As 2011 draws to a close, reflections on the year have been ubiquitous. Most notable, perhaps, has been the row over the BBC’s Sports Personality of the Year award (as An Early Bath has already discussed here and here).
It would not be courting too much controversy to describe the past year as a successful one for Welsh sport.
As well as the accomplishments of the men’s national football (made the biggest rise in FIFA’s world rankings over the year) and rugby (near-World Cup glory) sides as well as Swansea City’s promotion to the Premier League, Wales has five high-profile world champions crowned this year:
Nathan Cleverly, WBO light-heavyweight champion
Chaz Davies, motorcyclist, World Supersport champion
Dai Greene, 400m gold medallist champion at Daegu World Athletics Championships
Helen Jenkins, world triathlon champion
Nathan Stephens, javelin gold medallist at the Paralympic Athletics World Championships
Yet despite being somewhat overshadowed, the Welsh netball side’s 2011 has ranked alongside the above achievements.
The team has had to begin from a much lower base, with netball simply not having a high enough profile on these shores to attract enough investment and support – despite the popularity of the sport at school-level. In Australia and New Zealand, for example, a televised, well-supported semi-professional league exists in the form of the ANZ Championship.
ANZ Championship match in Australia. Photo: Flickr, mike lowe
Much of that can be attributed to Wales’ New Zealander coach Melissa Hyndman, and she will be looking to build on those triumphs in the New Year. There will be no football-style Team GB controversies in netball, though, as the sport has not been awarded Olympic status. It is that kind of barrier netball in this country still has to overcome.
Watch out for a question and answer with Mike Fatkin, chief executive of Welsh Netball, in the next few days, where he will be addressing many of the challenges faced by his sport.
BBC Sports Personality of the Year (SPOTY) is always easy viewing for the sports fan, if only to imagine some of the uneasy conversation between invited guests who have ended up sitting together – it is fascinating to wonder what Paula Radcliffe and David Moyes might have discussed.
But this year SPOTY has caused a controversy thought to be beyond its inoffensive and innocent reflection of 12 months of British sport.
An Early Bath has previously discussed the lack of female representation on the shortlist for the main award, and during last night’s ceremony the lack of attention women’s sport commands in this country became increasingly obvious.
For more than two decades, Janice and Ian have run the Red Star Athletics Club, Glasgow, coaching hundreds of people with disabilities in a variety of athletic disciplines.
Typically for people like Janice and Ian, they seemed overwhelmed upon collection of their trophy. “We know many other people who are involved [in disability sports] to an even greater extent than us,” said Ian during the presentation.
“I suppose this is an award for volunteers everywhere.”
People like Janice and Ian – including the brilliant coaches at Disability Sport Wales, with whom I have had the privilege to work alongside – sum up the essence of grassroots sport and the power sport has within the community at each and every level of ability.
So while the lack of female representation is an obvious cause for concern, the platform SPOTY gives to previously unsung heroes like Janice and Ian ensures the BBC venture is a worthy one.
Tongues immediately began wagging at the fact all the names were male. The Daily Mail’s Laura Williamson, for example, regretfully suggested the list “sums up the pervading attitude towards women’s sport in this country”.
Professor Laura McAllister, head of Sport Wales, insisted the Sports Personality of the Year snub – which she brands “scandalous” – flies in the face of the progress made by women’s sport in Wales.
“I think in terms of where we’re at with women’s sport, it’s probably as strong as it’s ever been,” she argues.
“Team sports, particularly football, have grown at quite some pace over the last decade.”
Laura McAllister: BBC Sports Personality process is “fundamentally flawed”
On the field, women’s football in Wales has been a relative success in recent years, even if it has had to set out from a relatively low base.
As Prof McAllister explains, an already-solid structure is becoming ever more established. “We’ve got a team playing at virtually the highest level of UK competition – the English Premier League, as Cardiff City do – and then we’ve got our own Welsh Premier League [formed in 2009] which has really improved standards in the lower levels.”
But the problem, as Prof McAllister notes, is something of a vicious cycle. Sports journalism is predominately practised by and hence focused on men, but without more comprehensive coverage, it will always be difficult for women’s teams to attract more followers.
View from the stand at the Cardiff International Athletics Stadium, with the 27,000-seater Cardiff City Stadium in the background, as Cardiff City Ladies take on Reading
Cardiff dug out a determined win in torrential conditions against the visitors from Berkshire, with second-half goals from Nicola Cousins, Lauren Price and Zoe Atkins securing a comfortable 3-0 win.
CCLFC has received support from Cardiff City Council, but now needs to draw in the crowds with media help
But although the horrendous conditions would certainly have had a detrimental effect on the crowd numbers, the 2,500-capacity stand was sparsely filled, to say the least. Cardiff City men’s side, meanwhile, attract a crowd of 20,000-plus each game.
Karen Jones, secretary of the ladies’ club, reveals her team has benefited from financial support from local government. The state-of-the-art facilities at the International Stadium mean Cardiff is, in terms of facilities, one of the best endowed female club sides in the UK.
This, though, has had little or no impact on expanding the market and driving up attendances. While Karen emphasises next year’s Olympic Games have not had an entirely positive effect on CCLFC, with women’s football being showcased at Cardiff’s Millennium Stadium she hopes more followers will be attracted to her club and others at all levels across south Wales.
Cardiff City Ladies FC’s club secretary Karen Jones: “We have the best facilities in the league”
“Even with the men’s World Cup you get an influx of girls who want to come and join.”
It is not just women’s football experiencing something of a boom. Welsh netball is going through a huge resurgence following the recruitment of New Zealander Melissa Hyndman to coach the national side, and has recently returned from Scotland – ahead of Wales in the netball world rankings – after having won every game on tour at both senior and under-21 level.
Laura McAllister: Recent progress “augurs very well for the future”
But while there have been triumphs on the field and improved infrastructure has been provided, for women’s football, hockey and netball and other popular team sports to ever break into the mainstream – and perhaps even smash the glass ceiling of professionalism – the media has to play a role.
Laura McAllister: “We need more female sports journalists just to get different perspectives”
It is open to discussion as to whether media coverage of women’s sport, and particularly that of the team variety, will ever even approach that devoted to men. What appear to be intransigent attitudes such as the one expressed by the Independent’s Glenn Moore will not help:
“Women’s sport does not get much media attention because the public do not demand it. The Independent’s sports desk gets more letters asking for increased coverage of lower league football, or racecards, than of women’s sport.”
The controversy surrounding the Sports Personality of the Year shortlist demonstrates a definite undercurrent of support for female athletes although it remains to be seen whether a positive step forward can emerge from the aftermath of the controversy.
But while Welsh football, netball and hockey teams keep on winning, the chance of this happening can only increase.
A few weeks ago, I made a generalised attack on the culture of elite sport and the extent to which professionalism has detracted from the true nature and value of sport.
So it is only fair to acknowledge when professional sport excels itself – as it has done over the course of the last week.
One week ago, the football and wider sporting world was rocked by the tragic death of Wales national manager Gary Speed. The resulting outpouring of emotion finally and rightly gave the lie to the (in)famous Bill Shankly line: “Football is not a matter of life and death. It’s more important than that.”
Some of the tributes to Gary Speed at the Cardiff City Stadium
Instead, Speed’s passing showed football in a compassionate light it is not often associated with. Shrines were spontaneously set up at Elland Road, Goodison Park, St James’ Park, the Reebok Stadium, Bramall Lane – the homes of clubs Speed played for during his twenty-year career – as well as grounds across Wales.
Initiatives by those clubs – including wreaths being laid a playing of the Welsh national anthem at Everton and the plan for 52,000 Geordies to sing Welsh hymn Bread of Heaven in unison at the Swansea game on 17 December – were welcome.
But perhaps more notable was the generosity of spirit shown by fans, and not just those of the clubs Speed represented. Each Premier League game this weekend was preceded by a minute’s applause for Speed, as well as chants of his name from fans of teams he never even played for.
Speed’s name chanted at Chelsea v Liverpool – neither of whom he ever represented.
A friend said his mother, who had no links to Speed, had cried during the tribute at Leicester City’s Walkers Stadium. Shay Given and Craig Bellamy, friends and teammates of Speed, showed great courage to play in matches this week despite their obvious distress. John Carver, Newcastle’s assistant boss who worked with Speed at St James’ Park and with Sheffield United, was comforted throughout the applause by fourth official Mark Halsey.
England and Wales football fans have not always had the warmest of relationships, so it was moving to see that laid aside for the sake of Speed, with Welsh flags adorned with messages to the midfielder fluttering in the crowd at Leeds and Newcastle, amongst others.
The shock and grief at Speed’s death did not only unite opposing fans, it also transcended sports. At the Millennium Stadium yesterday, applause for Speed rained down from the stands prior to Wales taking on Australia.
That match, the last international before retirement for Wales’s little winger Shane Williams, provided another heart-warming instance to dispel some of the cynicism surrounding professional sport.
Williams wept during the rendition of Hen Wlad Fy Nhadau, in the process reducing much of the crowd to tears themselves. Wales lost 18-24 to the Wallabies, but Williams crossed for his 58th and final international try with the last play of the match, sending 62,000 people into raptures.
The atmosphere was incredible, surreal. Wales had been outgunned by a more clinical and apparently hungrier outfit. For much of the second half, it was painful to watch. The stadium felt flat.
But Williams’ try – skipping past Berrick Barnes before scampering over one final time – rejuvenated the crowd. Nobody seemed to notice or care Wales had already lost. This was Shane’s moment, and all that mattered was that he had the chance to say goodbye in style.
Shane Williams and his family after his last international against Australia yesterday. Photo credit: Flickr - Sum_of_Marc
A win would have been nice, but we cared more for Shane than for the result of what was, after all, a friendly match. Fans stood for the winger, to thank him for his commitment to the Welsh cause for more than a decade, to celebrate with him, to join him in his emotional farewell.
This was not about winning at all costs – it was about a more human side. It was a demonstration that while victory is the ultimate aim of a sportsman or woman, it should not be the sole focus. Grassroots sport, by its non-elite nature, recognises that.
Over the past week, with rivalries set aside after the passing of a legend, and with an international crowd celebrating one man’s achievements rather than reacting negatively after the defeat of their nation, a fundamental characteristic – the value of sport in emotional rather than monetary terms – has been revealed to be present at the top levels of sport on a scale that is sometimes obscured.
An Early Bath 