How Wales is Putting Itself on the Map Through Sports

Many influential sports stars have been born and bred in Wales, and have gone on to achieve greatness in their respective sports. From Colin Jackson, to Joe Calzaghe, Ray Reardon, Iwan Thomas, Nicole Cooke, Lynn Davies, Ian Woosnam, and Johnny Owen, to name but a few. At the peak of their careers, these athletes had all achieved greatness in their sport and were rightly in the spotlight. However, Wales itself has been somewhat going through time operating under the radar, overshadowed by the actions of its neighbours to the east and west. Things are changing, and these days, more and more people are finding out about Wales itself, and sports stars are playing an influential role in Wales becoming noticed.

We are going to have a look at how sports have made Wales become known more than it ever has done before.

Horse Racing

Wales follows the rest of the UK and Ireland with its excellent horse racing tracks. You can read more on grandnational.org.uk. Chepstow Racecourse, Bangor-on-Dee Racecourse, and Ffos Las Racecourse are all popular. Plus there are Harness racing venues in Wales mainly used for trot racing, which is now incredibly popular in the country.

Stadiums

The Principality Stadium (or Millennium Stadium as it was originally known) is not only one of the biggest stadiums in the UK, but it is up there in the world! The stadium is well equipped to handle all sporting events, apart from Horse Racing, so we won’t be expecting to read about the Grand National in Cardiff anytime soon.

The stadium really put Wales on the map when it opened up in Cardiff in 1999, for a pretty reasonable cost of 121 million. Since then, the stadium has gone on to host major sporting events like the Heineken Cup, the F.A Cup, the League Cup the Rugby World Cup Final, Boxing, and Motorsports.

It has held concerts for world-famous artists, such as Eric Clapton, and The Police, Bon Jovi, Tina Turner, and many more. What’s more, the stadium even featured in multiple films, but notably, the stadium had an audience of over a billion people when it featured in the Hindi smash hit film, Kabhi Khushi Kabhie Gham….

Rugby

Rugby has always been one of those sports with a very small number of international teams – until today. Rugby now has 110 recognised international teams, with almost 7 million players registered worldwide. Wales has always found itself in the best top 10 ranked teams in the world, and now with so many international teams involved; Wales once again finds itself under the microscope, but this time its on a worldwide scale.

Many youngsters looking for inspiration dreaming of becoming a Rugby professional are looking up to the likes of Alun Wyn Jones, George North and Justin Tipuric.

Football

Wales is proud to be responsible for some of the best footballers to play the game. John Charles back in the 50s, 60s, and 70s was one of Europe’s best footballers, having stints at Leeds United and with Italian giants, Juventus, and Roma. Sir Bobby Robson even put him up there with the best ever like, Diego Maradona, Pelé, and George Best.

Since then, footballing talent has been few and far between, but when it emerges, it goes straight to the top. Ian Rush is a household name around Europe. Ryan Giggs is a legend at Manchester United, arguably the biggest club in the world, and today we can see Gareth Bale, who has had an up and down time at club level recently, but is still producing the goods on a consistent basis for his country. When Bale moved to Real Madrid in 2013, the whole world stood up and noticed, and Wales was responsible for this footballing diamond.

Local football in Wales has always struggled, with many talents going off to England. But the birth of the Euro Conference League has allowed smaller clubs to feature on the European stage. TNS had a great run, and stunned the footballing world when it thrashed Czech giants Plzen in the first leg of the semi-finals qualifying rounds. Newtown, Bala, and Connah’s Quay also had stints in the newly formed tournament, but will hope that it won’t be long till they have a chance to feature in the tournament proper. Fans will now visit Wales, which is something they never previously thought they would do.

Helped by Travel

With Wales constantly involved in some major sporting events, it finds itself being visited by players and fans from all across the world. Travelling is made easy (forgetting about Covid), so this has made Wales not just a sports host, but also, the country is benefitting as visitors look to turn their sporting visits into a holiday. This has no doubt boosted local economies, and the country as a whole. Wales owes a lot to all who have improved its sport, and will certainly hope it continues