AHC: A competitive UK National Football Team

Your mission, should you choose to accept it, is to make the countries of the British Isles play all official matches as a unified UK National Football Team, and them to become as competitive as the likes of Germany and Italy IOTL.

ASB?
 
I would say ASB as Ireland would never play as part of a wider British Isles team with a POD in the twentieth century, and I highly doubt a unified team being made in the nineteenth century would butterfly the Irish Republican movement, so again very improbable.

Plus, if I remember correctly, the first ever "proper football match" was between England and Scotland? Thus the POD would have to be after 1872, or the game as we know it today is drastically altered?
 
Oops, I meant the countries of the UK, not the British Isles. Ireland is not necessary, only Northern Ireland.
 
I recall Tony Banks in the early 2000s suggesting the same, mainly because he believed the rest of the world didn't like the UK getting four votes on the FIFA board (or whatever it is).

I think we'd be looking back to the 1950s or earlier to get this to happen though.
 
Well, the GB team reached the quarter finals in the 2012 Olympics, although only English and Welsh players participated.
 
Oops, I meant the countries of the UK, not the British Isles. Ireland is not necessary, only Northern Ireland.

Ah, I see!

In that case, it would have to happen before the English win in 1966 to prevent a "go it alone" attitude, whilst simultaneously happening at a time when the other home nations were having a poor run of form (more often than not :p ). Perhaps, as Thevaliant said, 1950s or earlier. Maybe a UK national team is made in the aftermath of the Second World War to present a patriot, unified team (read: cost cutting measures following rations).
 
Getting the team to be competitive wouldn't be too much of a problem. You could've made many England teams highly competitive by adding some of the other Home Nations players - you can make any England team from the Venables era to around 2005 much more competitive simply by adding Ryan Giggs on the left wing, and if you make Alex Ferguson manager then you've pretty much guaranteed a major tournament win. Even now the England team would be better by adding Gareth Bale and Jonny Evans.

Getting the political will for this would be more tricky, and either needs a pre-1900 POD where the Home Nations aren't established as separate or, as has been mentioned, England not to win in 66 and the rest of the home nations to go into similar decline in the 1970s (particularly Scotland, who were the only representative in 74 and 78). That, along with pressure from FIFA, might allow a unified team.
 
I wouldn't say it would be impossible for the Republic to be part of a UK team ,I would point to example of Irish Rugby team which is the north and the republic.
 
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