The 1908 Olympic Games in London was the first time a proper, official Olympic Games football tournament was held. Attempts had been made in previous Games, but these were haphazard and quite poorly organised. At the 1900 games, the football tournament was little more than a sideshow to the Universal Exhibition. Moreover, the “nations” represented in 1900 and 1904 were mostly club sides from their respective countries, rather than sides with players drawn from numerous sources nationwide. The latter games were held in St. Louis, USA, which represented a logistical nightmare for European teams so none participated. This all changed in 1908, when football was finally given the same respect as all other Olympic sports and Great Britain, France, Denmark, Sweden and the Netherlands competed for the gold medal. In the decades before the World Cup or the Euro Cup kicked off, it was the Olympic Games football tournament that was the pinnacle of world soccer, and Great Britain led the charge.

 

Despite representing the Kingdom in it’s entirety, the side was in fact only comprised of amateur players from England – the reason being that the tournament was authorised by FIFA and England was the only Home Nation that was a member of the governing body at the time. In the preliminary round, Great Britain demolished Sweden 12-1. Netherlands had a bye so they advanced to the semi final to take on the British without even kicking a ball. The Dutch played impressively for a young footballing nation and kept the British from scoring for most of the first half, but they ended up with a 4-0 defeat, Stapley scoring all 4 for the Brits. France had two teams in the competition, and France A were absolutely slaughtered by Denmark 17-1 in the highest scoring Olympic match of all time. One Danish player scored 10 goals in the match on his own! This record stood until 2001 when Asutralia’s Archie Thompson put 13 past American Samoa.  Due to this humiliation, France refused to participate any further and it was Netherlands beating Sweden in the bronze medal match.

 

The gold medal match saw Great Britain take on high flying Denmark, who had just scored a ludicrous 26 goals in only 2 games. Despite reports stating that Denmark were the better team, showing “greater vigor and determination”, it was Great Britain who claimed the gold with a 2-0 win. Chapman converted in the 20th minute and then Woodward followed up just after the half.

 

The teams success continued at the 1912 Olympic Games in Stockholm – in fact, the gold, silver and bronze medalists were replicated exactly to the 1908 games: bronze, Netherlands, silver, Denmark and gold, Great Britain. This time, 11 nations battled for the gold medal, all of which were from Europe. Hosts Sweden were eliminated straight away, while future Austria manager Hugo Meisl was the referee of the Finland vs Italy game. Great Britain had a bye in the first round. In round two, Finland took down Russia and Great Britain annihilated Hungary 7-0. 6 of Englands goals were scored by Harold Walden, who also scored all 4 goals in a 4-0 victory over Finland in the next round. In a repeat of the 1908 gold medal game, Great Britain faced Denmark in the final, and a 4-2 scoreline favouring the Brits earned them the gold again.

 

The Great Britain team in these Olympic tournaments was essentially the England national amateur team, which was formed in 1906 to provide amateur players with an opportunity to play for their country. English football was so strong at the time however, that this amateur football team was even able to defeat many of Europes full international representative sides, and such they enjoyed a 20 match unbeaten run between 1906 and 1910. In their first ever game they destroyed France 15-0 and they also inflicted both Germany and Belgiums biggest ever defeats, 9-0 and 11-2 respectively.

 

Great Britain occasionally participated in Olympic Games football until 1974, but the team was scrapped after the FA terminated the distinction between amateur and professional players. It wasn’t until the 2012 London Olympics that the world saw a Great Britain football team again, and this was only because they qualified on virtue of being the hosts. Aside from the Olympics, a Great Britain or United Kingdom football team does not exist, with the four Home Nations representing themselves individually. There have been calls for a permanent, unified British team, however these calls have received little support.

Achievements: 
Olympic Games – Gold Medal x2

Star player: Vivian Woodward, dob 3 June 1879, pob: London, England

Captain of the team and an architect by profession, Vivian Woodward’s tally of 29 goals for England in 23 games remained from 1911 to 1958. From Clacton Town he joined Tottenham Hotspur in 1901, who were at that time the FA Cup holders. He scored twice on his England debut, a 4-0 win over Ireland. In this era, England normally only played three games a season, one each against the other Home Nations for the Home Nations Championship, but in 1908 and 1909 they conducted tours to central Europe in which Woodward scored another 15 times. That year, he signed for Chelsea and played for them in 119 games. He was their top scorer in the 1910/11 season. He leapfrogged Steve Bloomers scoring record for England in 1911 and was not overtaken until 1958 when Tom Finney achieved a higher tally. Woodward scored 57 goals in 44 apearances for the England amateur team including 8 in a single match against France in 1906 and 6 against the Netherlands in 1909. Woodwards career was brought to a halt by World War I, in which he served on the frontline with 17th Battalion, Middlesex Regiment, aka “The Footballers Batallion”. He was wounded on the Western Front but survived and lived until the age of 74 when he died in 1954.