The British women’s volleyball team (pictured here in 2012) has gone from high to low, as they are now without funding going into Rio 2016. In 2012, Olympic fever had spread through the UK. The collective nations of England, Scotland, Wales and Ireland had become one as Team GB and with the merge came a wave of confidence throughout Olympic events and competition that we had previously anticipated early exits from.
One of those particular sports was volleyball – in which both the men’s and the women’s team had qualified through being the host nation of the games, despite England (the Olympics were staged in London, so we will use England for this premise) now being ranked Tied-127th and Tied-113th in their respective ranking lists. In truth, that rank was unlikely to have been much better back in 2012.
The fact that England are in the rankings – with 0 points between the men and women’s sides we might add – rather than Team GB is a sign of the times, as Team GB has since disbanded. The disbanding of such a promising set of teams – despite their less than stellar results in the Olympics that saw them record just one win collectively between the two sides – was devastating news to many of the members of the teams, and with time running out before Rio, the future of their possible participation is likely already known.
The beginning of this downfall came in February, 2013, in the aftermath of a widely perceived-successful 2012 Olympics for the nations of Great Britain. Just how successful it was for the lesser sports and competitors of Team GB proved telling by this point however, as it was revealed that only the women’s beach volleyball team had received funding, meaning that funding would no longer be provided for the indoor volleyball teams.
Fast forward to 2014 and one of the British Volleyball’s greatest claims (and only real claim at this point in time) is that, “all the Home Nations currently have active junior programmes and are participating in a wide range of competitions.” Furthermore, the lukewarm promise to those interested/related that, “We will be working at National and BVF level to provide a clear strategic direction for indoor programmes in the future,” is far from inspiring.
The once-bright future of Team GB and their volleyball squads now makes for grim observation and should the program have continued at full force from 2012 – we may well have enjoyed watching a much-improved men’s team compete at the currently ongoing men’s World Championships in Poland.
The championships are well and truly underway and while it would have a bold choice to have placed a wager on a team from Great Britain’s origins at the tournament – even when considering all the best odds and betting options by opting to sign up for the Gambling Land newsletter – it likely would have proved an enjoyable watch for all those who involved in cheering the teams on in 2012.
Sadly, it looks like that won’t be rectified by 2016, or anytime soon for that matter.
