FIFA Report -- Scottish Football: Parliament Should Butt Out

Members of the Scottish Parliament have been told the row over whether there should be a British football team at the 2012 London Olympics is none of their business.

A Scottish Parliament committee agreed this week to write to world football governing body FIFA to seek clarification on the position of a united U.K. team taking part in three years' time.

The Scottish Football Association and their counterparts in Wales and Northern Ireland remain firmly opposed to the idea.

They fear a British team will, despite FIFA assurances to the contrary, jeopardize the independence of the four Home Nations (England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland) and ultimately lead to a single U.K. team for all international football.

The English Football Association, whose players could expect to dominate a British team, is driving plans to field the unified team in 2012.

"If there is one thing that FIFA dislikes, it is political involvement in football issues," SFA chief executive Gordon Smith says.

"This is something that we would, of course, have told the members of the committee had they sought to ask us our views."

Smith says if the governmental committee writes to FIFA, it will likely be told the world governing body has no objection to a one-off Team GB at the London Games.

But he says he would have thought politicians would understand politics better than anyone and there was still a possibility FIFA could change its stance.

"As we have made clear again and again it is not the view of the current FIFA members that matters - it is the views of members in the future that will count," he says.

Smith says politicians and the British Olympic Association should give up on the idea of a British team, citing fan opposition to a unified team. The national football associations of three of the four Home states are also against a Team GB.

"It is time that people at Holyrood, Westminster and the BOA stopped treating this issue as a political football and let football govern football," Smith says.

"For the avoidance of any doubt - Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland are resolutely opposed to Team GB."

IFAB Extends Experiment with Additional Match Officials

The International FA Board convened in Newcastle, Northern Ireland last weekend for its 123rd Annual General Meeting.

Founded in 1886, the IFAB is composed of The Football Association (England), The Scottish Football Association, The Football Association of Wales, The Irish Football Association (Northern Ireland) and FIFA, and has historically acted as guardian of the Laws of the Game.

After receiving a report on the additional assistant referees experiment conducted during UEFA U-19 European Championship qualifying tournaments in October and November 2008, IFAB has approved an extension of the trial, which this time will be applied in a professional league.

There has also been clarification of the offside laws to eliminate a situation where defenders were able to leave the field of play to leave an attacker offside.

To avoid conflicts between match officials and coaches, IFAB agreed that, provided they are well-behaved, one person from each team may remain in the technical areas without having to return to their bench after conveying tactical instructions.

Among other decisions: IFAB has rejected the concept of "sin bins," deciding it will not be pursued further. FIFA withdrew its proposal to extend the maximum duration of the half-time interval. The board agreed that the proposal to increase the maximum number of substitutions in the event of extra time should be discussed by the relevant FIFA committees.

The IFAB Annual General Meeting next year will take place from March 5 to 7 in Zurich.

Official: South Africa Needs Funding Boost to Promote World Cup

A senior South African government official says the 2010 World Cup host nation needs more funds to market and promote the massively popular sporting event.

The admission follows criticism from FIFA, which fears stadiums for the prestigious tournament and the scene-setting 2009 Confederations Cup, will lack adequate local support."My reading of the situation at this stage is that we are not putting enough resources for marketing these two important events to South Africans," cabinet spokesman Themba Maseko told journalists.

"It's not just money... It's a lot of planning and coordination, but I think money is going to be at the center of whatever interventions we put in place." also criticized major sponsors of the tournament for not doing enough to promote it among local fans but noted some sponsors will begin using World Cup branding on their products, such as drinks cans, over forthcoming weeks.

Earlier in the week, FIFA general secretary Jerome Valcke criticized South Africa for a lackluster approach, saying he had not seen a "single promotion" for the two tournaments.

About 170,000 tickets have been sold for the Confederations Cup which runs from June 14-28. Brazil, Spain and Italy are among the eight teams taking part.

Blatter Claims Ferguson Support In Quota Crusade

FIFA President Sepp Blatter claims he has the support of Alex Ferguson for '6+5' player quota reforms, which aims to limit the number of foreign players in a team to five.

Blatter introduced the quota proposal last year, partially to take aim at the English Premier League, which he has long criticized for what he perceives to be a lack of homegrown talent.

When the proposal was first introduced it was widely believed it would fall victim to the strict rules of the European Union, allowing free labor movement around member states.

But Blatter says he has discussed the issue with the leadership of the Premier League, including Ferguson.

"He said it is a good solution because it will automatically not only give access to young players but it will also bring back a little of the expenses," Blatter said.

He told BBC Radio: "Manchester United have started to have more (local) players. In the starting XI the other day, they had four."

Blatter says the '6+5' rule will not penalize the Premier League because it will still be extremely well organized even if they start to have more local players.

But he says he is also concerned the Premier League will be able to adapt to new quota regulations in ways that could not be matched by other leagues.

"There is another factor. Where is the competition when two-thirds or three-quarters of participants play not to be first, they play not to be relegated? There is something wrong there," Blatter says.

He says that is why the FIFA Congress voted to adopt the new principle, adding that he feels even more positive about it now after recent legal advice by European law experts deemed there to be no obstacles.

Scudamore Insists Premier League Games to Head Abroad

Premier League chief executive Richard Scudamore says it is inevitable that domestic games will be scheduled to be played outside of Europe in the future.

Scudamore proposed the highly controversial idea of a '39th game' last season which, he says, has been delayed until at least 2013 due to the new Premier League television deal.

He claims it is only a matter of time before games are played on other continents to ward off the threat of a European Super League.

"It's on the back-burner for a bit but playing games abroad will happen, it’s just a question of in which format," he says.

"The difference between this and the European Super League is that the European Super League isn’t inevitable — that’s the difference."

FIFA VP Advice for English World Cup Bid

FIFA Vice President Jack Warner has reportedly offered organizers of the English bid for the 2018 World Cup some advice – they would stand a better chance with Richard Scudamore on board.

Warner told The Guardian that more representation from the Premier League will boost England chances of success.

He considers Scudamore an asset for the country, and finds it odd that the only representation from the Premier League is David Gill, the chief executive of Manchester United FC.

The other five members are politicians.

Warner even notes that bid organizations in the past had never been set up in such a way. His comments came after he addressed the Global Sports Forum in Barcelona last week.

Written by Anthony Stavrinos.