Art installations depicting the iconic bucket hats worn by Welsh football fans, which will light up at night, will be located across the country during this winter’s World Cup.
Addressing a meeting of Cardiff Breakfast Club chief executive of the Football Association of Wales (FAW), Noel Mooney, said the that the installations, which will light up in the colours of yellow, green and red, will appear at five locations across Wales for the tournament in Qatar which starts in November, after the men’s national side qualified for the World Cup for the first time since 1958.
He said that the FAW is aiming to become not only the most sustainable and best run football association in the world, but the best sporting body on the planet - with a huge focus on supporting mental health and wellness so it becomes known as what he described as the “association of wellness.”
The FAW will soon launch pilots which will see seven member clubs becoming hubs where people will be encouraged to discuss any mental health issues, working alongside all health boards in Wales.
In terms of growing participation levels he said there has been an explosion in girls playing the game - which will required more investment in facilities like changing rooms to make them more female friendly.
On the bucket hat art project he said: We are going to be building five 10 feet by 10 bucket hat installations that will light up at night time during the World Cup. One will be in Central Square in the centre of Cardiff, as well as those in Swansea, Aberystwyth, Bangor and Wrexham.”
He said that Welsh fans, the so called Red Wall, had developed their own identity. Irishman Mr Mooney added: “We have done very little to be honest with you. They have built up their own fashion and things like the iconic bucket hats. I was at the Green Man Festival over the summer and bucket hats were everywhere, which was fantastic”
During the World Cup the FAW will also be holding its 10-day Gwyl Cymru Festival. Mr Mooney said: “We could have had big fans zones in say the Cardiff City Stadium or the Cardiff International Arena (formerly the Motorpoint) where people could enjoy watching games and having a pint, but this is not the brand and engagement that we are aiming to build. What is very important to us is creativity, the arts, the Welsh language, culture, music etc.
"So, we will be doing something very different in places like the Chapter Arts Centre in Cardiff and Pontio in Bangor. We will have 20 hubs and hundreds of places across Wales where we are going to celebrate our language, music, history, creativity etc, and the Arts Council of Wales has got right behind it. Celebrating the language and the arts of the country plays beautifully into what the Welsh Government is trying to do with a million Welsh speakers by 2050.
On that target he added: “It is very important to us, or staff and our stakeholders and is a big driver. We will have some significant announcements soon on what we are going to do around the Welsh language with the Welsh Government over the next few years.."
Mr Mooney, who took up his role with FAW last summer from an executive position with European football governing body Fifa, said he was first unsure whether to try the singing of the Dafydd Iwan cult song Yma o Hyd, before Welsh games.
He explained: “When I came to Wales I didn’t understand all the nuances and the culture and I remember being at a meeting where someone said there is this song and I think we should try it. I said what is it called? They said Yma o Hyd, and to be honest I didn’t have a clue what they were talking about. I asked whether it might disrupt the players’ warm up before the match, but we decided to try it and if it didn’t work it didn’t work.
" So we explained it to the players and then all the stadium were singing in Welsh. I was thinking if I was the Welsh Government and you wanted to promote the language and culture of Wales, it was a pretty spectacular moment for them. We have notes from hundreds of kids and parents since saying they had not been interested in learning Welsh, but because Gareth Bale sings in Welsh they have become interested.”
He described the bond between the players in the national squad as extraordinary, and were all hugely proud to represent a nation of just over three millions - which behind Qatar will have the smallest population of any country competing in the World Cup.
Mr Mooney said: “Some of the players weren’t born here , but in places like Surrey etc. So, we bring them to places like Aberfan and St Fagans to understand their history and we had the actor Michael Sheen coming in to talk to them about what it means to be Welsh... and it means a phenomenal amount to them.”
He added: “I have never experienced such a close bond between the players. I remember presenting our strategy before the Euros to the senior men’s team last year. While at the Irish Football Association I had done a similar thing with the Irish team and they said great before going off for a meeting on tactics, but the Welsh team sat around and asked so many questions, like was there going to be a new pitch in their local village or would they get football in the schools they went to where it hadn’t been played.
"Gareth Bale was there for an hour and a half asking questions about how we would develop Welsh football, which was great. So, the closeness between the players is truly extraordinary and when you come from a country with 3.5 million people when you are playing against a country with 500 million or a billion, you need that closeness. It is the edge that gets you over the line.”
Revenue growth and the women's game
The FAW has a target of driving revenues, but without being reliant on tournament qualifications. After player and logistic costs, the FAW will receive around a £4m windfall from the World Cup. Mr Mooney said: “Our revenue in a World Cup (qualified) year is £30m and in a normal year about £20m, so part of my job is to get it to £30m in a non World Cup year.
A year into the job, I feel really comfortable about what we are doing and we are seeing companies coming to us. And it isn’t about the men’s team going to the World Cup, but the real constant is the women’s game. It is a fantastic opportunity as the rights (commercial) are still quite low, but we know it is exploding. It won’t be long until at the Cardiff City Stadium we have a full stadium for a women’s international. Last year we had a record of 5,500 this year nearly 13,000 and soon it will be 15,000 and then at capacity.”
He said, while not an easy process, and a case of “evolution not revolution,” the council of the FAW had agreed to become more inclusive, Rather than being dominated but what Mr Mooney described as being “old white men”, this will see 40% democratically elected female council members over the next four years. He confirmed, following a recent public affairs director appointment, that the management board of the FAW will be equally split between the sexes.
- Chief executive of Principality Building Society, Julie-Ann Haines, will address the next meeting of the club on December 7th. Click here to book
Cardiff Breakfast Club is sponsored by The Western Mail, Effective Communication. Stills, Darwin Gray and the Resolute Group.
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