Wales eye Euro 2025 history inspired by past and future

Yahoo

4 days ago

Once again, Wales have struck gold with a slogan.
Wales men's team swept to a first major tournament appearance in 58 years in 2016, with the Together Stronger mantra helping Chris Coleman's side to ride a wave of momentum and reach the semi-finals of the European Championship.
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Fast forward nine years and it is Wales' women making history, having reached a first major tournament with their own ethos: For us, for them, for her.
Honouring the trailblazers of the women's game - for them - who forged the path for today's players is a key focus of this Wales squad, as is the recognition of the need to grow the game and make things better for the next generation - for her.
"The amount of sacrifice from players who have come and gone to get us into this position, it is hard to sum up with words how important they've been," vice-captain Ceri Holland says.
"For us it is a lot more than a slogan, it is what we try and embody," Wales captain Angharad James adds. "It really means a lot to us."
For us
Wales' current squad have a full-time manager, parity on pay, facilities and support staff with the men's side, and their own kit, but it was not always so for a country that Football Association of Wales (FAW) technical director Dave Adams admits is "playing catch-up" in terms of equality of opportunity for female footballers.
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This squad contains several players – such as defender Rhiannon Roberts, midfielder Rachel Rowe and forward Kayleigh Barton – who spent the majority of their careers as amateur players, with Rowe working in a prison and Barton training to be a plumber when they began their international journeys.
After a series of near misses for major tournament qualification – coming within a game of qualifying for successive World Cups and within a goal of potential Euros qualification – Wales' success in reaching Euro 2025 via a play-off win over the Republic of Ireland meant for the players not just pride, jubilation and a feeling of euphoria, but also one of relief.
"When you want to achieve something and you get to do it with some of your very closest friends, there's really no comparison to what that feeling is, like at all," Wales' record appearance-maker and goalscorer Jess Fishlock reflects, having been an international for over 20 years.
"With how many players we have that have been here for so long that have been there together, sometimes you just feel like you play with your mates. It was definitely a different type of feeling for sure so because of everything that you've been through, all the battles, all the near misses, when the moment finally arrived was it as good as you'd built it up in your head to be? I think honestly, yes."
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For them
The path to progress has been far from smooth for Welsh women's football.
Indeed, in the 2020s in terms of attendances, Wales are nowhere near the levels of 100 years ago, when women's international matches regularly attracted crowds of 30-40,000.
The Football Association banned women's football for 50 years, with Wales women not having an international side again until 1973, though it was not affiliated to the FAW and was run by volunteers. It was not until 1993, after a campaign from some of the Wales players, that the women's side played their first 'official' match.
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To say women's football was not the priority of the FAW would be an understatement.
In 2003, Wales were drawn to play Belarus, Israel, Estonia and Kazakhstan in qualifying for Euro 2005 and rather than face the cost of arranging the trips, the FAW withdrew Wales from qualifying, because it was cheaper to pay a fine of 50,000 Swiss Francs.
Knowing the history of what has come before has been something of a burden to the players, according to one of the architects of their status as a legitimate team, former Wales captain and Uefa executive committee member Laura McAllister.
"When you haven't qualified that's a huge weight on your shoulders for everybody," she told BBC Sport Wales.
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"Those players really feel it because they're so emotionally connected and they know what it means because the careers of almost all of them with the exception of the very young players in the squad has been a battle.
"All of those girls know what we went through to get the team started and to play against teams that were a much better resourced than us. But we had to start somewhere, and they feel a great debt to that, which they want to repay.
"But I know they feel that emotionally. And I guess that's an added pressure, isn't it? When you know you're not doing it just for yourself and your family and your friends and the fans, you're doing it for the generations who came before as well. And all credit to the girls for thinking like that."
When Wales finally achieved major tournament qualification, many of those trailblazers, such as cap centurion Helen Ward, were in the room celebrating with the players in Dublin.
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"It was brilliant. Such a great night. One of the best ever," Ward recalls.
"I think it was about four o'clock in the morning before I got into my bed in our hotel. The FAW, fair play to them. They opened it up to friends and family, so all the girls had their family there. They were all still in full kit. The drinks were flowing, the music was on, everybody singing, having a great time.
"And I was just really, really fortunate to have been invited to be part of that and spend some time with the girls that obviously I spent so many years playing with and to sort of feel a little small part of it and just enjoy in their success, like celebrate with them and celebrate them for what they've achieved.
"And that's why this is such a special story because everyone who's played for the team going over three decades and more you've always been that close and everyone's been in on that journey. To finally achieve qualification after all those years that's why it's so amazing, isn't it?"
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The FAW recently presented 'lost caps' to 70 players who were awarded caps retrospectively from the period of 1973 to 1993 when Wales' international games were unrecognised by the association.
For her
There is no debating that growing the game for the next generation remains a priority for the staff of the FAW and for the current Wales squad.
Since launching a strategy to improve female participation in football in 2021, participation has increased by 45%, with 15,898 women and girls participating in football during the 2023-24 season.
The FAW say investment in women's and girls football in Wales has increased by over 250% in the past four years, while the average attendance of the national side has increased from 1,800 to 5,370.
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However, while the progress has been tangible, there is still a frustration that crowd sizes are still not close to approaching those that Wales men attract, with sold-out signs at the Cardiff City Stadium for every men's international.
The discrepancy is so large that it has caused Wales women's manager Rhian Wilkinson to suggest that Wales is 'culturally behind,' with fewer than 500 Wales fans in Dublin to see Wales make history.
However, having sold one of the biggest ticket allocations for Euro 2025, the hope is that many Wales fans will develop into fully-fledged supporters of the women's team on the back on their first major final appearance.
"I think we need to recognise that the profile of women's football in Wales and in Europe isn't where it should be," McAllister said.
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"We know that the crowds that turn up for the women's games are nowhere near the crowds that turn up for the men's games. And all credit to Rhian Wilkinson for making the point that I think Welsh fans have to have a look at themselves as well. You know, we're either the Red Wall that support Cymru whenever and wherever they're playing, or we're not.
"And, you know, I think fans need to just ask themselves why they're not coming to the stadium necessarily to support the women's team. We need to look at how we attract male fans and different fans to the stadiums because we're attracting lots of children and families, but we want the fan base to be bigger and broader than that."
While everyone would welcome increased numbers supporting the Wales women's team, there is no doubting the passion of the sometimes dozens, sometimes hundereds of fans who have followed Wales all over Europe and beyond in recent seasons.
Haley Evans, founder of FE Wales, for female Welsh fans, says numbers are improving and hopes the Euros will ensure some fans become lifelong supporters.
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"I remember our first trip around six years ago to Italy, it was myself, my partner and Megan Wynne's (Wales midfielder) parents… things have come a long way since then.
"Our home attendance is nowhere near where it should be, if we are going to be brutally honest about things. Hopefully the Euros is the catalyst for improvement.
"Hopefully this will be the moment."