The British Olympic football team is comprised of thirteen English and five Welsh players, with no-one from Scotland or Northern Ireland being asked to partake.Prior toTeam GBs opening game of the Olympics against Senegal, it was decided that God Save the Queen would be the national anthem sung by the players. The anthem was sung by everyone, well, almost everyone.The four Welshman included in Stuart Pearces starting line-up against Senegal, captain Ryan Giggs, Craig Bellamy, Neil Taylor and Joe Allen refused to sing the anthem because of the fact that God Save the Queen Warren Spahn Jersey is the English national anthem. Predictably, most national newspapers, along with the British Olympic A sociation have expre sed outrage and disgust at the Welsh players decision to stay silent Sean Newcomb Jersey while the anthem was played. But does it really matter? Is all of this outrage blown way out of proportion? I suspect it is.Some have said that they were representing Britain and therefore should have sang the anthem as a demonstration of respect and a sign of pride. But that doesnt take into account the fact that Welsh football players were asked to sing the English national anthem, something that they were clearly going to be uncomfortable doing. How many English people would willingly sing the Welsh or Scottish anthems? I think itd be hard to find any that would. On the Adam Duval Jersey subject of representing their nation, Ryan Giggs played a very good game, as usual, and Craig Bellamy scored the goal that gave Team GB the upper hand after twenty minutes, isnt that representation enough? Even further than that, isnt it good enough for people that Welsh players agreed to represent Great Britain in the first place, especially when the Welsh FA were so opposed to any Welsh players taking part?The Welsh footballers werent the only ones to refuse to sing the national anthem; Kim Little and Ifeoma Dieke, both from Scotland, also refused to sing God Save the Queen in Team GB womens opening game against New Zealand. Kim Little stated that her refusal to sing the anthem was based on the fact that she is Scottish. Surely, it cant be fair to ask players to sing the national anthem of another country. The refusal of these players to sing the anthem is perfectly understandable. There are, of course Freddie Freeman Jersey , other reasons for not wanting to sing an anthem; I, myself, refuse to sing God Save the Queen because Im an atheist and a republican, Im also not that patriotic. Its a personal choice, I dont expect everyone else to agree with that choice and Im perfectly happy for other people to sing the anthem if they choose to, but I would never ask someone to sing it if they really didnt want to. So, does it really matter ifthe playersrefuse to sing the anthem? As long as they choose to play for Great Britain Luke Jackson Jersey , and play well whilst doing it, that should be good enough for everyone. This surely calls into question the very importance of the national anthems themselves. Are they really needed? The playing of the national anthem has no bearing whatsoeveron how the players actually play. Its not going to make them play any better. When watching your team, you want to seethemplay as well as they po sibly can. Are you really bothered about whether the players sing beforehand? All of this is just a show of needle s patriotism, that doesnt need to be involved in football, or anysport for that matter.There is no doubt that many eyes and ears will be fixedon Team GBs mens football team Bob Uecker Jersey against United Arab Emirates on 29th July and the womens next game against Cameroon on the 28th. Even more eyes and ears will be on the anthems.