Should football be Wales’ new national sport?

Local TV

With our national rugby side in the deepest hole its ever found itself in, we’re asking people around Cardiff if it’s time to let football into our hearts a bit more.

Transcript

00:00Yeah, of course it is, mate. I'm proud of you. Do you know what I mean? I wasn't proud

00:05yesterday. I sat, you know, I put my head in my hands like that.

00:09Absolutely.

00:10What's going on? Like, oh my word, English mates are all following me.

00:14Welsh rugby is set in records across the board for all the wrong reasons. 17 losses in a

00:19row is not only a Welsh rugby record, but also a record for any Tier 1 nation in the

00:23professional era. Effectively, at the moment, we're the worst rugby-playing nation in the

00:28history of modern rugby. Sorry sight for Welsh fans, but if you were in Cardiff on

00:32Saturday night, despite a bit of a disappointment after the battering England handed us, people

00:37were still out enjoying themselves in their thousands. So it seems rugby, no matter how

00:42badly we're doing, will hold a place in our hearts.

00:44We've got to stick around. It's our sport, isn't it? So, yeah, I was always told that

00:52We invented rugby. Obviously, it went through England and stuff like that, but it's a nation's

00:58sport, so I think we stick with it.

01:00It has been tough, though, hasn't it, watching the Six Nations?

01:03All around the world, I think so. And not everyone plays rugby. And I know we might

01:08be not playing good at the moment, but that's not forced to give up and turn our back on

01:13our side, like, you know?

01:15Let's stop looking for rugby. We need to get behind the rugby and with women as well. My

01:21daughter plays rugby and she's really good, so we need to have, you know, rugby's a Welsh

01:25sport, really, isn't it?

01:27They really do. It's wonderful, yeah. Yeah, it really does mean a lot to everyone. I suppose

01:33it's just like something that brings people together.

01:36In recent years, though, football has grown massively in Wales. With our Euro semi-final

01:41and World Cup qualification, you could easily argue that we're comparatively better at football

01:45than rugby at the moment. But it doesn't seem to matter to everyone who still think that

01:49rugby should forever stay our national sport.

01:52Well, I don't know too much about rugby, but I know personally I enjoy watching it more

01:57than I do football. I don't know, there's just something about it that's, like, really

02:00fun. Yeah, I did watch the game on the other day, and being an English person, I can't

02:08say too much in a room full of Welsh. But yeah, I think it's a really great game.

02:14No, it's not. Rugby, rugby, you know, loads of people love rugby in Wales. I'm English,

02:20but I normally support Wales because I live here.

02:23I think it's such an important part of the cultural identity. You know, it was a major

02:28selling point in me coming to Cardiff. Obviously, I came here as a student, as a lot of people

02:32do. But I chose to stay because of the rugby scene, really. You know, even if the team's

02:39not doing the best at the minute, it's the faith that they will.

02:42I think there's room for both. Oh my God, why can't we be great at everything? Why should

02:46we limit ourselves by being great at one sport? Let's just be proud to be Welsh and the amazing

02:53sporting nation we've got. I don't see a problem loving both.

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