Women's Team GB Football Side For Rio Scrapped After 'Home Nations' Nix Plan

England proposals for men’s Team GB football at the Rio Olympics "have already been kicked into the long grass by the other home nations -- and the women’s hopes are going in the same direction," according to Charles Sale of the London DAILY MAIL. There were strong hopes that a women’s team "could still represent GB in Brazil in 2016 when the strength of the opposition for Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland soon made it obvious that the men’s initiative was a non-starter." But the Celtic countries, "having been promised that the two football sides at London 2012 were a one-off, have informed the FA that they see no reason to treat women’s football any differently because it still threatens their independence -- however many times they’re reassured by FIFA that it won’t." The FA "will announce imminently that both Team GB football sides have been scrapped" (DAILY MAIL, 3/24).