Craig Reedie
The following is a post that I made on the 12th Sept, 2005, on the CEP News Blog.
Craig Reedie
Here is what UEFA said about England on their Euro 2004 website:
"While the vast array of mysterious Neolithic monuments - most famously Stonehenge - are testimony to a history which stretches back as far as 4000BC, the indigenous people of England had been overrun by invaders many times before the 19th century, therefore making any concept of an English nation dubious."
Their latest offering that I would like to highlight on these pages is from the UEFA.com magazine, which informs us that:
British Olympic Association boss Craig Reedie, himself a Scot, believes a UK team would improve the tournament. ""There are all sorts of ways of doing it and I do think the Scots' concerns are misplaced,"" Reedie said. Former Scotland captain Colin Hendry supported Reedie. ""I think it would be a good idea,"" he said. ""But only for the Olympics. I wouldn't want it for the other competitions."
If you are opposed to the creation of a British football team then you might like to email Craig Reedie at craig.reedie@boa.org.uk
Why only for the Olympics? What is so special about the Olympics that we have to merge our football teams? And if we merge them for the Olympics then why not just merge them for all competitions? It seems to me that certain people are more interested in the Olympics than they are in football. Football fans, be they English, Scottish, Welsh or Northern Irish, should oppose a British football team.
Three years later I'm delighted to read that Sir Craig Reedie has recently failed to win election to the International Olympic Committee executive board. IOC president Jacques Rogge offered the following words of condolence:
"I understand the natural disappointment and you are a great sport and come from a country that invented sportsmanship. You have our total confidence."
Scots invented a lot of things - great and wondrous things - but, with the greatest of respect Jacques, I don't think sportsmanship was one of them.
Craig Reedie was knighted in the 2006 New Year's Honours list, one of many involved in the London 2012 bid to have been gifted a gong for their services to Britishness.
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I remember that first quote.
I remember that first quote. It always struck me as horribly racist (purity = nationhood) - and heaven's know how the Scots and Welsh held themselves above all these "invaders" to retain the kind of ethnic purity UEFA 2004 seemed to believe was necessary to be a non-"dubious" nation.
As nations are political constructs, it made me wonder how Britain or the UK could possibly be considered to be anything at all, being larger and more mixed than England.
But UEFA never gave its views on that. In trying to be PC, the organisation came across as being something else entirely.
Stonehenge pre-dates England
Stonehenge pre-dates England - and Scotland or Wales - anyway. How ignorant and downright bigoted were UEFA in 2004?
"the indigenous people of
"the indigenous people of England had been overrun by invaders many times before the 19th century, therefore making any concept of an English nation dubious"
I hadn't seen that quote before, thanks Toque! Words fail me, what offensive drivel.
I suppose the concept of English liberty that inspired Voltaire and enabled this country to twice fight wars last century to liberate Europe from tyranny is of no consequence.
Interesting how it implies a racial purity outside of England. Who wrote this, the Nazi Party??!