Football Nationalism (acutally, Provincialism)

Through a slightly confusing story about football (or soccer for my American readers), let me try to explain the nationalism associated within the United Kingdom and the Republic of Ireland. With the London 2012 Olympics rapidly approaching, the International Olympic Committee is pressuring the country of the United Kingdom of Great Britain & Northern Ireland (yes, this is the country's official name) to establish a "Team GB" to represent the whole of the nation rather than the four individual provinces (England, Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland). Sounds simple enough right? Well that's not the case in the region where the sport of modern football was founded and where deep roots of pride and rivalry for one's province against the others. When the original constitution for the primary football authority (FIFA) was written for international competition, it was decided that at least one vice president on overseeing the sport must be from one of these small provinces. This means that until the FIFA rules are changed, any suggestion of creating a unified team GB will be vetoed by the overseeing vice president. Meanwhile, none of the provincial teams are able to compete in international competition because only nation states are allowed to enter. In FIFA competition the teams outside of England haven't succeeded in decades, but this is no matter for their loyal fans who would rather not have a team than to root for the team under the Union Jack (see below).

The "Union Jack", flag of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland hangs high outside of many buildings in Belfast and throughout the country, but does not represent any of the provinces independently. The reason it is outside of more of many places in Northern Ireland may be more about making a statement of being tied to the United Kingdom than anything though as you also see Irish flags here (see below) which represent the Republicans living in Northern Ireland who believe it should be a part of the Republic of Ireland.

Flag of England

Flag of Northern Ireland

Flag of Scotland

Flag of Wales

Flag of the Republic of Ireland (Not associated with any of the above flags except by close proximity)

On a sort of related note, the tension between the Republic of Ireland (south of the island) and Northern Ireland (northern six counties of the island of Ireland but associated with the United Kingdom) runs deep in sports as well. Especially so since the modern Republic of Ireland was born out of the the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland following a revolution in 1921. Since this time the national teams of  Rugby and Field Hockey (called Hockey here)  have remained as teams representing the whole of the island. Meanwhile, the football team, as mentioned above, have split and become two individual teams. I'm told this is because Rugby and Hockey have always been based in Dublin, while soccer was historically organized from Belfast...