ANY demand to rebrand Team GB at future Olympic Games would bring complications, according to the chairman of the British Olympic Association Sir Hugh Robertson.
The Conservatives are preparing to form a government with the support of the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP), following Thursday’s General Election result.
The DUP’s election manifesto said the party was in favour of rebranding Team GB as Team UK, “in recognition of Northern Ireland”. It is unclear what the party wants in return for forming a partnership.
However, Robertson, pictured, insists it is not so simple as merely a name change, were the government to make the request.
He said: “If asked to look at it, clearly we will. But the British Olympic Association (BOA) went through this process in 2012 and there are two important issues.
“The first is that Team UK would not in itself do the job the BOA does as we also deal with overseas territories, including the Falklands and Gibraltar. So if we change it once then we would come under pressure to do it again.
“But the most important point is the BOA raises all its money with no government funding at all and is independent of government. So changing would have commercial implications and the money would have to be found from somewhere and there would have to be some sort of solution to get over that.
“Additionally, if you want to get legal and technical about it, because the BOA is independent from government, even if the Government said we want you to do this, they can’t force us to do it.”
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