Welsh star calls for National Anthem to be respected at the Millennium Stadium

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When Great Britain faces Uruguay at the Millennium Stadium in Cardiff, Welsh striker, Craig Bellamy has called for the British National Anthem to be respected by the supporters. When England played Wales, in March 2011, the anthem was booed by a hardcore of Welsh supporters.

This may seem slightly ironic as Bellamy and his fellow Welsh players, Ryan Giggs, Aeron Ramsey, Neil Taylor and Joe Allen, have not sung a word of the anthem while representing Great Britain in the Olympics. Bellamy, however, should be commended for his comments regarding the booing.

He says that no nation’s national anthem should be booed by opposing supporters. He says that all national anthems should be respected even that of your worst rivals. The Liverpool striker, who was born in Cardiff, adds that it is only for one or two minutes and that people who are not singing should remain silent.

He says that this should be the same everywhere and at every sporting occasion where anthems are sung. A lecturer in Modern Welsh and Sports history at Swansea University, Dr. Martin Jones, agrees but does not think that there will be any booing at the game during the national anthems.

Dr. Jones says that this is because most hardcore Welsh supporters will stay away and that the crowd will be much more diverse. He told BBC Radio Wales that he thinks that there will be a lot of English supporters at the game and that the crowd will also include a lot of families.

 

Millennium stadium pulling out all the stops for Wales v England

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Millennium stadium pulling out all the stops for Wales v England After a heavy schedule of rugby matches having hosted Six Nations rugby, the ground staff at Millennium stadium is feverishly working to get the pitch ready for the Euro 2012 Wales sellout against rival England. Stadium manager Gerry Toms says the pitch will be ready for the first football match to be played in 18 months at the stadium.

In the past, when qualifying games for major tournaments had been staged at the Millennium some high profile stars such as Craig Bellamy and James Collins had been very outspoken and critical of the status of the pitch. Saying things like the pitch is not good to play football on or than it was horrendous.

There have been complaints that rugby players and their games get preference over those of football saying that it is not a great pitch because it is a rugby pitch and that they are not looked after here at this stadium.

The stadium manager Toms is confident the pitch will be ready and in excellent shape for the Football Association of Wales mentioning that because the stadium is multi-event stadium the criticism in the past has been quite fair but that they work hard to get the best surface possible for every event that is staged.

The last match was Wales against Ireland at the Six Nations on March 12, so the pitch will have had a very important two weeks without any competitions. The improved weather conditions in the past couple of weeks are a relief after one of the worst winters in years and a busy schedule and this will give additional help to getting the pitch in shape for European qualifying.