The International Football Association Board is the body responsible for proposing changes to the Laws of Football so they have a great deal of influence. There are eight members of the Board, four are FIFA reps and there is one from each of the four Home Nations. The fear has always been that if the Home Nations were to compete as the UK or Great Britain, the seats on the Board would be reduced.
Although at athletics the team is often called Great Britain the team is officially Great Britain and Northern Ireland. I wrote to the British Olympic Association months ago asking that since it's the UK that will be staging the 2012 Olympics, is it not time that we competed as the UK rather than Team GB. I've had no reply