The GB Football Team for London 2012: What’s All the Fuss About?

In this chapter, extracts from debates between English football fans interacting in an online discussion forum prior to the 2012 Olympics (June 2008–September 2009) are presented to highlight how the GB football team issue was strongly interconnected to British identity politics in the early twenty-first century by these fans. Examples of support for and examples of arguments against the GB football team are presented before disclosing what actually happened in the immediate build-up and aftermath of the 2012 Olympic football tournament. The future prospect of a truly representative UK football team is then critically analysed in the conclusion. These keywords were added by machine and not by the authors. This process is experimental and the keywords may be updated as the learning algorithm improves.