Browse content similar to 27/01/2013. Check below for episodes and series from the same categories and more!
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Tonight, the tuition fees gamble, and warnings that the Welsh | :00:09. | :00:14. | |
government's policy could damage universities. The economy has | :00:14. | :00:20. | |
shrunk, is it time for another plan? Will football soon kick rugby | :00:20. | :00:26. | |
into touch to become Wales's national sport? Rugby has become | :00:26. | :00:32. | |
the sick man of Welsh sport. Welcome to a controversial game of | :00:32. | :00:42. | |
:00:42. | :00:46. | ||
two cards. -- too halves. Good evening, and welcome to a programme | :00:46. | :00:51. | |
that looks at the issues to you in Wales, and the important decisions | :00:51. | :01:00. | |
about our lives. It is a Welsh government flagship policy, and a | :01:00. | :01:05. | |
buffer to the rise in tuition fees across the UK. Education experts | :01:05. | :01:09. | |
are warning that the decision by the Education Minister to top up | :01:09. | :01:13. | |
the amount paid by Welsh students through a grant, no matter where | :01:13. | :01:18. | |
they study, is taking vital money away from Welsh universities. The | :01:18. | :01:23. | |
number of Welsh students choosing to study outside of Wales is going | :01:23. | :01:28. | |
up, while the number of students that choose to study inside Wales | :01:28. | :01:35. | |
is going down. There are growing fears that the Government's policy | :01:35. | :01:45. | |
:01:45. | :01:47. | ||
After three years of academic grass, it is time to celebrate. Graduation | :01:48. | :01:52. | |
day at Swansea University, just like anywhere else, is a | :01:52. | :01:57. | |
recognition of achievement, a culmination of a journey. As we are | :01:57. | :02:02. | |
reminded in the ceremony, a university education is not just an | :02:02. | :02:08. | |
investment to shape a graduate's lives, once they become | :02:08. | :02:11. | |
professionals, they are learning experience will help to shape our | :02:11. | :02:17. | |
lives as well. They want future generations are graduates to be | :02:17. | :02:25. | |
just as happy as -- and proud as they are here today. The prospect | :02:25. | :02:31. | |
of debt means that celebrations are muted. Now that degrees are more | :02:31. | :02:36. | |
expensive, the Welsh government will pick up the bill for graduates. | :02:36. | :02:44. | |
The students started his medical course in Exeter last September. It | :02:44. | :02:48. | |
was the first one way universities are charging higher fees. His | :02:48. | :02:58. | |
course costs of �9,000 the AA, and five -- almost �9,000 here, and | :02:58. | :03:03. | |
almost half of that is met by the Welsh government. Summer my sisters | :03:03. | :03:13. | |
are studying writer now -- some of my sisters are studying, and it | :03:13. | :03:21. | |
would not have been financially viable for me to do it. The course | :03:21. | :03:26. | |
is very good, many people want to stay in England to practice, | :03:26. | :03:31. | |
because they feel they are better resources. Able have better | :03:31. | :03:37. | |
opportunities. It is a marketplace. When Welsh | :03:37. | :03:47. | |
:03:47. | :03:48. | ||
students due to leave Wales, their money goes as well. More than 7,000 | :03:48. | :03:53. | |
students crossed the border last year, more than the year before. | :03:53. | :03:58. | |
They took with them an estimated �31 million. In Scotland, students | :03:58. | :04:03. | |
to live there get all of their fees paid. Only if they go to a Scottish | :04:03. | :04:08. | |
university. There has always been a question mark about the economic | :04:08. | :04:12. | |
wisdom of giving students a free choice of whether they want to go, | :04:12. | :04:16. | |
been given a subsidy. That does not happen in Scotland, and I can't | :04:16. | :04:20. | |
think of any other countries that would do it. It is generous, but | :04:20. | :04:26. | |
perhaps it is too generous. Welsh universities, the money | :04:26. | :04:30. | |
leaving the country has a serious effect. There is only a finite | :04:30. | :04:35. | |
amount of money in the part, money for fees, and money for grants | :04:35. | :04:41. | |
given directly to universities for teaching and running buildings. | :04:41. | :04:48. | |
More spent on fees means less bent on block grants. In 2012, the block | :04:48. | :04:56. | |
grant funding was cut. What it means, indirectly, is that the | :04:56. | :04:59. | |
money available for higher education in Wales is less than it | :04:59. | :05:03. | |
would have been, it would be helpful to review the funding | :05:03. | :05:11. | |
system for Welsh universities. We need to focus resources on where it | :05:11. | :05:14. | |
is most needed, and where we are going to get the best value for | :05:14. | :05:22. | |
money for the Welsh government, and the future prosperity Wales. There | :05:22. | :05:27. | |
are students and their fees coming into Wales as well. Last year they | :05:27. | :05:32. | |
brought in �60 million for Welsh universities. The big worry is that | :05:32. | :05:39. | |
fewer English students are crossing the border. Numbers dropped by 17% | :05:39. | :05:45. | |
in 2012. Forever variety of reasons, the number of students coming | :05:45. | :05:53. | |
across the border has declined. -- for a variety. The calculations of | :05:53. | :06:00. | |
how the flow of money is going may have to be revised. It means that | :06:00. | :06:07. | |
the trends are falling application rates. If these trends continue, | :06:07. | :06:12. | |
there will be serious repercussions. Are you surprised by the enrolment | :06:12. | :06:22. | |
:06:22. | :06:23. | ||
figures, and their friends? feared that this would happen. -- | :06:23. | :06:33. | |
:06:33. | :06:34. | ||
trends. If the universities don't get stronger, they were not -- they | :06:34. | :06:38. | |
will not attract students. Where are we heading with this policy? | :06:38. | :06:43. | |
fear it is going into trouble. In spite of these warnings, a | :06:43. | :06:47. | |
government rethink is not likely. The Welsh government has issued a | :06:47. | :06:52. | |
statement saying, our policy on this is very clear to the next | :06:52. | :06:56. | |
election. We're not going to change this. There is nothing in the | :06:56. | :07:00. | |
figures to suggest we should. Everyone will be hoping they are | :07:01. | :07:04. | |
right, the new figures showing applications for next year's | :07:04. | :07:09. | |
courses are published this week. Only then will we have an idea if | :07:09. | :07:18. | |
the sums are going to add up. Nobody expected good news on the | :07:18. | :07:25. | |
economy, but it was worse than expected. Economic output fell by | :07:25. | :07:29. | |
0.3% in 2012, and the UK may go into a third recession in four | :07:29. | :07:38. | |
years. Manufacturing output fell by 1.5%, reinforcing the impression | :07:38. | :07:43. | |
that the last year was a year of survival, not growth. There are | :07:43. | :07:47. | |
still no immediate signs of prosperity returning to our | :07:47. | :07:52. | |
factories, and high streets, anytime soon. There are now | :07:52. | :07:56. | |
increasing calls, including from Nick Clegg and Boris Johnson for | :07:56. | :07:59. | |
the Westminster government to change the strategy of public | :07:59. | :08:06. | |
spending cuts, and to plough money into massive infrastructure | :08:06. | :08:13. | |
projects. Would that work for Wales? Joining me is a former | :08:13. | :08:18. | |
economic adviser to Margaret Thatcher. Thank you for coming in, | :08:18. | :08:21. | |
the government has been cutting hard, they have been cutting deep, | :08:22. | :08:30. | |
and eight they have been cutting fast? They have not been cutting as | :08:30. | :08:38. | |
much as the Labour Party, or they have put themselves been -- they | :08:38. | :08:42. | |
themselves have been saying. It has been quite a moderate series of | :08:42. | :08:48. | |
cuts. Welfare spending has risen. If Boris Johnson is saying, hang on, | :08:48. | :08:56. | |
we need to think again about this, we to invest in infrastructure, it | :08:56. | :09:01. | |
just can't be about cutting? That is the problem. Infrastructure is | :09:01. | :09:05. | |
an easy target, that criticism is reasonable. What is not reasonable | :09:05. | :09:09. | |
is the idea that the British government can go ahead, and not | :09:09. | :09:13. | |
worry about the deficit. We have one of the largest ones in the | :09:13. | :09:18. | |
world, and we have to bring it down, the debt will spiral out of control, | :09:18. | :09:25. | |
and we could get into a dangerous place. If you attack welfare, and | :09:25. | :09:29. | |
benefit payments, you are going to have an effect on the economy. | :09:29. | :09:37. | |
There is a whole section of the economy which is dependent on | :09:37. | :09:42. | |
benefits? Economy is poorer as a result of the shock that has | :09:42. | :09:46. | |
occurred. You cannot manufacture of riches in the economy. All we are | :09:46. | :09:51. | |
talking about is the sharing of the austerity measures. Working people | :09:51. | :09:55. | |
have been hit very hard by it. People on welfare benefits, | :09:55. | :10:00. | |
obviously the pain of cuts has got to be shared pretty widely. You | :10:00. | :10:08. | |
cannot let welfare rise by 6% in real terms. Multinationals like | :10:08. | :10:12. | |
Starbucks are benefiting from not paying tax, you are suggesting that | :10:12. | :10:18. | |
we should cut back on but their payments to the most vulnerable in | :10:18. | :10:28. | |
:10:28. | :10:29. | ||
society? There is no way you can let welfare romper away. We have to | :10:29. | :10:39. | |
:10:39. | :10:43. | ||
remember that Starbucks creates jobs. -- romp. They need sensible | :10:43. | :10:47. | |
tax policies, business support, structure, they need to come to | :10:47. | :10:51. | |
their senses over the regulation over the banks, that is killing | :10:51. | :10:55. | |
credit. They need to get that going again, instead of going mad about | :10:55. | :10:59. | |
regulating the banks, and piling up their costs. We need to get credit | :10:59. | :11:05. | |
going. You are talking about what would benefit the Square Mile, the | :11:05. | :11:10. | |
City, the south-east of England. There are two economies, there is | :11:10. | :11:17. | |
that one, and the economy in Wales. That would benefit the people who | :11:17. | :11:21. | |
have done pretty well on the last 30 years, the rest of us will be | :11:21. | :11:31. | |
:11:31. | :11:32. | ||
suffering was -- for sometimes? That is nonsense. This economy | :11:32. | :11:39. | |
needs improvement to credit. We want to create growth in Wales, we | :11:39. | :11:43. | |
don't want to increase handouts. The problem with government is that | :11:43. | :11:52. | |
it has inherited a begin tartan that economy. It cannot afford it. | :11:52. | :12:00. | |
-- entitlement economy. The fact that the matter raised, people in | :12:00. | :12:04. | |
Wales don't have any jobs, they can't get any credit, they are | :12:04. | :12:09. | |
absolutely on the floor, there are people who are suffering at the | :12:09. | :12:15. | |
moment. Your recipe, you're ready, is good for the south-east, but how | :12:15. | :12:21. | |
long would it be before Wales could recover under your plan? Wales is | :12:21. | :12:24. | |
recovering at the same rate as everywhere else. The growth in | :12:24. | :12:29. | |
employment is quite decent, nearly 2%. Wales is Sheringham that. You | :12:29. | :12:36. | |
are painting the wrong picture. -- Wales is sharing in that. There are | :12:36. | :12:40. | |
people who will be shouting at the television, come and live in my | :12:40. | :12:45. | |
life. You are talking as an economist, bankers, profiteers have | :12:45. | :12:53. | |
got us into this mess? Da is not really true. -- that is not really | :12:53. | :13:01. | |
true. Changes in the world economy has affected us. We have to live in | :13:01. | :13:04. | |
the world we are in, we have to adapt to that world, so does | :13:04. | :13:09. | |
government. Ordinary people often feel that government should do more | :13:09. | :13:13. | |
for them, but the problem is, they can look around, and see that the | :13:13. | :13:18. | |
economy is in a bad state, because of the crisis. We'll have to adapt | :13:18. | :13:23. | |
to these changes. Thank you very much. | :13:23. | :13:30. | |
Here are some more disturbing figures, more than half of Welsh at | :13:30. | :13:34. | |
-- adults are overweight, and we have some of the highest obesity in | :13:34. | :13:37. | |
the UK are. The statistics show that the number of obese people in | :13:38. | :13:42. | |
Wales lacks just behind that of the USA. What can be done to tackle the | :13:42. | :13:49. | |
problem? Is surgery one of the solutions? Currently the criteria | :13:50. | :13:53. | |
for surgery is different in England, patients only qualify if they have | :13:53. | :13:58. | |
a higher body mass index, and they must show that they have more | :13:58. | :14:03. | |
problems to qualify. One surgeon is calling for the threshold for the | :14:03. | :14:08. | |
NHS funded surgery to be lowered. We will hear from him in a moment, | :14:08. | :14:15. | |
he is a report. -- here's a report on a woman who tried dieting for | :14:15. | :14:25. | |
:14:25. | :14:35. | ||
years. She had to wait three years Life for me at 22 stone, 22.5, was | :14:36. | :14:40. | |
very hard. I fell down the stairs twice because I could not see where | :14:40. | :14:47. | |
I was going. These are things that people forget about. It is actually | :14:47. | :14:52. | |
a disability as well when you are obese. I was classed as morbidly | :14:52. | :14:59. | |
obese. I look like an elephant, don't I? I suppose I look like a | :14:59. | :15:05. | |
hippo that way. Your confidence is just so low. It is in your feet. | :15:05. | :15:13. | |
You just feel rubbish in yourself. You are at such a low ebb and the | :15:13. | :15:19. | |
lower you feel, the more you eat for comfort. Even though you do not | :15:19. | :15:24. | |
think you are eating much, you actually are. It is lovely when you | :15:24. | :15:34. | |
:15:34. | :15:37. | ||
go looking at the clothing that you have not had on in months. It is | :15:37. | :15:41. | |
not a major operation. It is keyhole surgery and just because of | :15:41. | :15:46. | |
that I have had a major life change. Every Tuesday I weigh myself to see | :15:46. | :15:51. | |
what I have lost. Within the last five-and-a-half months I have lost | :15:51. | :15:59. | |
5.5 stone. I am just absolutely over the moon. I am a totally | :15:59. | :16:06. | |
different person. I am working. I am saving the NHS money. I am | :16:07. | :16:10. | |
saving the council money. I am saving benefits money because I was | :16:10. | :16:17. | |
on all that before. Now I suppose I am adding to the public purse, | :16:17. | :16:23. | |
really. This is the size of a plate that I would eat normally, about | :16:24. | :16:28. | |
four tablespoons, and I am full. A tour of beans does me three days. | :16:28. | :16:35. | |
Marvellous. I get great value out of my foot now. I have had negative | :16:35. | :16:45. | |
:16:45. | :16:46. | ||
feedback from having a gastric sleeve done. I was quite shocked. I | :16:46. | :16:50. | |
had an email from somebody saying to me, why don't you just shut your | :16:50. | :16:56. | |
mouth and eat less and then lose weight? That was not the point. | :16:56. | :17:03. | |
Give people the choice that are obese to have a life, to live, to | :17:04. | :17:08. | |
come off these benefits and the NHS and everything else, by doing one | :17:08. | :17:17. | |
simple operation. The operation is �20,000. Even that, I mean think of | :17:17. | :17:24. | |
the long term. I have another 20 odd years working life. What am I | :17:24. | :17:29. | |
paying back in with that? If I was to meet the people in Wales that | :17:29. | :17:32. | |
have the say on who gets the operation and who does not, I would | :17:32. | :17:38. | |
tell them to walk 10 miles in my shoes. At the end of the day, I | :17:38. | :17:43. | |
think it is a right, I think it is everybody's right to live. Jenny | :17:44. | :17:48. | |
cannon with some positive thinking. Joining me is Jonathan Berry, a | :17:48. | :17:53. | |
consultant surgeon who carried out with operations at a hospital in | :17:53. | :17:59. | |
Swansea. -- carries out weight loss operations. That look like a | :17:59. | :18:07. | |
drastic operation but how effective is it? It is very effective. It is | :18:07. | :18:12. | |
keyhole surgery and it removes a 2% of the stomach. It has a twofold | :18:12. | :18:21. | |
action. -- 80% of the stomach. She will lose 60% of her weight over | :18:21. | :18:25. | |
two years, but it is not so much just the weight loss, it is the | :18:25. | :18:29. | |
improvement in diseases related to obesity. But it is quite an | :18:29. | :18:34. | |
expensive procedure. What do you make of the opinion that somebody | :18:34. | :18:38. | |
expressed, emailing her, by telling her not to eat so much? I disagree | :18:38. | :18:43. | |
that it is expensive. We know that this kind of surgery is not just | :18:43. | :18:46. | |
one operation but a number of operations, which pay for | :18:46. | :18:50. | |
themselves in about two-and-a-half years. What I mean is that lots of | :18:50. | :18:54. | |
people have issues with being overweight. We know with these type | :18:54. | :18:59. | |
of operations that patients with diabetes, blood pressure issues, a | :18:59. | :19:04. | |
multitude of issues associated with being overweight, they all go away. | :19:04. | :19:07. | |
I sympathise with some arguments that these people should just go | :19:07. | :19:14. | |
and eat less. However, if your vice is eating, much like smoking or | :19:14. | :19:18. | |
alcohol, you can completely abstain from smoking or drinking alcohol, | :19:18. | :19:24. | |
but we have all got to eat. Well, your solution might sound fine, but | :19:24. | :19:28. | |
it is expensive at a time when the NHS is trying to find any way that | :19:28. | :19:33. | |
it can to save money. Would it not be better to spend that money on | :19:33. | :19:39. | |
prevention rather than an expensive cure? I completely agree. There are | :19:40. | :19:42. | |
some public health strategies in place at the moment that believe | :19:42. | :19:46. | |
that prevention is better than cure but that will not help my patients | :19:46. | :19:50. | |
that are 25 stone, sitting at home. We all know that we should get off | :19:51. | :19:55. | |
the bus one stop earlier, eat more fruit and fresh vegetables, but | :19:55. | :20:00. | |
that is not the solution to these problems that the patients have. | :20:00. | :20:04. | |
What are the criteria that should be used in Wales to decide whether | :20:04. | :20:08. | |
a patient should qualify for the procedure that we saw in that film? | :20:08. | :20:12. | |
When I was training in the surgery in England, if you were a patient | :20:12. | :20:17. | |
with a body mass index of more than 40, that being a ratio of your | :20:17. | :20:23. | |
height to wait, or the ratio of 35 with any issues like swollen ankles, | :20:23. | :20:30. | |
you are eligible for this surgery. We have a bizarre situation in | :20:30. | :20:34. | |
Wales where they have to have a body mass index of 50, twice the | :20:35. | :20:42. | |
weight they should be, and have an controlled illnesses like diabetes, | :20:42. | :20:47. | |
blood pressure and sleep apnoea. That clearly cannot go on. Would | :20:47. | :20:52. | |
you so that they have to be parity between Wales and England? -- would | :20:53. | :21:01. | |
you say? Certainly. We should move towards the English criteria. We | :21:01. | :21:05. | |
should have 300 patients per year on a population of 3 million and we | :21:05. | :21:09. | |
have 67, so there is catching up to do. Thank you. | :21:09. | :21:12. | |
It is a moment that will live on in sporting history and it is | :21:12. | :21:16. | |
incredible to think that it is 40 years ago to the date that this | :21:16. | :21:26. | |
:21:26. | :21:38. | ||
John Williams! Ryan Williams! John Dawes. Great dummy. Tom Davies. The | :21:38. | :21:48. | |
:21:48. | :21:53. | ||
Well, the try-scorer himself will be joining me to talk about but | :21:53. | :21:58. | |
iconic moment and a very different sporting life. Four decades on, and | :21:58. | :22:01. | |
it is football and not rugby drawing the big crowds to weekly | :22:01. | :22:05. | |
matches in Wales, with the success of Cardiff city in the championship | :22:05. | :22:09. | |
and Swansea's promotion to the Premier League. A question that | :22:09. | :22:13. | |
once seemed unthinkable is now being asked. As football replaced | :22:13. | :22:19. | |
rugby in the sporting hearts of the nation? Well, yes, according to one | :22:19. | :22:22. | |
Welsh historian. He has been to his own theatre of dreams to tell us | :22:22. | :22:32. | |
:22:32. | :22:34. | ||
I think the time has come to face the fact that rugby has become the | :22:34. | :22:39. | |
sick man of Welsh sport. We have got it wrong in terms of politics | :22:39. | :22:43. | |
and administration. The focus has switched away from the clubs to the | :22:43. | :22:46. | |
regions in a way that indicate that rugby is no longer catching the | :22:46. | :22:54. | |
imagination of the people of Wales. There are some vibrant, lively | :22:54. | :23:01. | |
clubs in Wales, like Party Brit. To be absolutely honest, the level of | :23:01. | :23:04. | |
rugby in the Welsh Premiership is very poor indeed. The game has | :23:04. | :23:10. | |
become tedious and boring. What of the international days? What are | :23:10. | :23:19. | |
they now? The folk festival rather than imaginative in -- adventures | :23:19. | :23:23. | |
that they once were. Football is a different kettle of fish. Everybody | :23:23. | :23:26. | |
is talking about the game. In Singapore people are talking about | :23:26. | :23:35. | |
Wayne Rooney, and of course of in that list is the Swansea. People | :23:35. | :23:42. | |
are talking about Swansea around the world. Swansea being in the | :23:42. | :23:46. | |
Premiership has taken Welsh sport to universal audience which has | :23:47. | :23:52. | |
happened in an unprecedented way. Rugby, where are you? One | :23:52. | :23:54. | |
consequence of this has been the whole nature of sporting | :23:54. | :23:59. | |
conversation has changed in Wales. In the old days, we used to talk | :23:59. | :24:04. | |
endlessly about the Welsh Rugby 15. We were always picking our dream | :24:04. | :24:08. | |
team and we took great pride in spotting the new centre, the new | :24:08. | :24:12. | |
back-row forward. It has all gone. Now we just talk about whether | :24:12. | :24:20. | |
Bellamy will take City into the Premiership. Football no longer | :24:20. | :24:24. | |
belongs to the fans in a bobble hats. Everybody is jumping on the | :24:24. | :24:29. | |
bandwagon. If you know nothing about football, soccer, you can go | :24:29. | :24:34. | |
to any social event, any dinner party at your peril. Those of us | :24:34. | :24:40. | |
who grew up in the old days, when we stood with 5000 others, we know | :24:40. | :24:46. | |
in our heart of hearts that the bubble might burst. The television | :24:46. | :24:50. | |
money and foreign investment will go. But for the time being we have | :24:50. | :24:53. | |
the festival of football, which has brought great players from all | :24:53. | :24:58. | |
round the world to play in Cardiff and Swansea. What we must do at | :24:58. | :25:02. | |
this vital moment is ensure that we invest in our own talent and | :25:02. | :25:09. | |
produce our own stars. But the football culture that we are | :25:09. | :25:12. | |
creating should be one of excellence, it should be home-grown. | :25:12. | :25:20. | |
We must not just be spectators at this current feast of football. | :25:20. | :25:25. | |
Joining me now is a rugby legend Gareth Edwards. First of all, we | :25:25. | :25:29. | |
have to talk about that try. Did you think when you've scored it | :25:29. | :25:33. | |
that you would be asked questions about it for the rest of your life? | :25:33. | :25:37. | |
I was wondering if I would be asked questions about it after the game | :25:38. | :25:41. | |
because I remember it was very early in the game. The only thought | :25:41. | :25:48. | |
on mind and everybody else's minds was to beat New Zealand and I knew | :25:48. | :25:51. | |
there would be a reaction. I thought it was vitally important to | :25:51. | :25:55. | |
win the match but little did I think that at the time. I had a | :25:55. | :25:58. | |
feeling from the noise of the crowd that maybe it had been something | :25:58. | :26:01. | |
special, but I never thought for one minute that we would still be | :26:01. | :26:06. | |
discussing it years later. It was not just special. It was | :26:06. | :26:11. | |
inspirational, and not just for rugby players and supporters. | :26:11. | :26:16. | |
Inspirational for sports men of all kinds. But picking up on that | :26:16. | :26:23. | |
report, the suggestion is that a young generation now is being | :26:23. | :26:27. | |
inspired by football and not by club rugby. That may very well be | :26:27. | :26:31. | |
the case. I have enjoyed football all my life. I could have become a | :26:31. | :26:37. | |
professional footballer. They ended up playing rugby, with no regrets. | :26:37. | :26:42. | |
-- I ended up playing rugby. I enjoyed watching Swansea play this | :26:42. | :26:47. | |
year and over the last years I have watched Cardiff City play. I like | :26:47. | :26:55. | |
all sports in Wales. I don't care which side of the coin you on. | :26:55. | :26:58. | |
you were a multi-talented sportsman as a young man, would you have made | :26:58. | :27:03. | |
the same decision again? Would you go for rugby or football now? | :27:04. | :27:08. | |
you are young, you do not think about money. Lots of people say | :27:08. | :27:11. | |
that you want to play football because there is more money in it, | :27:11. | :27:15. | |
but I don't think young children do that. I have grandson's that play | :27:15. | :27:21. | |
rugby and soccer on the weekend, and they enjoy them both. I am | :27:21. | :27:26. | |
encouraging them to do that. Nobody knows what the future is. Some | :27:26. | :27:31. | |
children stop growing, so rugby, physical game, is not for them but | :27:31. | :27:37. | |
football is. This is an old chestnut. We have discussed this | :27:37. | :27:41. | |
over 30 or 40 years. When Wales beat Russia in the World Cup, | :27:41. | :27:49. | |
soccer was the best game in Wales. When Wales did well winning the | :27:49. | :27:53. | |
Grand Slam and the World Cup, rugby was the best game. Has regional | :27:53. | :28:00. | |
club rugby inspired the following that soccer has got? I think that | :28:00. | :28:04. | |
rugby per se needs to have a good look at itself. There is no doubt | :28:04. | :28:08. | |
that there is excitement about soccer and the way it is played at | :28:08. | :28:11. | |
the moment and of course there is the success that the local sides | :28:11. | :28:17. | |
have had, Cardiff and song say, over recent years. That is a fact. | :28:17. | :28:21. | |
-- Cardiff and Swansea. The regional game has not enjoyed the | :28:21. | :28:26. | |
success that people had. They have not won the European Cup, which is | :28:26. | :28:29. | |
possibly the stages by which we would be measured. But the Welsh | :28:29. | :28:36. | |
national side has done extremely well. As much as I enjoy watching | :28:36. | :28:40. | |
the national soccer side play, we have not won the World Cup | :28:40. | :28:43. | |
qualifier never mind the World Cup. You have to compare like with like | :28:44. | :28:49. | |
but that is difficult. Yes. We will all be rooting for Wales in the Six | :28:49. | :28:54. | |
Nations. What is your tip? I think we can cause an upset. Everybody | :28:54. | :28:58. | |
tends to think of Ireland as a favoured when they come to Cardiff, | :28:58. | :29:05. | |
but I cannot see that. -- a favourite. It depends on injuries, | :29:05. | :29:09. | |
no question, but if we can get some people back into the team, nothing | :29:09. | :29:14. | |
will stop Wales. There will only ever be one Gareth Edwards. Thank | :29:14. | :29:18. | |
you for joining us. That is it for the programme this week. You can | :29:18. | :29:23. |