the future of welsh football

my welsh football interest is prmarily cardiff city, though i do take a passing glance in the direction of swansea.

at the top of the tree is of course the welsh fa. if we take into account their recent failure in the high court, it can be argued that their standing is pretty low.

on the assumption that it is their role to promote the game in our principality, do we have to wait 15 years or so for the new heightened standing of footbal in wales to take effect? increased gates at the vetch field and ccs have been at the expense of rugby so increased support of the game? that increased support will take time to develop into new quality players for our country.

in the meantime it is down to academies to coach the youngsters. can the two premier league academies be encouraged to develop welsh youth without distracting from their primary role? as premier league football clubs fighting a rugby biased nation do we have a responsibility to further develop football in wales using our academies? afterall we are keen to take welsh pounds from the punters.

is there any other way to ensure that a future chris colman has a bit more to play with than dare i say it, average talent.

If you're talking about Welsh international football, it appears that the future is bleak.
After being hammered at home by Finland, the Wales U21 team last night lost 1-0 to SAN MARINO. I think that's arguably one of the worst results ever by a Wales team. With the senior team only having 2 or 3 players of real international quality, there doesn't appear to be too much to look forward to.

Bet san marino have called.today a national holiday after a win,

Coleman's decision to sack Brian Flynn as U21 manager was obviously inspired    

Could you blame the Welsh teams for not allowing the players chances? I mean look at the evidence -

Cardiff City - Has the most ENGLISH players of any team in the premier league

Swansea City - Has only four Welsh players, only one of which is getting regular football

Newport County - Five Welsh players, but 16 Englishmen

I've countered this argument before in regards to forcing teams to field weak teams just because they need homegrown players. But personally it sounds ridiculous that Welsh teams in the English leagues aren't expected to field a minimum amount of welsh players.

i am not suggesting that either swansea or cardiff field weaker teams by including welsh talent. what i am suggesting is that they get out and encourage/train/develop what talent there is.

could that talent be further developed in the academies even if those players are a little weaker than one would have hoped?

does the faw have an academy? if so, can its content be developed in association with the swansea and cardiff academies?

we all accept that malky, vincent and the rest are all in it for the sake of cardiff city, but why cant they for once look at the bigger picture from the welsh football fans perspective?

Cardiff, Swansea and Newport play in the English leagues, so they should be subject to the same rules as the other 89 teams.  

However, the continued success of these clubs should provide a natural launchpad for the sport on a more local level in the future.  Evolution does not happen overnight, but, if the trend continues, more youngsters will be attracted to the round ball game, but hopefully not at the expense of rugby, as there is plenty of scope for both games to flourish in Wales.

Am I mistaken in saying since the three welsh clubs compete in the English system, they actually have to field English players, not Welsh? I've got no evidence either way but I highly doubt the FA went through the effort of changing the rules just for three teams. They should have though.

And agreed, it's about grass roots, and there never has been a better time to get children into football.

Red614 wrote:Am I mistaken in saying since the three welsh clubs compete in the English system, they actually have to field English players, not Welsh? I've got no evidence either way but I highly doubt the FA went through the effort of changing the rules just for three teams. They should have though.

And agreed, it's about grass roots, and there never has been a better time to get children into football.

The Welsh teams have to abide by the same rules as the other 89 teams, whether it be Premier League home grown rule or the equivalent in the Football League. My understanding is that they have effectively opted out of FAW guidelines by competing with the big boys.

Have a look at this interview transcript, that someone kindly pasted on aamb

http://www.cardiffcityforum.co.uk/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=122820 someone posted it on there

TDA wrote:

Red614 wrote:Am I mistaken in saying since the three welsh clubs compete in the English system, they actually have to field English players, not Welsh? I've got no evidence either way but I highly doubt the FA went through the effort of changing the rules just for three teams. They should have though.

And agreed, it's about grass roots, and there never has been a better time to get children into football.

The Welsh teams have to abide by the same rules as the other 89 teams, whether it be Premier League home grown rule or the equivalent in the Football League.  My understanding is that they have effectively opted out of FAW guidelines by competing with the big boys.

The FA rules specify English players as they are written for English teams. Do the Welsh teams get a special sub clause saying for them they must raise Welsh players, or is is English like everyone else?

English or Welsh doesn't apply. I think it's simply players who have been with clubs in the English system for 3 years prior to 21 so they could be from abroad to comply (that's off the top of my head so I'm off to check now)

Cyncoedslumdog wrote:English or Welsh doesn't apply. I think it's simply players who have been with clubs in the English system for 3 years prior to 21 so they could be from abroad to comply (that's off the top of my head so I'm off to check now)

I was right (I'm brilliant) :bounce: 

Cyncoedslumdog wrote:

Cyncoedslumdog wrote:English or Welsh doesn't apply. I think it's simply players who have been with clubs in the English system for 3 years prior to 21 so they could be from abroad to comply (that's off the top of my head so I'm off to check now)

I was right (I'm brilliant) :bounce: 

Right, so there's no official 'you have to select x amount of Welsh players in your squad' rule for ourselves and the other Welsh sides, right? There is for English teams, thus why half decent English players are always overpriced.

I'm just getting more and more confused