A British women's football team is the goal: What's the defence for not having one?

For years, football was a male-dominated sport, but look around any ground these days and it soon becomes clear that many women enjoy watching the beautiful game. For some, watching is not enough and up and down the country teams are being formed and players possessing genuine skill and commitment are competing - often without a lot of the cynical overtones that permeate the professional male game.

According to Brian Barwick: "There are now well over 1.1 million females playing football on a regular basis in England, of which 150,000 are affiliated players in schools and clubs. It remains the No.1 team sport for females in this country."

The World Cup received plenty of live coverage last year, and the England team did the nation proud. While they would have been disappointed to be knocked out by the USA, they did well enough to qualify for this year's Olympic Tournament. Except, of course, they can't go.

It is Britain that enters the Olympics, and there is no British governing body to enter a football team. While those that run the male game worry about losing influence (in other words money) and refuse to co-operate, it is the ladies game that pays the price. It is therefore ironic that this week the FA received an award for the "Best Promotion of a Sport by a Governing Body" for their Girls United campaign, which was designed to improve the perception of the sport and to encourage participation.

For our top male players there is no shortage of prestigious tournaments in which to compete, and even if they aren't actually very good they can still earn huge sums. They don't need the Olympics - they are doing quite all right, thank you very much.

Despite its huge and growing popularity, the exposure simply isn't there in the ladies game, and it still sadly struggles to be accepted by many. Chauvinistic attitudes still abound - even on this site on occasions! A comment to one of my articles produced a response stating that I should "Get back to the sink and leave the football to the boys", while after a poster on another article commented positively about the ladies game it encouraged replies of "mmm... bunch of hot sweaty women running around with their boobs bouncing up and down. I think I'll start to watch womens football" and "get me a job as kit man, i'd love to wash all those horrible sweaty shorts!"

While the authors of such comments are probably going to find life a struggle, socially, the only way such attitudes are going to be changed is by people witnessing the ladies game and realising that it isn't a bunch of dolly birds tottering around for their titillation but a team of elite athletes more than deserving of our respect and support.

The Olympics would provide the perfect opportunity to encourage the growth and respect of the ladies game, while also allowing our top players a rare chance to shine on the world stage.

FIFA have indicated that if the FA and its counterparts in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland wish to organise a joint body for the purposes of entering teams in Olympic tournaments that they are happy for them to do so and it won't have any affect on their standings as individual bodies or entry into other FIFA organised events. Nor is the make-up of the IFAB likely to be threatened by such a move.

Exactly how qualification criteria would be applied would have to be worked out in conjunction with FIFA, but it's not such a great obstacle that it can't be overcome with a little discussion and good will.

But it's not going to happen, and the only time it seems to be on the agenda is when discussion turns to the possibility of organising a men's team, such as the one that ran in the media about the possibility of a team for 2012.

Until something is sorted out a group of dedicated and skilled athletes are going to be sat at home instead of being allowed to represent their country on the biggest stage of all. And that's a shame for all concerned.