29th November - Goodbye Wales 👋




I've never met a country with such an inferiority complex as Wales. Don't get me wrong, I don't dislike them. Every nation needs a rival, it makes things more fun. But in the same way Tottenham fans get their knickers in a twist about their Arsenal, the Gooners themselves have always been concerned with looking up, rather than down, embroiling ourselves in rivalries with Chelsea, or during the Fergie reign especially, Manchester United. One of my best mates is Welsh. So Welsh that for about the first 3 years of knowing him, I'd often just nod and pretend to hear what he said. His accent required subtitles. Likewise, my partner's Father married into a Welsh family and now lives in Cardiff, so trips over the Bridge are common place for me. 




But there's a real inferiority complex when it comes to Welsh people and their hatred of the English. I understand it. It must be hard to look across at your 'big brother' and see your neighbour excelling on a global level, whilst you're left to celebrate the small victories. In Rugby, there's this motto of 'Anyone but the English' and the Wales team regularly lift their game by 200% effort when it comes to entertaining the Red Rose. But in recent years, the football team have been adopting an equally aggressive attitude towards the Three Lions. Whilst Southgate's boys are more concerned about the Germans and Argies (or even Scots!), the Red Dragon really has a bee in their bonnet when it comes to the St. George flag. Even as recently as last Friday night, random Welsh residents walked past myself, my partner, and her father, flicking V signs at us and chanting anti-English songs, as we watched England play USA in a bar in Cardiff. 




On the one occasion when the Welsh football team actually did relatively well, beating a shoddy Northern Ireland side at Euro 2016, after scraping past Slovakia thanks to a scrappy Gareth Bale free-kick, the players cheered and celebrated wildly in their dressing room when hearing the news that England had exited the tournament to Iceland. It was, no doubt, the worst England side in recent memory, with Wayne Rooney stuck in central midfield, and Harry Kane taking corners. But despite that, they'd still managed to beat Wales 2-1 during the tournament. The apparent 'best Wales team ever'. Today, Wales World Cup hopes will be dealt a final blow at English hands. I'm so confident, that I've written this blog a full 24 hours before kick-off. We won't be celebrating wildly when they're knocked out, because the truth is... We just don't really care. We have bigger fish to fry as the tournament goes on. Unlike their hatred for the English... Wales, we don't dislike you. We just pity you. And after tonight...




... We wish you a safe trip home.


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