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Post by llannerch on Jan 19, 2016 13:35:28 GMT
Nice pod on the museum, didn't even know it existed and am in Wrexham most weekends. Gonna take the boy there soon. Cheers. It's a lovely museum, but a bit small. Be warned the football collection isn't on display permanently. It can be viewed by appointment at the archive though on certain days (see our website for the exact details). You may also be interested in the Cartref Pel-droed/Bring Football Home campaign which aims to establish a permanent football museum for Wales in Wrexham. Hoping to have a blog off them very soon on the website, and perhaps record a podcast with them. |
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Post by llannerch on Jan 19, 2016 13:36:55 GMT
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Post by llannerch on Jan 23, 2016 11:57:48 GMT
Recording a podcast this week looking back to the Euro 92 and USA 94 campaigns.
Would love to hear any memories you have of those campaigns either here or on twitter @podcastpeldroed
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Post by bdintokyo on Jan 24, 2016 5:18:46 GMT
Recording a podcast this week looking back to the Euro 92 and USA 94 campaigns. Would love to hear any memories you have of those campaigns either here or on twitter @podcastpeldroed Sorry, I don't post often, but when I do, I tend to go on a bit. For what it's worth, here are my reminiscences from the first game in that era, Belgium 3-1 at home, October 1990... The 1990 World Cup qualifiers had been a damp squib. Wales had been in an insanely difficult group against European champions Holland - Gullit, van Basten and all - and the soon-to-be World champions West Germany - the most impressive World Cup winners of my lifetime (just watch YouTube highlights of their game against Yugoslavia at Italia 90). Add to that a couple of lacklustre performances against Finland and... Well, you get the idea: bottom of the group without a win. The one positive had been the first use of rugby's National Stadium for the impressive but largely meaningless 0-0 with Germany. Unlike the later Millennium Stadium, the old Arms Park really kept the noise echoing around the ground, so it felt like a real coup when the FAW got to use it again for all of the Euro 92 qualifiers. Yet again, the qualifying draw did us no favours: Germany (again!) and Belgium, then like now one of the best sides in Europe, as well as Luxembourg, the kind of whipping boys that Wales had traditionally struggled against. With only one team heading for Sweden 92, Wales's chances looked bleak. Yet from the kick-off in the opener vs Belgium, Wales seemed to have a confidence about them, a collective belief that had surfaced only in brief moments in the previous qualifiers. The snazzy new Umbro kit gave a sheen to proceedings too, a symbol of a new beginning (at least to a teenage geek like me). The crowd - just 12,000 but making the noise of 50,000 - seemed to sense something was changing, and it was honestly one of the best atmospheres I've known - crackling, intense, electric. A constant issue had been how to accommodate our three strikers, and Terry Yorath took the surprising decision to move Hughes into midfield just behind Rush and Saunders. He was supported by Horne and Nicholas in front of a back five (still a novel continental notion in 1990), with the fullbacks, especially the criminally underrated Bodin, providing attacking width when necessary. Yorath had experimented briefly with a similar formation in the previous tournament, but in this game it all just clicked into place. Belgium's early opener was nothing more than a minor inconvenience as, within five minutes, Rush had equalised after Saunders had threaded him through beautifully. And, in a fantastic team performance, it really was Deano's night, revelling in the open spaces of the Arms Park, looking every bit the terrier chasing after the ball and scaring the hell out of the Belgian defenders, including Eric Gerets, one of the world's best. Yorath would later say that his hardest job was setting the team up to suit the few top class players at his disposal, but it was on this night that he finally found the right formula. It helped too that the heavy rugby pitch held the ball up, allowing Rush and Saunders to latch onto every thru-pass when the opposition had given up the chase. In fact, the team's slow-slow-quick style, by luck or design, was perfectly matched to the long, lush grass and wide expanses, something that they made full use of over the following years. Apparently, some of the players had been reluctant to make the rugby stadium their permanent home, with the Racecourse in particular seen as a lucky ground, but this game seemed to persuade them otherwise. They buzzed around in the atmosphere, and - putting aside issues of Cardiff-centrism for the moment - the Arms Park would go on to host some outstanding performances over this campaign and the next, with its high concrete stands amplifying every roar. And how we bloody roared that crisp October night! The second half saw Wales dominate, but as time slipped by it felt the chance may pass. Then Paul Bodin surged up the left and whipped in a cross that was half-cleared. Barry Horne rose to head back into the mix. And there was the man of the match, Deano, to control and fire home - in a style replicated uncannily by Bale in the same fixture 25 years later. Belgium were gone now, utterly exhausted by the pressing Wales had inflicted upon them. It was almost inevitable that Saunders would be involved again when the game was finally done and dusted in the 87th minute (the minute of the goal is the only stat I had to check in writing this - the rest is etched perfectly on my memory). He played in Hughes, who kept going and going and- goal! Joy unconfined as Hughes guided the ball past Preudhomme into those lovely red-and-white striped nets that I will forever equate with that era of thrilling football, and - well, this is Wales - heartbreaking near misses. It was probably the best single performance I've seen by Wales, perhaps due to the sudden ferocity of it. Unlike, say, Germany eight months later, or Belgium in the USA 94 qualifiers, there had been no prior game that had pointed to what might happen, no warning shots fired. They just stood up to one of the best teams around and tore them apart. Not that long ago, Ian Rush said "We always beat Belgium." Well, this was the night it all began. |
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Post by llannerch on Jan 31, 2016 9:51:56 GMT
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Post by llannerch on Feb 13, 2016 9:28:41 GMT
New podcast with two of the gents behind the campaign to establish a National Football Museum for Wales in Wrecsam www.podcastpeldroed.cymru/podlediad-24-podcast-24-ymgyrch-bringfootballhome-campaign/Campoaign can be followed on Twitter at: @cartrefpeldroed #BringFootballHome Their pinned tweet has a link to a petition at their facebook page where you can express support for the campaign As an aside, it was recorded at Saith Seren a community co-operative pub in Wrecsam that also serves as a hub for the Welsh language for the town and surrounding area. And if that doesn't push your buttons it also serves a terrific range of real ales and ciders. And sells pork pies to die for |
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Post by welwyn on Feb 17, 2016 13:30:09 GMT
Just caught up with the last couple of these. The Yorath years one was particularly good.
That night of the Romania game and talk of having to use a sisters room for reception was especially poignant for me. My earliest footballing memories that I can remember come from around that evening. I distinctly remember one of those BBC trails for the England v San Marino involving their players counting in Italian up to eight as goals went in (I think that is what they needed to win by).
Then (and to be far, I may have misremembered this bit slightly), I remember the England game on the night being turned over for the Wales game, because the other result wasn't going their way, and me asking my dad why. He then explained both the situation and our own Welsh heritage just enough for me to be right behind us, just in time for the penalty miss!
I then had to spend the next decade or so, in those pre-internet days, living in Luton, in a family house where we didn't have Sky or cable, having to 'watch' our games on Ceefax!
Mind you, in hindsight, that was probably the best way to watch the Bobby Gould years !
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Post by llannerch on Feb 21, 2016 10:27:44 GMT
Just caught up with the last couple of these. The Yorath years one was particularly good. Thanks for the feedback! Wasn't as traumatic as we thought it might have been. That night of the Romania game and talk of having to use a sisters room for reception was especially poignant for me. My earliest footballing memories that I can remember come from around that evening. I distinctly remember one of those BBC trails for the England v San Marino involving their players counting in Italian up to eight as goals went in (I think that is what they needed to win by). Then (and to be far, I may have misremembered this bit slightly), I remember the England game on the night being turned over for the Wales game, because the other result wasn't going their way, and me asking my dad why. He then explained both the situation and our own Welsh heritage just enough for me to be right behind us, just in time for the penalty miss! It's remarkable how vivid people's memories are of the penalty. Certainly I can remember it, and the aftermath, very clearly. I remember very little else of the game though I then had to spend the next decade or so, in those pre-internet days, living in Luton, in a family house where we didn't have Sky or cable, having to 'watch' our games on Ceefax! Don't knock it....Ceefax was brilliant |
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Post by llannerch on Feb 21, 2016 15:02:39 GMT
Current blog and podcast are for the kit fetishists among you. I have a chat with Simon 'Shakey' Shakeshaft about Wales kits in podcast #25 and in an accompanying blog Shakey writes about the 1976 European Championship campaign where Wales wore 4 kits by 3 suppliers in a single campaign Blog - www.podcastpeldroed.cymru/wales-shirts-forgotten-campaign/Podcast -http://www.podcastpeldroed.cymru/podlediad-25-trafod-crysiau-cymru-gyda-simon-shakeshaft-podcast-25-chatting-wales-shirts-with-simon-shakeshaft/ |
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Post by BachgenYBwlch on Feb 21, 2016 18:34:00 GMT
Recording a podcast this week looking back to the Euro 92 and USA 94 campaigns. Would love to hear any memories you have of those campaigns either here or on twitter @podcastpeldroed Sorry, I don't post often, but when I do, I tend to go on a bit. For what it's worth, here are my reminiscences from the first game in that era, Belgium 3-1 at home, October 1990... The 1990 World Cup qualifiers had been a damp squib. Wales had been in an insanely difficult group against European champions Holland - Gullit, van Basten and all - and the soon-to-be World champions West Germany - the most impressive World Cup winners of my lifetime (just watch YouTube highlights of their game against Yugoslavia at Italia 90). Add to that a couple of lacklustre performances against Finland and... Well, you get the idea: bottom of the group without a win. The one positive had been the first use of rugby's National Stadium for the impressive but largely meaningless 0-0 with Germany. Unlike the later Millennium Stadium, the old Arms Park really kept the noise echoing around the ground, so it felt like a real coup when the FAW got to use it again for all of the Euro 92 qualifiers. Yet again, the qualifying draw did us no favours: Germany (again!) and Belgium, then like now one of the best sides in Europe, as well as Luxembourg, the kind of whipping boys that Wales had traditionally struggled against. With only one team heading for Sweden 92, Wales's chances looked bleak. Yet from the kick-off in the opener vs Belgium, Wales seemed to have a confidence about them, a collective belief that had surfaced only in brief moments in the previous qualifiers. The snazzy new Umbro kit gave a sheen to proceedings too, a symbol of a new beginning (at least to a teenage geek like me). The crowd - just 12,000 but making the noise of 50,000 - seemed to sense something was changing, and it was honestly one of the best atmospheres I've known - crackling, intense, electric. A constant issue had been how to accommodate our three strikers, and Terry Yorath took the surprising decision to move Hughes into midfield just behind Rush and Saunders. He was supported by Horne and Nicholas in front of a back five (still a novel continental notion in 1990), with the fullbacks, especially the criminally underrated Bodin, providing attacking width when necessary. Yorath had experimented briefly with a similar formation in the previous tournament, but in this game it all just clicked into place. Belgium's early opener was nothing more than a minor inconvenience as, within five minutes, Rush had equalised after Saunders had threaded him through beautifully. And, in a fantastic team performance, it really was Deano's night, revelling in the open spaces of the Arms Park, looking every bit the terrier chasing after the ball and scaring the hell out of the Belgian defenders, including Eric Gerets, one of the world's best. Yorath would later say that his hardest job was setting the team up to suit the few top class players at his disposal, but it was on this night that he finally found the right formula. It helped too that the heavy rugby pitch held the ball up, allowing Rush and Saunders to latch onto every thru-pass when the opposition had given up the chase. In fact, the team's slow-slow-quick style, by luck or design, was perfectly matched to the long, lush grass and wide expanses, something that they made full use of over the following years. Apparently, some of the players had been reluctant to make the rugby stadium their permanent home, with the Racecourse in particular seen as a lucky ground, but this game seemed to persuade them otherwise. They buzzed around in the atmosphere, and - putting aside issues of Cardiff-centrism for the moment - the Arms Park would go on to host some outstanding performances over this campaign and the next, with its high concrete stands amplifying every roar. And how we bloody roared that crisp October night! The second half saw Wales dominate, but as time slipped by it felt the chance may pass. Then Paul Bodin surged up the left and whipped in a cross that was half-cleared. Barry Horne rose to head back into the mix. And there was the man of the match, Deano, to control and fire home - in a style replicated uncannily by Bale in the same fixture 25 years later. Belgium were gone now, utterly exhausted by the pressing Wales had inflicted upon them. It was almost inevitable that Saunders would be involved again when the game was finally done and dusted in the 87th minute (the minute of the goal is the only stat I had to check in writing this - the rest is etched perfectly on my memory). He played in Hughes, who kept going and going and- goal! Joy unconfined as Hughes guided the ball past Preudhomme into those lovely red-and-white striped nets that I will forever equate with that era of thrilling football, and - well, this is Wales - heartbreaking near misses. It was probably the best single performance I've seen by Wales, perhaps due to the sudden ferocity of it. Unlike, say, Germany eight months later, or Belgium in the USA 94 qualifiers, there had been no prior game that had pointed to what might happen, no warning shots fired. They just stood up to one of the best teams around and tore them apart. Not that long ago, Ian Rush said "We always beat Belgium." Well, this was the night it all began. This is why I love this forum. Being born in 1990 I obviously have no recollection of these qualifiers, but such insightful, in depth knowledge gets me reading for hours. I've had enough trauma following Wales in my young lifetime (Jamaica home first game) but the fact that so many of you, my Dad included, have had to do this for 30,40,50 years makes me feel even prouder and over the moon that you all get to see our little country in a major championship finals. Thanks for this post and all the great work on the podcast. |
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Post by llannerch on Feb 22, 2016 12:37:58 GMT
Current blog and podcast are for the kit fetishists among you. I have a chat with Simon 'Shakey' Shakeshaft about Wales kits in podcast #25 and in an accompanying blog Shakey writes about the 1976 European Championship campaign where Wales wore 4 kits by 3 suppliers in a single campaign Blog - www.podcastpeldroed.cymru/wales-shirts-forgotten-campaign/Podcast -http://www.podcastpeldroed.cymru/podlediad-25-trafod-crysiau-cymru-gyda-simon-shakeshaft-podcast-25-chatting-wales-shirts-with-simon-shakeshaft/ Check out today's @podcastpeldroed tweets for details of how to win this this replica Admiral shirt |
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Post by BachgenYBwlch on Feb 25, 2016 20:25:42 GMT
Current blog and podcast are for the kit fetishists among you. I have a chat with Simon 'Shakey' Shakeshaft about Wales kits in podcast #25 and in an accompanying blog Shakey writes about the 1976 European Championship campaign where Wales wore 4 kits by 3 suppliers in a single campaign Blog - www.podcastpeldroed.cymru/wales-shirts-forgotten-campaign/Podcast -http://www.podcastpeldroed.cymru/podlediad-25-trafod-crysiau-cymru-gyda-simon-shakeshaft-podcast-25-chatting-wales-shirts-with-simon-shakeshaft/ Check out today's @podcastpeldroed tweets for details of how to win this this replica Admiral shirtThose bukta kits are mint. |
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Post by llannerch on Mar 3, 2016 17:28:21 GMT
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Post by llannerch on Mar 16, 2016 20:08:02 GMT
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Post by llannerch on Mar 19, 2016 19:44:41 GMT
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Post by llannerch on Mar 24, 2016 13:14:19 GMT
Keep an eye out for these hitting pubs in Canton today Attachments:
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Post by llannerch on Mar 28, 2016 8:59:36 GMT
Never listened to it before (or ever will tbh) but I just contributed to the Sun Goals podcast with Ian Wright. Discussing Wales...and England. Because it's The Sun. Not sure when it's out, but don't say I didn't warn you
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Post by llannerch on Mar 31, 2016 12:50:33 GMT
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Post by llannerch on Mar 31, 2016 12:51:23 GMT
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Post by ontheroadagain on Apr 1, 2016 21:45:22 GMT
Ideal for listening to in work tomorrow morning. |
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Post by welwyn on Apr 1, 2016 22:03:26 GMT
Reckon I was getting some funny looks in the street while listening today. Was doing what I always do, which is discussing points out loud with myself as you were picking up on them. Think it's to do with my journalistic background!
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Post by llannerch on Apr 2, 2016 16:40:33 GMT
Ideal for listening to in work tomorrow morning. Saturday working. Sympathies. Hope we made it go that little bit quicker |
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Post by llannerch on Apr 4, 2016 12:32:30 GMT
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Post by adecolley on Apr 4, 2016 13:03:26 GMT
You missed out Church. Heh, heh
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Post by llannerch on Apr 4, 2016 14:27:45 GMT
You missed out Church. Heh, heh Not sure what else Marcus Browning could have done either. |
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Post by llannerch on Apr 21, 2016 17:10:08 GMT
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Post by phillygaz on Apr 22, 2016 14:57:55 GMT
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Post by Podcast Pêl-droed on Apr 30, 2016 10:30:12 GMT
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Post by Podcast Pêl-droed on May 7, 2016 13:59:21 GMT
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Post by Podcast Pêl-droed on May 10, 2016 22:49:20 GMT
Treat coming this week: chatting with Wales Online's Chris Wathan about his forthcoming book
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