posted on Jun, 7 2006 @ 11:16 AM
It's not so much that it's broken up, it's because England, Scotland, Northern Ireland and Wales are separate countries with their own identities
that are politically unified as the United Kingdom (sort of like the old Soviet Union or Yugoslavia in a way) without Northern Ireland included this
becomes Great Britain (ie in the Olympics). The four countries each have their own separate national FA's as well as separate national leagues, not
to mention a vote on the FIFA council, and thus have entitlement to field a representative national side in international competitions.
FIFA would like nothing more than a single GB team or UK team to be fielded because this would then mean that Britain would have only one vote instead
of the current four, ergo, it aint gonna happen.
[edit on 7-6-2006 by waynos]