Keeping the Euros Dream Alive Week In Week Out

Remember this?

-COMMENTARY:

-Flicked in towards Robson-Kanu. Taylor's available.

What a turn! What a goal!

And this?

THEY CHEER

This summer, the Welsh football team put a smile on all our faces.

Yes!

-COMMENTARY:

-Ramsey scores for Wales!

No-one enjoyed it more than me.

SCREAMING

And now Wales are on a World Cup campaign...

-COMMENTARY:

-The feel-good factor just grows,

with a 4-0 victory!

Come on, Wales! Come on!

They're inspiring a new generation to fill their boots.

He has got the haircut, so he's halfway there.

Go!

But there seems to be some hurdles in the way.

Is this unreal or what?

These cost me a fortune.

So, what can we do?

It's difficult to invest in kids at such a young age,

but I think it's really important that they do get that chance.

We've got to remove those obstacles that deter children from

getting involved in our game.

Can we build on our success?

I'm checking out the grassroots game just to see if we're on target.

That's it, well done. Look for a pass.

This is where it starts.

A bunch of kids not much taller than the grass they're playing on,

all turning out to practise.

All of these'll be dreaming of pulling a Welsh shirt on one day.

Sometimes it can come true.

-COMMENTARY:

-A chance perhaps for Saunders!

Dean Saunders scores for Wales!

I was lucky enough to play for Wales 75 times.

I scored 22 goals and I also helped manage the team.

I've got some great memories, but it was the same old story.

We never qualified.

That all changed this summer.

-COMMENTARY:

-In towards Vokes. Vokes!

Go and wake your kids up!

Something special is happening here tonight!

Unbelievable!

Wales are going into the semifinals of the European Championship!

It's been great,

and the team have started the World Cup campaign on fire as well.

But I want us to keep it going.

So, what I want to know is are we doing everything we can to develop

the next stars of the future?

That's it, well done. Look for a pass.

There's a bit of talent there. He's got a bit of skill, hasn't he?

There seems to be no shortage of kids who have been inspired

by our successful senior team.

-COMMENTARY:

-Steps up, hits it left-footed!

Oh, he's scored!

The talisman has delivered!

Oh!

No prizes for guessing this young lad's hero.

Gareth Bale.

Cos I've got the same hair as him.

Gareth Bale poster.

And I've got this one.

And he's playing for the Welsh team.

And I've got a little figure as well.

Gareth Bale's been his idol since, you know,

since he started watching it.

But I think definitely over the Euros,

Bale and Ramsey were his two favourites, I think.

Every second of every day, he's thinking about football.

If he's not playing football, he's looking at magazines.

If he's not looking at magazines, he's on FIFA.

If he's not on FIFA, he's talking about football.

Thousands of children like this want the chance to be heroes,

but are we giving every child who has that ambition the opportunity?

-COMMENTARY:

-Bale for Wales, in!

He's done it again!

The good news is we must be doing something right,

because we're producing some top players.

And I'm going to go and see one now

who I signed when I was Wrexham manager.

See if you can guess who it is.

Joe Allen's skill and control put him at the heart of

everything good this current Welsh team are doing.

It's almost the best experience of his life.

Next to being signed by me, of course.

-Joe.

-How's it going?

-Nice to see you.

-And you.

-Are you all right?

-It's been a while, yes.

-Are you fit?

-I am. Fit, raring to go.

-A long way from Wrexham, isn't it?

-Yeah, it is.

I think you were my first signing.

-Do you remember when I picked you up on the...?

-Yeah, I remember.

Do you remember your pre-match meal?

I can't remember.

-Was it cold potato salad I got you from the services?

-Was it? It was...

-I remember your goal. Top corner.

-York City, yeah.

Playing for Wales in the Euros and you've been at Liverpool,

and you're at Stoke, you're playing in the Premier League.

Can you remember back where you started?

In school, it was a bit of a...

There was a rule where Year One, Two and Three had half the playground.

Year Four, Five and Six had the other half, but...

I used to always creep over and the dinner ladies used to turn

a bit of a blind eye to it,

because they knew I just want to play football with the older boys,

so, yeah, those younger, younger days when you're playing

with older kids, you know, you're going to come on leaps and bounds.

Well played!

It's at places like this that the stars of the future start out.

Here at Barry in the Vale of Glamorgan,

a kickaround for the under-sevens has been organised by Lee Saunders,

who runs the county's mini league.

Up you go with Ken, up you go with Ken! There you are.

This is grassroots football,

and Lee and all the other club coaches here are just some of

the army of volunteers, mums and dads who keep the whole thing going.

For participation levels, we've definitely got the numbers.

Our numbers are right up there.

A prime example, our under-nines this year.

I think, when I last looked, we've got 32 teams of under-nines,

which at mini level is tremendous.

It's not just for fun. Scouts from Cardiff City have come along.

Harold Ross has been doing this for years.

They are very young, but this is the way it goes.

You'd be surprised the skill levels

that some of these boys have got already.

If somebody's got terrific pace, it'll catch your eye.

And you'd look for balance, skill,

a little lad that will get his head up and look for a pass,

the basic things that most scouts look for in a player.

Yeah, a couple of good players up here this morning.

There's one lad in particular that's caught my eye.

He's got a particularly strong shot on him,

and he's ghosting past one or two players,

so we'll have a look at him pre-season and see how he works out.

APPLAUSE

Pass it off, Neil!

He has got the haircut, yeah.

I'm not sure he'll get the money that Bale'd get,

but he's certainly got the haircut, so he's halfway there.

-Well done, guys.

-Well played, yellows.

Good balls, there.

A scout from a top club spotting a young lad playing

for his grassroots club, or his school -

it's how every international player's journey begins.

It was playing for my school team, actually,

think it was in the Pembrokeshire Cup.

I remember my dad getting off the phone

and asking me if I wanted to go on trial at Swansea.

Yeah, got up there, trained with the Swansea team

and they wanted to sign me up,

and I haven't really looked back since.

Joe's played for Premier League sides

Swansea, Liverpool and now Stoke,

where his boss is my old strike partner, Mark Hughes.

Saunders.

Mark Hughes.

He has to go it alone...

Hughes shoots!

And that is surely that.

I think, as a Welshman, every one of us was really proud

of the level of performance we were able to produce,

I think he's got memories people will remember for a long, long time,

and hopefully they're going to be built on,

and we can get to a World Cup, as well -

I think that's the challenge, obviously, for the lads now.

..to Neil Taylor in the penalty area.

He's hit Akinfeev...

But he's driven it home!

Neil Taylor!

He's just scored the greatest goal of his life!

The senior side doing really well -

that's the best thing for grassroots football.

If you've got a senior side that's progressing,

and people are talking about,

then that does wonders for the grassroots, coming through.

-COMMENTATOR:

-..Courtois... It's there! It's there!

It's Swansea 2, Chelsea 1.

My home town of Swansea's changed a bit since my days here -

they've even moved the stadium -

but there are still some familiar faces...

and just up the road, there's a state of the art academy

where young hopefuls try their luck.

We send a huge chunk of players from here

to the Welsh development squads now, as they come through the system,

so, you know, and, to be fair,

the more we can do that, the more we can support the Welsh team.

The coaching's come on slightly since I played.

I remember, one of our sessions was, from the Vetch,

-touch the apple...in Mumbles...

-Mumbles, yeah!

..and you could swim across the bay if you wanted to.

-It was a short cut.

-Seriously?!

-It was a short cut - but if you drown, it was your own fault!

-Yeah!

-That was the session!

-Can I assure everybody,

we don't do that any more at the academy, OK?

We don't do that at all.

I still think if we can access grassroots,

there's as much talent out there that we don't see as does come in.

But it's having that opportunity to actually work with them.

Gareth Bale - he's onside!

It's 3-0!

ALL CHEER

This summer, Wales tuned in to football.

I think there's something about occasions like this

that stays with you, long-term.

Can't believe what's happening.

The atmosphere has been really, really good,

and I'm really enjoying it.

Come on! Wales!

It's already Wales' biggest team sport,

yet a recent survey showed there are tens of thousands more

who'd like to play, but don't -

and that's before we went football crazy.

His first word was "Bale".

So, why isn't everyone who wants to play playing?

Well, I can think of one reason.

Oh, Bennett.

HE LAUGHS

Is this unreal, or what?!

It's the first game of the season for junior football

in the Vale of Glamorgan -

and it's raining.

Kyle, Zach, over we come again.

Keep coming.

Lee Saunders is out again -

this time coaching his Dinas Powys under 14 team.

You can see, with the weather, the conditions -

the problem is it's a flat pitch, so it's just going to retain the water.

Fingers crossed, we don't have this for the next couple of days,

and we can get our game Wednesday.

But if this continues...

You know, it's the start of the season,

we're having games called off already,

which is what we don't want.

Lovely weather for ducks!

Mums and dads try and keep dry - today it's Emma Mallam's turn

to try and raise some money for the club.

-There you go, madam.

-Thank you very much!

Nice doing business with you!

Good nick, Robson. And again!

Emma's son Robson lives and breathes football.

Well, this is basically what it was like all last season.

We missed quite a few games.

We've just moved pitches, which is much better now, here,

because where we were based last season,

any bit of rain and it was like... a bog.

Grassroots football in Wales had a very wet season last year.

For some clubs, it makes the struggle to keep afloat

that little bit harder.

In Cardiff, another grassroots club, FC Dragons,

are back in training for the new season - but only just.

From October to - I think it was the beginning of February, we...

we didn't have no football at all.

Every time there was a little bit of rain, anything,

the league would call it off.

And like I said, you lose a lot of boys through it,

a lot of parents have got other things to do on Saturdays.

So, it ends up, like I said, with a bare 11 on a Saturday -

even 9 players.

And then you'd have motorcycles over here sooner or later,

and where the rain has been on the grass,

you're going to have a lot of motorcycle tracks.

Whoever referees the game can see the pitch is unplayable

and call the game off.

It's not going to stop raining in Wales any time soon.

So, how do we keep our kids playing football, even in the winter?

We've spent a million and a half on both of them.

-A million and a half?!

-Yeah. That's what you have to do.

It's unbelievable, isn't it?

A million and a half?

The top clubs make sure they've got the best grass pitches

money can buy.

They also have all-weather artificial pitches, as well.

We've got one here, it's always constantly used,

there's never a day when there isn't football played on it,

so, moving forward, that's probably the best option given our climate.

These new 3G or third generation pitches have come a long way

from the early types that me and Mark used to play on.

-I didn't like training on them.

-No, cos they were new to us.

Yeah, but now, I'm beginning to think...

It's slightly different to, like, playing on concrete

-with a bit of carpet on it.

-Yeah. The one that Luton had,

probably they had the first one, it was like...

-Yeah.

-Like a car park.

-QPR, as well, yeah.

QPR. Ball used to bounce over your head.

So, what were the pitches like you played on?

Er, nothing special.

I remember on the school pitches I played on,

there was pack of wild horses.

-Yeah?!

-The school I was in was that rough.

You know, I could definitely see, if there were better pitches

at younger age, for more kids,

then you'd probably get more kids coming through into the system

further down the line.

I think these all-weather pitches could help -

and not just for the top professional clubs.

We need them everywhere.

So, remember these guys?

They nearly done as well as us.

One of the key reasons for Iceland's success

is they have 28 full-size 3G pitches.

Iceland have the same population as Cardiff,

yet Cardiff only have four full-size 3G pitches available to the public.

Well done, good.

Perhaps we don't need as many 3G pitches

as a country that doesn't have a lot of grass...

Wales doesn't have the worst record in Europe,

but it doesn't have the best, either.

We're not as big as some of these countries,

but we have to be able to match them facility-wise,

because my fear is, the success we've had in the summer,

it'll just stop.

Robson-Kanu shoots!

He's scuffed it -

but it's the best scuff you will ever see!

Hal Robson-Kanu!

Welsh football didn't just win on the pitch,

it also came home with a £3 million profit to invest in the game.

I'm off to meet the Football Association of Wales Trust

which looks after the grassroots game.

Hi, Neil. Nice to see you.

'Here, chief executive Neil Ward

'is halfway through a ten year plan to build the pitches that we need.'

I said four or five years ago we were going to look to build

100 3G pitches across Wales and I was told that, you know, I was mad.

We now have 44 and I'm confident that we'll reach

that 100 pitches within the ten year timeframe.

After that, I think it's about being clear, is 3G the whole answer and

do we need the blended model of 3G pitches and grass at the same time?

Getting the right pitches is just one joint project

the FAW Trust is backing.

They also help fund projects where clubs like Newport County

link with the local primary schools and introduce

children into football to teach them the basic skills.

The right coaching early on can make a big difference.

Apart from me, who's probably the best coach you've had,

can you remember little things your coach said to you when you

were at Tenby that stuck with you forever?

It was Angela Nicholls at Tenby who was my first coach,

so I think I would've been eight years old when I first joined.

Pass and move was the big thing.

Things like that have stuck with me and carried through.

In particular, when I first joined up with Swansea,

you know, I have those basics with me so I had a bit of a head start.

Coaching at grassroots level varies a lot.

Lee Saunders thinks he could do with some help.

Grassroots coaches are predominantly parents. They're predominantly dads.

What badges, what qualifications have they got?

What we do find, we get a drop-off where the kids who've had

all the extra coaching, their teams are winning,

but then I'd like the FAW to provide coaches

for the kids who only get coached one night a week by their club.

It bridges the gap between talented boys up here and the boys who

were only getting coached one hour a week.

We get the gap closer, participation levels will rise.

'Their dream, their summer continues. Wales are through.'

It's no secret that part of Wales' success this summer

was its coaching team.

Assistant manager Osian Roberts was at the heart of it,

but he's also driving a scheme

to improve coaching at grassroots level, too.

Ultimately, our role is to develop and improve the game in Wales.

You know, we've got to focus, obviously,

on the grassroots of the game. That's the most important thing.

That's why we have more full-time staff,

coach educators working in the grassroots than at the elite level.

-Three times more.

-Let it cushion on your chest.

If you can pop it up on your chest,

-onto your thigh and volley back. Good techniques.

-Let's go.

Now, we have 12,000 coaches that are being qualified at grassroots

of the game.

Ideally in the next three or four years,

we'd like every grassroots coach to be a B-licensed coach,

which means that they're further educated,

which can only enhance and help the players coming through.

Nice touch, well done.

Better coaches and more pitches are what we need.

Where they come together, they make a real difference.

Like here in Jenner Park, Barry, where a 3G pitch

has been put in by the council.

Tonight, it's being hired by Cardiff City to coach and take

a look at the best talent in the county.

Amongst all the Ramseys and the Bales,

it's Theo's first chance to see if he can make the grade.

I was really impressed at the standard of the other children,

but it was a very...

It was very serious and quite a kind of...

I was so nervous for him. Both Rob and myself, we were so, so nervous.

It was quite stressful.

Put my eye on him and he seems to be settling well,

so we'll see what goes on for him in the future.

I know that he's very young. He's only six.

The chances of him going on to be a professional are absolutely minute.

Just enjoy it. This is about being a child, isn't it?

Being happy and being able to kick a ball about with your friends.

It's not just at local clubs where kids can begin their football careers.

They can be also spotted at schools.

One has been foolish enough to let me visit.

I just can't help getting involved.

I'll play up front, then.

Anybody kicks me, I'll score. Man marking me.

Ysgol Bae Baglan has state of the art sporting facilities

including a 3G pitch.

What we saw in the Euros was aspiration.

You know, you've got boys and girls wanting to be in those teams

and you might see some future players here

because we're providing the facilities for them

to play at that level.

You know, you might look around and see the next Gareth Bale out there.

Never mind Gareth Bale, what about Saunders? Still got it.

That's it. That'll do! Got the winner.

-You got my goal, didn't you?

-Yeah.

-That's the main thing.

It's not every school that has this type of facility.

It's estimated that only half of high schools in Wales

have access to any type of all-weather pitch.

But there is one drawback to 3G pitches.

At around £500,000 per pitch, they're very expensive

and it doesn't stop there.

There are maintenance costs of up to £50,000 every year.

That's passed on to those who hire them

and that includes grassroots clubs.

Right, so you've got everything, yeah?

For parents doing their best to help kids play, football isn't cheap.

Over the last year, he's cost me a fortune.

Shin pads and they've got to be the right ones.

Here's football boots. Here's football boots.

Because his feet grow so fast, I can't keep up with him.

I tried doing the cheap AliExpress, the cheap version. Didn't work.

He saw straight through it.

He wanted the real deal, so I've had to fork out

for over £100 per trainer, per boot.

I'm glad that he's passionate about sport.

It is hard, though, because the money

and getting him to different games and training

and stuff alongside my own job.

Have a good day.

Bye.

I won't go out, I won't have a life

so my son can actually have his sport.

Behind every success story,

there's normally a parent who goes that extra mile.

Without their support, there's no way, absolutely no way

I would've been able to stick around and, you know, become a footballer.

Yeah, there were kids in my team at Swansea

and local clubs in Pembrokeshire that had talent,

but it was difficult for the families

to provide that support for them, so...

that's what I'm hoping that money will go towards.

It's difficult to invest in kids at such a young age,

but I think it's really important that they do get that chance.

It's volunteers, mums and dads like Emma,

who keep grassroots football turning over.

It's my turn to wash the kit.

We try to help each other as a team.

We take it in turns to spread the cost between everyone.

In Cardiff, FC Dragons are back in action.

Today, they're playing Tiger Bay Youth.

We've relied on raising funds and donations and that kind of thing.

Ryan ran a marathon.

All just to kind of, like, just to get the kit

and to get the equipment.

I phoned a thousand different companies

and got told no time and time again.

Worries about the cost of keeping the club going

is always on the agenda.

Perhaps teams like Llanrumney, Ely, Tiger Bay...

Perhaps...

We don't have as much money.

I mean, I think football is just becoming more and more elitist.

There are players on these teams

that have the potential to go quite far

and what I would hate is for them to fade into the background

or to be overlooked because of...

Because of money.

Say the ball went out there and somebody heads it in there.

You're going to run that way and then that way

quicker than the bloke that was marking you.

That's why you do this, don't you?

The last thing I want

is for clubs like FC Dragons to struggle for lack of funds.

You do this flat out in training.

You get quicker and quicker and quicker.

And then you realise on Saturday,

"I was just running past everybody today."

-COMMENTATOR:

-Williams!

Yeah!

Come on!

Wales have just come back from the Euros

with a tidy £3 million profit.

Could that be used to help grassroots?

The gross profit is £3 million,

which is healthy in the context of the overall turnover of FAW,

but when we talk about facilities, particularly,

you know, it's only a small sum of money

in comparison to what really needs to be used

to deliver better facilities,

and to help grow the game and standards for the future.

But I think, you know, if we work together with local government,

with national government,

with other bodies like Sport Wales,

I think there is money in the system.

It's about how we connect that money together

to ensure it goes further.

I don't think you realise who you're gambling with.

Watch. Watch and learn.

There. That corner there.

Oh!

I owe you a fiver.

Sport Wales gives grants to clubs to help with their kit,

but not for the hire of pitches long term.

So a 3G pitch for those winter games could still be out of reach.

They cost too much. We can't afford to hire it

With 3G pitches, it's like £89.

That's like about four, five weeks' subs for us.

And that's if we get subs in a month.

Cos it's voluntary. A lot of them says,

"Oh, I'll give it to you next week."

And it mounts up, £9... And in the end, we just don't have any money.

Go!

Oh, dear... Yes!

Yay!

My knee...

All right, go!

Put a brave face, a brave face.

It never hurt. It don't hurt. It's not hurting.

Come on, then.

Come on, come on!

Football has always been a sport anyone can play.

I want that to still be true for any kid,

whichever side of town they come from,

and so do the FAW.

I mean, I worked and coached in the States for eight years

and there's a danger that we'll mirror that type of football,

where it becomes middle class and almost upper class.

And it's important that all our children

get the opportunity to play football.

Everybody has to get together and, somehow,

try and get football for free.

Yeah. I was speaking recently to our colleagues in Iceland,

where they give a £150 voucher

to each child to spend on any sport

that they want to get involved in, you know, every year.

You know, "You decide how you want to exercise

"and be involved in sport, but we'll remove the obstacle."

And that's what we've got to do.

We've got to remove those obstacles that deter children

from getting involved in our game.

CHEERING

-COMMENTATOR:

-Wales' epic journey has come to an end.

But what an adventure it was!

They'll return home heroes.

I'm hoping, I don't know about you,

I'm hoping the government look at what the national team

have just done for Wales.

Round the world, there's people talking about our country

and what it's done for the country that they can help.

I think there's a cost to allowing your kids to be fit and healthy.

And I know there's a real problem with obesity in young children now,

which needs to be addressed.

And football is an obvious solution to that problem.

So, hopefully, that will figure highly on people's minds

when they come to dishing out budgets and allocating funds.

So is there anything the Welsh government can do

to support grassroots football

to build the pitches we need and make them affordable to use?

Well, we've got some really good news, in terms of the 3G pitches.

63 of those will be ready by the end of this year.

And we've already identified places for another ten next year, as well.

So we understand that there's a real need for them,

a desire for them in Wales.

But what about the cost of hiring them?

There is no long-term help available for sports clubs in Wales,

in terms of supporting or subsidising the hiring of pitches.

Is there any money the government can give

directly from the health budget?

You could ask your boss for more money

to try and help in that aspect.

The Welsh government funds Sport Wales

by more than £20 million every year

and they then pass on funding to organisations such as the FAW Trust,

and others, in order to try and encourage people into sport

and support their sporting ambitions and so on,

all the way up to the elite level.

Our senior team have put Wales on the map.

Hopefully, this is just the start.

People who hadn't even watched football, didn't even like football,

fell in love with the game for the first time

because of what they saw from their national team.

"Together stronger."

Everybody loved that.

And, you know, the singing,

everything they were about

we could be proud of again.

And that's something I think we can take through,

I think, to grassroots.

It makes the boys that are playing feel better and play better.

With a fantastic start to the World Cup campaign

and two more matches this week,

Wales are rewriting history.

Unfortunately for us,

we never got the opportunity to play in a tournament.

But I just sense that the unity they display,

you think, as a group, that will sustain them.

From what I've seen,

there's plenty for us to be hopeful about.

The more kids we get playing football, the bigger we become,

the more chances we've got to find our next Gareth Bale.

It's a bit early to say whether we have found the next Bale,

haircut or not.

But with Wales waking the world up,

anything is possible.

Dreams can come true.