GB Football slammed for late call that left Olympic hopeful in tears

GB Football has apologised after Birmingham City goalkeeper Han- nah Hampton was left “in floods of tears” when she was told she was not going to the Olympics shortly before last night’s Women’s Super League game against Everton.

Carla Ward, the Birmingham manager, and her Everton counterpart, Willie Kirk, both criticised the timing of the call – which also had disappointing news for other players involved in the match, which the Merseyside club won 4-0.

Hampton, 20, was part of England’s squad in February and among the hopefuls for a place in this summer’s 18-player GB Football squad.

The Football Association’s women’s football director, Baroness Sue Campbell, previously said a “long list” was set to be reduced down to a shorter list of 35. The final squad of 18 will not be named until May.

“Hannah has made three errors for the goals tonight,” said Ward. “An hour and a half before kick-off, the FA decided to give her a call and let her know she wasn’t in the Olympic squad. The girls are going out to warm up and she’s in tears.

“The timing was absolutely ridiculous, thoughtless. We had a kid in floods of tears, and you can see that it’s clearly affected her out there.”

Kirk said four of his Everton players had been contacted before the game too, with two told they were on the latest list and two, like Hampton, being told they weren’t, but he did not name them, simply praising their “professionalism”.

“A player finding out that information two hours before kick-off is wrong in my opinion, I think it’s very, very poor,” Kirk added.

“The players it affected have dealt with it very professionally. Two players have got disappointing news. They’ve both put in really good performances.”

A GB Football spokesperson said: “We apologise to the players and clubs concerned and will also do so personally. The timing of the correspondence was an error but we take full responsibility for the upset this has caused.”