Cymru Wales Football Supporters Scarf

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Hughes remembers another galáctico being swept away when Wales played Poland in their final home game before the World Cup . “That night I focused on Robert Lewandowski,” he says, “and after the [Welsh] anthem he just looked up at the crowd and said: ‘Wow…wow!’” The final words come from an exultant football commentary in Welsh, when qualification for Qatar was sealed, and the video ends with an image of Iwan’s head filling the screen. Hughes, the head of PR at the Welsh FA, asked Iwan to sing before the World Cup qualifiers. He says Yma o Hyd is “a political song, in Welsh, but it has a rousing tune the fans love. It has been quite a journey for Wales, politically, the last 40 years. From the miners’ strike to devolution so much has changed and we now have a renaissance with people wanting to learn Welsh. We’re also trying to reflect that, in football, it’s been a journey. There have been bad defeats and near misses but in the last [seven] years we’ve qualified for three major tournaments. Yma o Hyd and football go hand-in-hand.” We pride ourselves on quality, value and service, thereby building long-term relationships with our diverse client base. Chris Coleman did an admirable job replacing Speed. His empathy carried the squad through those bleak times even if Coleman was in charge when Gunter remembers their nadir in 2012. “We had a real bad 6-1 defeat in Serbia. A major tournament seemed a million miles away.”

Chris Gunter, who plays for AFC Wimbledon in League Two, won the first of his 109 caps for Wales in 2007.Gunter played alongside Dave Edwards who was capped 43 times for Wales. The 36-year-old Edwards now leads Bala against Penybont in a Cymru Premier League game on a rainy Saturday afternoon. As always Bala walk out to Yma o Hyd. Iwan wrote the song in 1983 when “it was a terrible time and the Thatcher regime hit Wales heavily. Coal mines and steelworks were closed and I was in the middle of a terrible divorce. Ymo o Hyd is about how we’re still here, despite everything and everyone and even ourselves. But it’s lovely that all these years later the song is driven by the Red Wall. It has become the focal point and Ian Gwyn Hughes has worked on this diligently for he believed that, to get the Welsh team giving their all, they needed a broader view of Welshness.”

Over tea and scones at home, Iwan remembers some of the violent prisoners with whom he had shared a prison cell after defacing public signs written only in English in the 70s. Hartley echoes this view: “I’m hoping people choose Wales as their second team. We’re the underdogs, always have been. We’re not threatening. You could say that’s a political weakness or a cultural strength but we’re strong enough in our own skins to support Wales aloud and proud. We’re not aggressive or xenophobic. We’re just happy being Welsh.”Whenever Gunter hears the clip of Sheen exalting “you sons of Speed” he feels raw emotion. “That line touches us because Gary was a giant. His fingerprints are still on Welsh football.” We are manufacturers of quality knitted hats and custom scarves which have a diverse range of uses. Yet Hartley’s joy is curbed by disdain for the choice of Qatar as tournament host. “Do I feel conflicted? Yes. Do I wish it were somewhere else? Absolutely.” We create custom made sport scarves and hats bespoke to your requirements. From as few as 50 scarves or hats we provide you with something unique. Instructing the Red Army to keep their chins up after a narrow loss to England, and entertaining everyone with his parents’ dilemma of whether to watch the semi-final or attend his brother’s wedding in Mexico, Gunter represented the Welsh heartbeat in 2016. He still does in 2022, even if at 33 he does not play many games. After remembering how his parents chose Wales over the wedding, Gunter reassures me there will be no clash of dates in Qatar.