Olympic football: Why footballers are justified to snub the tournament

“Now onto the Olympics. Don’t know what to make of it. Anybody know what the opposition is like? I’m presuming GB have got a great chance?”

This tweet from former England international Micheal Owen pretty much sums up the place of football in the Olympics. Ever since the advent of the game, football competition in the Olympics hasn’t really taken off like other major football international tournaments. These days, the competition is used by the teams to exhibit their talented youngsters and doesn’t even feature in the official calendar of FIFA.

So, who is to blame? At first, it might seem like the blame lies in the U-23 rule that FIFA has formulated. Yet, the rule also provisions for three over-aged players in the team. In an ideal world, a country’s best players would be fighting for those three spots. However, in this real world, management is struggling to find the players to fill the three spots. So, why are the footballers opting out of the Olympics? Does national glory not matter to them?

Patriotism – Nation before self

In today’s world, sportpersons in every field are in the sport for individual glory, and footballers are no different. Take the case of cricketers, who are known to place national duties ahead of everything else. As cricket has a limited geography in terms of fan following, much of the popularity for a cricketer is attained through playing and performing for his country. Therefore, cricketers are cautious about publicly announcing their preference for a club over the nation. In any circumstances, if they find that foregoing national duties in any way does not affect their stardom, they wouldn’t give a second thought about chasing greener pastures at the expense of national duty. Chris Gayle’s antics are a prime example of that attitude from cricketers. Similarly, for other sportspersons, Olympics is the biggest sporting extravaganza to showcase their talents. That is the reason why they reserve their best in the Olympics, not because they put nation before themselves.

On the other hand, Football is a global sport with followers spread across the globe. Just like Gayle’s, a player’s decision to not to turn up for the national team does not make him any less popular. Moreover, in the football world, the very concept of patriotism is based on a flawed reasoning. How does the mere coincidence of a player being born in a certain county mean that the player owes anything for that country? If there is any allegiance, at all, to be honored, it is with the clubs that play a very important role in moulding a player’s talent in the early years of his career.

The case of tennis players and cyclists is not very different from that of footballers. Take, for example, Bradley Wiggins, who has decided to spend all his energy in winning the Tour de France title rather than win a gold medal for Great Britain. The same holds true with numerous tennis players.

Hence, with the nation’s glory truly out of the picture, Olympics, for a footballer, becomes just another tournament to showcase his talent. But it does not appeal to him like other major tournaments do for following reasons:

The unworthy lineage

With all due respect to the French, does anyone rate Roland Garros as mother of all grand slams? Not many do because, over the years, the Grand Slam has produced winners who weren’t regarded as great players- Gauston Gaudio, Carlos Moya, Albert Costa (in recent times). Similarly, Olympics is never viewed in the same league as other major tournaments because it has been won by teams not worthy of remembrance- Belgium, Poland, Cameroon, Nigeria; teams that can hardly be classified as great.

So, when a footballer competes in the Olympics, what is at stake is a chance to be grouped in the same league as other gold winning predecessors; hardly an achievement he can be proud of.

Another brick in the wall

Consider the already stated decision of Bradley Wiggins. Another one of greedy scum, you might think. Now, if I put forward the same question to you, what would you choose- Become the first Briton in the history to win the Tour de France or be another one of 40 odd people, who win a gold medal for Great Britain. I am sure, you would have no second thoughts about the answer.

This case is especially true for footballers from US, Germany, Great Britain, Russia & Australia. For, even if they do win a gold medal, they will end up as another one among the crowd.

Off the calendar

You have buried yourself in the library for twelve months. You have finished your board exams. You are done with your practicals. Now, you want enjoy the summers. Just then, you are asked to write another set of exams for a scholarship. Do you really care for the scholarship?

The Olympics for footballers is very much alike this scholarship test. Footballers’ season is packed with nearly 65 competitive games. They will be craving for a break at the end of the grueling season. So, another tournament is too much to ask from them.

Viewership

This is a no brainer. Performers need audiences; singers need them, magicians need them and footballers are no different. Bigger the crowds better the performance. At one end, we have 500 million club football spectators and at the other end there are 1.5 million unsold stadium tickets. It’s no choice for the players.