Football at the Olympics

[ewenm]

It seems the British football fans haven't embraced the Olympic matches. Of the 2.3m tickets still available for London 2012, apparently 1.7m of them are for the football. Given that (outside the one Olympic month every 4 years) football is the most popular sport in the UK, why are all these tickets still available? Should football even be an Olympic sport?

[TheBear]

IMO no it shouldn't. Same as Tennis.

Is the pinnacle of either of those sports an Olympic gold medal? Not in my opinion.

[Raify]

It doesn't really surprise me, Olpympic football isn't the pinnacle of the sport, the World Cup is. That plus the fact the teams have to be mostly under 23 (or something like that) means it's mosltly an irrelevance.

[ewenm]

TheBear said:

IMO no it shouldn't. Same as Tennis.

Is the pinnacle of either of those sports an Olympic gold medal? Not in my opinion.

I'd agree with that as a rule-of-thumb for whether a sport should be in the Olympics.

However, the Tennis is sold out, so I guess Tennis fans are still keen to see their heroes competing despite it not being the pinnacle of the sport. I suppose there are more opportunities for football fans to watch world class players each week, plus not all the top football players will be at the Olympics anyway, so less incentive for fans to apply for tickets.

[anonymous-user]

i think the fact that a British team is yet to be fully announced is the reason why it hasnt attracted much attention. i think the teams are 8 under 23s then a few of the older players are eligible. should be good fun, lots of countries have good young players and a fair few foreign premiership players could be there.

for those who werent aware, there has been an concern that should a british team be entered, fifa and uefa would put pressure on something similar for european and world cup championships as the could argue a precedence. this obviously doesnt sit well with the welsh, scots, irish and northern irish who would, it could be argued, hardly feature in a team.

i think beckham was pushing for himself to be included in the olympic squad to boost appeal....

anyway, I've got tickets for the bronze medal game and four group games over two sessions so i'm pleased!!

[Stevenj214]

It could be a bit more interesting if olympic football was restricted to amateurs - as with boxing.

[bluebear]

Stevenj214 said:

It could be a bit more interesting if olympic football was restricted to amateurs - as with boxing.

+1

[Randy Winkman]

I agree with those that say a sport should only be in the Olympics if it's the pinnacle. And that's irrespective of how many people want to watch it.