In 2012 will England compete as 'England', without being held up by Scotland & Wales?

Question

Seriously England need to grow some decency and compete on their own, i still don't see how they could possibly say that in every other area of life their Independent countries, yet choose to combine to form ONE team at the Olympics...

Answer 1

I think its the queen who decided that its GB and not england, Wales and Scotland. I guess she is the only one who can change it.

If you take the amount of medals won by a Welsh or a Scot, then England would be pretty low on the medal table - so you should be happy to have us at the moment.

If the british are holding the 2012 olympics under Gb then they probably won't be allowed to change it. Nor can they take Welsh or scottish taxpayer's money. That would be unfair.  

Answer 2

G’day Mate. (I write ‘Strine but would never dream of attempting an accent, don’t worry) I just wrote a long and incredibly witty answer and got timed out.  You would have laughed sooooo much.

Me again, me again, me again, (shakes head ruefully and smiles in a patronising fashion).  Stop winding us up.  You know full well that the historical countries of England, (Northern) Ireland, Scotland and Wales have been joined by conquest, politics and heredity since the Acts of Union of 1707 and 1800.  Many people support devolution or full independence, but at the moment we may be ethnically Scottish (or whatever) but we carry British passports, listen and watch The British Broadcasting Corporation, shop in British Home Stores, abhor The British National Party (who are almost entirely English ironically enough), are fleeced by British Gas, wish British Rail had not been privatised, and complain about the prices on British Airways as we book our no-frills Ryan Air flight.

I expect more of the Australians, if you persist with this wilful misunderstanding you are in danger of sounding like someone from that other country we will not name for fear of reprisals!  Mind you at least you understand that we don’t all live in thatched cottages in Old London Town.

Most go now, I’ve got to pick a pocket or two, gorblimey guvner, or maybe sweep a few chimneys, chim chiminee cheroo.  Actually I need to sort the laundry and feed the cats.

Answer 3

Yes, they should be all separate!

Read what the Australians are going on about the Whining Poms (English). So true!

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NOT so fast, Sassenachs. As it turns out, English sporting superiority over we antipodean colonials in Beijing - as if there could ever be such a thing - has been greatly exaggerated.

The Pommy gloating that has gone on for the past week over this supposed Olympic supremacy is based on nothing more than a sleight of hand.

It relies entirely on the old parlour trick of throwing Scots and Welsh and Northern Irish - as they have done whenever they have needed cannon fodder in wars - onto the Olympic podiums and having them sing God Save The Queen.

The other seven claimed by the Poms were in fact won under the nonsensical banner of Great Britain with the help of the Scots and Welsh and a cyclist who was born in Belgium to an Australian father whose genes were obviously passed on.

Answer 4

It is interesting that for the Olympic Games it is United Kingdom of Great Britain but in the Commonwealth Games IT is England, Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales.

Then we shall see how good the poms are.

Answer 5

I agree we should compete seperately, But how dare you state that you are being held up by wales, Take 4 gold medals of the table then if we're holding you up, Take 5 silvers, and 2 bronze, How rude and ignorant.

England won't be the one deiciding that either, Wales and Scotland want independence so they arent HELD UP by England.

Good day.

Cachwr.  

Answer 6

What would be the point in that? England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland are not recognized internationally as separate countries, they are constitutional countries within the UK, which is a country. We don't have the "English army" do we? it's the British army. The only reason in things like rugby, football and cricket we compete separately is because we can only ever compete against one other nation at a time. In the olympics as you know you are competing against the whole world. Off the top of my head i can think of at least 4 golds won by the Welsh and Scots this Olympics. It wouldn't look good if we were all well down the table in four years time, especially with it being on our home turf, because that's what would happen if we did compete separately. Let us be a British team for once!

Edit:- I've just read that article gizmo posted, and Aussies say that WE whine? Bloody h**l! After reading that i just hope that we get 4 more golds so we can say we have TWICE as many champions as they do! IF we have to compete as England, Scotland, Wales, N. Ireland thats fine. I just wonder where on the medal table Tasmania, Victoria, NSW, Queensland, WA, NT & SA will end up?!

Answer 7

GB at the olympics is historical, it's just the way that it happened when the modern games came around.

Football is different - the first ever international game of football was between Scotland and England - THERE IS NO WAY THAT A GB FOOTBALL TEAM WILL EVER EXIST WITH THAT HERITAGE.

The ways that GB or England / Scotland / Wales / Northern Ireland compete as one or individualy is purely down to the way each sporting event evolved. So why bother changing it because a bunch of Aussies are whingeing?  It's the way it has been for 100+ years so get over it!