you honestly think that if we made Olympic football open to everyone, then each nation would field its strongest teams, only a couple of weeks after euro 2012 has finished?

My 'pro-football bias'? Sorry, do you know me? If anything, i'm negatively biased towards football based on the way the sport has gone in the last decade or two. But hey, keep your guard up and all that.

No, that's ludicrous. But had you known about the petitions I spoke of earlier, you'd know the suggestions made wouldn't mean there's only a two week lay-off. I'll let you read into that at your own leisure as well, but basically there'd be alterations in dates for the competitions to work, amongst other more complicated switches. Though, even if Europe was to take a lenient edge on the Olympic Games, would that be a problem? The majority of sports invovled in the Olympics always have certain regions not competing in them as they just aren't good enough or aren't prepared. Why should football automatically be burdened by requirements for all corners of the globe competing? No other sport is held under that demand at the Olympics.

There's also not a major Track and Field tournemant coming just weeks before the Olympics in Europe, so really that's a moo-point.

Nobody is saying the Olympics should be the bread and butter of football, or the pinacle. To say the top footballers don't want to compete in it, or that football hasn't moved on from wanting all ages involved is incredibly false. It's also incredibly narrow-minded to think the world biggest sport shouldn't be included, yet something like shooting should...

[py0alb]

(Original post by Schmucks)
My 'pro-football bias'? Sorry, do you know me? If anything, i'm negatively biased towards football based on the way the sport has gone in the last decade or two. But hey, keep your guard up and all that.
.

says the guy with celebrating footballers in his signature


What are you doing about baseball then? have you started a petition. You must be outraged I would imagine. Either that or you're a rampant hypocrite.

[Schmucks]

(Original post by py0alb)
says the guy with celebrating footballers in his signature


What are you doing about baseball then? have you started a petition. You must be outraged I would imagine. Either that or you're a rampant hypocrite.

So because I watch a Football team, that means my views on the overall game are going to be positive? Have you never felt passionately about something but felt it's being run in the wrong way? Yeah, it's an impossible feeling.

And it's not hypocrisy to not know about the Baseball situation, it's just a lack of knowledge towards the sport. It's like you have a ****ing agenda or something. It's tiresome.

I can talk about the football situation because I know about the football situation. Just because I'm not up to date on Baseball's issues of the day doesn't make what i've said hypocritical.

[py0alb]

(Original post by Schmucks)
So because I watch a Football team, that means my views on the overall game are going to be positive? Have you never felt passionately about something but felt it's being run in the wrong way? Yeah, it's an impossible feeling.

And it's not hypocrisy to not know about the Baseball situation, it's just a lack of knowledge towards the sport. It's like you have a ****ing agenda or something. It's tiresome.

I can talk about the football situation because I know about the football situation. Just because I'm not up to date on Baseball's issues of the day doesn't make what i've said hypocritical.

It was removed from the Olympic program because the best athletes did not compete for one reason or another. Exactly the same thing that you think isn't an issue with football.

My agenda is consistency. I don't see why football should be allowed to get away with things that other sports would not.

[Schmucks]

(Original post by py0alb)
It was removed from the Olympic program because the best athletes did not compete for one reason or another. Exactly the same thing that you think isn't an issue with football.

My agenda is consistency. I don't see why football should be allowed to get away with things that other sports would not.

Woah, now you're assuming things. Back in 1988 football wasn't considered seriously in terms of the Olympics. If we were under the same impressions as back then, i'd have no qualms about keeping the sport as it is in the Olympics (not that it deserved removing like you seem to think, that's ludicrous and again a bit of an agenda). Things have changed though - Times have changed. You fail to see that though for one reason or another, despite having the information put infront of you.

I guess i'm just a biased football fan though.

[ned0]

Of course it has a place. It's only GB that doesn't really have a team and take it seriously. But that's really just an excuse because it's yet another tournament that you (insert any British country, but let's face it, mainly Eng-a-land) would fail to win, yet think that you should - we cries of, 'we was robbed'.

[Gridiron-Gangster]

(Original post by Aramiss18)
http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/olym...2/15835038.stm

"World 400m hurdles champion Dai Greene tells BBC Wales Sport reporter Simon Davies why he thinks football has "no place" at the Olympic Games."

Genuine gripe or a person scared that he won't get his name in the papers? If it's all about the medal and not the fame surely football being in the olympics isn't an issue.

Discuss.

I'd say the latter. Football has been in the Olympics since 1900 and some 30-odd years before a World Cup was organised. It's as much a part of the Olympics as Track & Field annd Gymnastics. It's mainly a British thing not to take Olympic football seriously seeing as we never really have a Team GB for Football whereas the South American and African nations take it very seriously. It is an important part of the Olympics and being the world's most popular sport it's undoubtedly going attract a large number of viewing figures. I don't buy the whole "Football has no place in the Olympics thing". For a lot of African and Asian nations it represents their best chance of winning a major tournamennt not to mention an opporrtunity to assess their up and coming talent against the rest of the footballing world a good two years before the World Cup. I'm all for Football at the Olympics.

Personally I hope this isn't the first or last time we see a Team GB football team. I don't think FIFA would object to Team GB participating in an Olympics every 4 years and allowing the home nations to preserve their status, even if Team GB is going to consist of mainly England players.

Frankly our young players could do with all the experience of major tournaments they can get. I have tickets to GB's group games and the quarters, semis and the final and I'm looking forward to it and who knows maybe Team GB can go all the way?

[Arkan]

Football has been at every Olympics with the exception of two.

Why is he only just saying this now?

[Slosh]

Community:

Professor Ian Duncan: Cor! What an exciting first half!
Jeff Winger: Yeah, zero-zero...

[Hopple]

(Original post by Slosh)
Community:

Professor Ian Duncan: Cor! What an exciting first half!
Jeff Winger: Yeah, zero-zero...

Well, if everyone was level after 45 minutes in a 400m race, there must have been a hell of a lot of excitement, no need to write off the event just because it isn't decided in 45 minutes.

[TRS-T]

Football is the biggest sport in the world so of course it should be at the Olympics.

[Slosh]

(Original post by Hopple)
Well, if everyone was level after 45 minutes in a 400m race, there must have been a hell of a lot of excitement, no need to write off the event just because it isn't decided in 45 minutes.

Ignoring the fact that that means an average speed of 0.3mph...

If everyone was still at the start line after 45 minutes of a 400m race there would have been no excitement at all. And I guess 45 minutes is too small a window to judge a sport that takes so long for points to be scored

[Hopple]

(Original post by Slosh)
Ignoring the fact that that means an average speed of 0.3mph...

If everyone was still at the start line after 45 minutes of a 400m race there would have been no excitement at all. And I guess 45 minutes is too small a window to judge a sport that takes so long for points to be scored

Oh, I meant there'd probably have been a few false starts, pistol not working, a fight breaking out, pitch invasion etc.

[Slosh]

(Original post by Hopple)
Oh, I meant there'd probably have been a few false starts, pistol not working, a fight breaking out, pitch invasion etc.

Whilst I imagine 45 minutes of that would become stale very quickly that is true :P (and the times when animals invade football pitches is funny ) But that would very likely be a one off event compared to thousands of football matches :P

[HeyyImRyan]

It's not a new thing... Football has been in the Olympics a very long time, and the squad of players isn't a role call of elite professional players either.

Only three people in the team can be over 23, and most of the best under-23 players have been called up to the Euro 2012 squad anyway...so really it's just a good experience for the players not quite up to national team standard - what's wrong with that?

For people saying it takes up TV time - it's been on TV for several olympics now and we've never had that problem before? Basketball, Tennis, Cycling etc. all have events, why cant football?

Would you consider a tennis player winning the Olympics better than winning Wimbledon?
Would you consider a long distance cyclist winning the Olympics better than winning the Tour De France?

No, so it shouldn't be different for football.

[a.partridge]

(Original post by A for Andromeda)
Professional footballers have no place in the olympics.

??? what ??? it's not the eurovision song contest - the athletes at the olympics are professionals in their sports. What a bizarre thing to say, maybe they would let me on the british olympic football team?

Also to the main point - football may not be an athletic event is no less a sport than:

handball,
water polo,
synchronized swimming,
table tennis,
sailing,
hockey,
beach volleyball,
basketball,
badminton

so if you were to scrap football you would have to lose all of these too