By David Gold
January 3 – A quartet of Celtic’s women’s team have been approached to play for Team GB at the London 2012 Olympic Games next year.
Gemma Fay (pictured), Rhonda Jones, Megan Sneddon and Suzanne Grant are all in line to compete at the Olympics after all potentially eligible players were written to recently.
Scott Brown, James Forrest and Adam Matthews of Celtic’s men’s team are also in position to be selected by Stuart Pearce, though Scotland, Northern Ireland and Wales are opposed to their players participating in Team GB as they fear it threatens their independence as football nations.
Celtic confirmed that the quartet could be picked by Hope Powell for Team GB next year and a spokesperson said that they would be “delighted for our four women’s team players to take part and we are sure it will be a great honour for them should they elect to take part.
“The club would also be delighted for [Brown, Forrest and Matthews] to be involved.
“But ultimately this would be a decision for all those players concerned and would clearly depend upon Celtic’s fixture calendar at the time.”
Celtic manager Neil Lennon is opposed to his players participating in the Olympics as it would likely clash with the start of the Scottish Premier League season but insisted he would not block them from competing if they wanted to.
The Scottish women’s league season usually begins in March and runs through the summer, meaning that Celtic will likely have crucial fixtures at the time of the Olympics next year.
The Team GB women’s team is also likely to be quite dependent on Scottish players such as Arsenal’s Kim Little, though her team-mate and fellow Scot Julie Fleeting has said she won’t play for Team GB.
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