I must admit, I thought that I might have gone a little over the top with my outfit for the Wales v Italy game at the Swansea dot com stadium on Thursday. I wanted to be patriotic and also bright enough for the family to be able to see me on the TV from home. Let me say straight away it wasn’t about me just wanting to be on the telly; I’ve been on telly before. The reason I wanted to be easy to spot was I had a very special guest and I wanted everyone at home to be able to find us. I was going to the match in the company of my 5 year old granddaughter. I chose a red hat, red glasses and red T-shirt all topped off with a bright yellow raincoat. Over the top? How wrong I was.
I’ve really enjoyed watching the women’s game develop over the past few years and in many ways I enjoy the game more than some of the men’s games with all of their ‘professional’ antics. It was also incredible to see the delight on the faces of so many women and girls when England won the Euro 2022 final. Although my granddaughter was really very young at the time even back then had she was being shown that football was not just for boys.
The relationship between grandparents and grandchildren is very, very special. I always say if I’d known it was going to be so great I’d have ditched the idea of kids and gone straight to be becoming a grandparent!! I know everyone says it’s because you can give them back at the end of the day when you get tired but there is something much deeper. Maybe it’s because you have more time or more patience, maybe you have more confidence because you’ve seen it all before. Whatever it is I’m loving it.
As a grandfather I know that I have a great responsibility when it comes to football. Having been through all of this with my own children I know that once they are hooked all they can really look forward to is a lifetime of disappointments. Yes there will be incredible highs, like the night Darren Pratley scored from the half way line to take Swansea through to Wembley back in 2011 but … for every Championship play off final win there is a relegation, for every Football League Trophy there is an early shock exit to a non-league side in the FA Cup.
Anyway, its too late because I took her to see Wales and now she’s all in.
The idea for our visit to the Swansea dot com actually started a week last Thursday as I watched Wales v Denmark on TV. These games are part of the Nations League but in many people’s minds they are acting as a warm up for the European Championships being held in Switzerland in July. The final game in the Nation’s League was to be held in Swansea against Italy. I thought it would be a good chance for my granddaughter to get to see the Welsh team we were going to support at the Euros.
I’m trying to find one on one time with each of the grandchildren. It’s great fun when they come as a gang but there’s something special about chatting when there’s no one else fighting to be a part of the conversation.
On a Saturday morning I usually take my granddaughter out for breakfast. Well, the idea is breakfast, but it also includes a visit to the Captain’s Cabin in Mumbles for some Pokémon cards or to the Letterbox shop for a comic. We always end up in Greggs where she orders a sausage roll and I go for a flat white and doughnut.
We usually start our walk with a chat about school before visiting a local garden to check on the food that’s been left for the birds. As we set out last Saturday I talked about the Women’s football match coming up and asked if she would like to go.
We stopped, she looked up at me all wide eyed and asked if they would be asking her to play. Well I replied they are quite big girls. She then told me she was really good, even the boys in schools said so and she was sure she could score a couple of goals given the chance. I didn’t laugh but inside I had the biggest smile. I was delighted to hear this confident child speak her dreams out loud without any filter. I mean if you are going to dream…dream big???
I explained that the manager had probably already chosen the team but that hopefully one day I was sure she would play for Wales.
Anyway back to the game on Thursday. After careful consideration of my wardrobe options and with a view to being noticed on TV I chose what I thought would be an outfit that would wow my granddaughter and stand out on the TV. In fact I sent a picture to the family to show them how seriously I was taking the role. It was then that my son-in-law text to say that I was in for a surprise.
I was expecting her to be dressed in something colourful. Maybe a red Welsh shirt. Maybe a new football kit. But my granddaughter has a mind of her own. She decided that she wanted to wear…her Tiger Onesie.
The thing is when we arrived at the stadium no one batted an eyelid. We were just part of a wonderfully colourful celebration of football and dreams.
With the clock ticking to kick off I was told we had to queue for sausage roll and crisps. At half time we went for a big sugary lollipop, french fries and a bottle of water. I must admit I thought with her being aged 5 and it being a school night she probably wouldn’t last the duration of the full game. I explained if we wanted to miss the crowds we would have to leave early.
Not a chance and I’m so glad we stayed. The game was slightly disappointing in that Italy were 4 nil in the lead by half time. Mid-way through the second half you could feel the mood of the crowd lift when we saw Jess Fishlock, the veteran with over 150 caps, being brought on.
How quickly she impacted the game. Fishlock intercepted a misplaced Italian pass, looked up to see the goalkeeper marginally off her line. She carefully chipped the ball with pinpoint accuracy. The ball drifted over the outstretched arms of the keeper hitting the underside of the cross bar before bouncing into the net. The crowd erupted and somewhere on the TV highlights you’ll see a guy in a yellow jacket and a bright red hat dancing with a tiger.
All the way home we talked about the evening with the big question, when are we going again? It was a brilliant. The score didn’t matter. What mattered was that it was the passing on the torch of the love of football and I am at peace with that.