The four Home Countries have an agreement that the team will be English-only but Shaw has revealed that, unlike their counterparts at the Football Association of Wales, they would not stand in the way of individual players if they were desperate to take part.

The decision is a major boost for the British Olympic Association (BOA) who, as revealed on insidethegames yesterday, are refusing to support plans to exclude non-English players because they claim it would be against the Olympic Charter.

"We signed an agreement three years ago and our position still stands: the Irish Football Association will have no involvement whatsoever with the Great Britain Olympic football team," said Shaw.

"If an individual player wants to play then we probably would not stand in his way.

"But I would be doubtful if individual players would be happy to play under those circumstances."

Corry, a 20-year-old who has already been capped seven times by Northern Ireland, along with Blackpool's and Craig Cathcart and Millwall's Josh McQuoid, is one of a group of youngsters who can reasonably expect to challenge for a place in Britain's squad for the Olympics if they put themselves forward.

Shaw, though, still fears that if Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales agree to a united British team at London 2012 then world governing body FIFA will use it as an opportunity to strip them of their independence to compete in events like the World Cup and European Championships. 

"Individuals may be interested in playing but we have to consider the Northern Ireland team as whole," said Shaw.

Contact the writer of this story at [email protected]


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