THREE LIONS CAN PLAN TO BE OARSOME
FORMER rowing star Greg Searle reckons the FA must tap into Team GB’s Olympic blueprint for success if they ever want to get England’s football team firing again.
Searle won coxed pairs gold in Barcelona in 1992 (below, on left, with brother Jonny and famously tearful cox Garry Herbert), and is convinced that if the FA adopted some of the practices the British Olympic Association put into place over the past 20 years, the Three Lions could be a force at major tournaments.
Searle said: “In 1996, Great Britain got one gold medal, through Steve Redgrave and Matthew Pinsent.
“Compare that to the 29 gold medals I experienced in 2012 – and then the team was even more successful in Rio 2016. That says we’ve done something which has been a big cultural change, within Olympic sports.
“The big difference is, ‘Let’s think ahead four years, rather than four months’.
“What we can also do is make England feel more important to players when they’re younger – that makes them want to come back when they’re older.
“When you look at what the FA have done with St George’s Park for the young teams to develop a culture, you can only hope that will carry on.
“The best example of it is Gareth Bale. He has all that distraction with Real Madrid, but then he goes back to play for Wales and it reminds him why he loves the game.”
Searle, now a motivational speaker, is convinced that those bonds created in the youth set-up will help develop a stronger national identity and team spirit.
That’s something Frank Lampard, Steven Gerrard and Rio Ferdinand admitted could be missing when they went on England duty, because of club rivalries and allegiances.
Searle added: “When you’re so drummed into your club kit and your club identity, how can you, in a short time, switch that off and switch on your England identity?
“I remember in 1992, walking into the dining room at the Olympic village and I was wearing the kit we’d been given. I looked around and there were British athletes wearing different kit, from their own sponsors.
“I thought, ‘I don’t know if I should approach them because they are not with us’, so I sat with the Slovenian rower Janez Klemencic.
“But when it came to London 2012, we all wore the team kit and were encouraged to sit with athletes from other sports and be part of Team GB.
“We had a real pride in that kit, a real pride in what we were doing together.
“I love with the England cricket team that each international has their own number. And with the British and Irish Lions they hand the shirt over and it’s like, ‘Who else has worn this shirt through history?’.
“There are things you can try to make people think, ‘This is a really special thing to be part of’.”