Championship / Paul Moon / 03 September 2009 / Leave a comment

Wales haven't qualified for a major football tournament for over 50 years, whilst club teams Cardiff and Swansea are finding it hard to get into the Premier League. Paul Moon explains why.

"Before the last Welsh international, nobody from Manchester City could be bothered to tell John Toshack about the unavailability of Craig Bellamy. This shambolic incident alone sums up the amateurism within Welsh football."

Wales national football association is the third oldest in the world, but their team has not qualified for a major international tournament since 1958. The reasons are obvious and threefold.

First, Wales has a population of just three million so finding talented footballers from such a small pool is difficult enough. But when the nation engenders all its considerable passion and feeds it undiluted into its first sport - rugby union - it makes it almost impossible. This alone would prevent progress but it is made worse by an infrastructure that has two tiers with no conduit between them. Poor standard and part-time leagues like the Cymru Alliance and the Welsh Premier League offer no fertilised spawn or raw material to the top leagues.

Cardiff City and Swansea City are the only two Welsh clubs who play serious football, and here lies the predicament. Even Luxembourg with a population of half a million has 14 teams in their National Division. It's probably fairer to compare Wales' circumstances with Finland (population 5.3m) who has never qualified for a World Cup or European finals tournament. However, they have 14 clubs competing in their Veikkausliiga League while Norway (population 4.8m), who has participated in three World Cup finals and once in the European Championship, has 16 clubs in their Tippeligaen League.

Secondly, it is clearly apparent that Swansea and Cardiff have different agendas, priorities and attitudes when it comes to signing home-grown talent. Swansea has 14 Welshmen in their current squad with 11 coming via the youth system. Paradoxically, Cardiff City has six Scots compared to just four Welshmen registered. Surely the capital city must do more! Note that Celtic has 11 Scotsmen in their squad while Rangers have 16.

One other side of national relevance is Wrexham who play in the Conference National - the fifth tier of the English football pyramid. Interestingly Wrexham's home ground - The Racecourse - has the dubious distinction of being the world's oldest international stadium that is still in use!

Finally, in these days of fine margins between success and failure there is one distasteful element that hinders the national side... and that is the attitude of Football League managers. Sir Alex Ferguson for instance, has treated Welsh football with utter disdain over the years and this is another bona fide reason why they find it so hard to qualify for tournaments!

It was shameful that, in 16 years, Ryan Giggs reluctantly played only 64 games for Wales, scoring just 12 goals (none against a decent side). Incredibly he missed 18 consecutive friendly games, a number through feigned injury. In that time he suffered no serious long-term injuries and was compliant for Manchester United to block his attendance! It is a mystery to me why he is revered in the principality, his attitude to the Welsh cause was lukewarm at best!

One hopes that former Wales manager Mark Hughes is not showing similar signs of indifference. In the last international friendly against Montenegro, nobody from Manchester City could be bothered to tell John Toshack about the unavailability of problem child Craig Bellamy. This shambolic issue alone sum up the amateurism that co-exists within the professional football game in Wales. It could not happen in rugby union!

Looking forward to this season it will be hard for Cardiff and Swansea to match last year's efforts. Cardiff just missed out on the play-offs for the Premier League on goals scored to Preston on the final day of the season. Swansea will surely struggle until they adjust post Roberto Martinez. Latest Betfair prices for winning the Championship 2009/10 include: West Brom [4.8], Newcastle [5.4], Middlesbrough [6.6], Sheff Utd [10.0], Cardiff City [10.5], Nottingham Forest [28.0], and Leicester [29.0]. Swansea are [250.0].

Neither will get promotion this year though a Welsh side in the Premier League would certainly help the national game. I expect Cardiff ([4.2] in the Promotion market) to go close but ultimately fail. Swansea look too short a price at [17.5]. They must wait until new manager Paolo Sousa marks his scent on the club, so this year will be about stabilising.

Tags: Cardiff City, Championship Betting, Craig Bellamy, John Toshack, Premier League, Ryan Giggs, Swansea City, Wales National Football Team, Wrexham