Sport in Wales
In 2008/09, Cardiff had the highest percentage (61%) of residents who regularly participated in sport and active recreation out of all 22 local authorities in Wales, whereas Rhondda Cynon Taf had the lowest (24%).
[1] The native games that developed in Wales share a Celtic heritage with coeval sports in Cornwall, Scotland and Ireland.
[3] The game ceased as a regular competition in 1995, but its cultural legacy remains in the western counties – an example being the "Cnapan Hotel" in Newport, Pembrokeshire.
Bando is a team sport that is related to hockey, hurling, shinty, and bandy which was first recorded in Wales in the eighteenth century.
[6] The famous 1905 match which became known as The Match of the Century has been viewed as a key moment in the relationship between Welsh national identity and Rugby Union, especially the home crowd singing Hen Wlad Fy Nhadau as a response to the Haka (often cited as the first time a national anthem was sung before an international sports event).
Cardiff City were the most successful in the 20th century, having won the FA Cup in 1927[11] and spent 15 seasons in the top-flight English First Division.
The New Saints have topped the Welsh Premier League a record thirteen times – including the past eight seasons.
One of the first Welsh stars of the sport was amateur Horace Coles, who was runner up to Allan Prior in the 1927 World Billiard Championships.
[17] Players of note after the Second World War included Roy Oriel of Mountain Ash and Clive Everton, who is now most recognised as a snooker commentator and journalist.
Wales has continued to produce world-class snooker players since Reardon's time, including Terry Griffiths, Mark Williams and Matthew Stevens.
Joe Calzaghe, born to a Welsh mother and Italian father and raised in Newbridge, retired in 2009 as an unbeaten world champion.
Other former world champions include Enzo Maccarinelli, Gavin Rees, Howard Winstone, Jim Driscoll, Steve Robinson and Robbie Regan.
Darts is a popular amateur sport in Wales, widely associated with public houses and working men's clubs.
[28] As tourism developed in Wales, the golf clubs helped attract visitors, which was further advertised by the newly constructed passenger rail links.
[28] As living standards improved during the 20th century, golf began to lose its elitist label, and was embraced by all sections of society.
[29] Dai Rees was one of the first successful Welsh golfers, captaining a winning British and Irish Ryder Cup team in 1957.
Wales has won the golfing World Cup on two occasions, with the pairing of David Llewellyn and Ian Woosnam lifting the trophy in Hawaii in 1987, and again in 2005, with Stephen Dodd and Bradley Dredge winning in Portugal.
Seven Welshmen have appeared at the European Ryder Cup team: Rees, Woosnam, Bert Hodson, Brian Huggett, Dave Thomas, Phillip Price and Jamie Donaldson.
The 20th century saw the Welsh working class embrace the sport, mainly due to the spread of off-course betting.
[31] In 1990, 'Tir Prince' an American-style raceway was opened in Towyn which now holds 13 races a year, many of which are shown on Welsh language television channel S4C on its programme Rasus.
[37] Two Welsh drivers have competed in the Formula One championship: the first was Alan Rees at the 1967 British Grand Prix, who finished in ninth position, four laps behind the winner, Jim Clark.
Rees was subsequently involved in the management side of motorsport for many years, co-founding March Engineering and the Arrows team as well as working for Shadow Racing Cars.
[38] Tom Pryce was the more notable of the two drivers, as he finished on the podium twice and, at the 1975 British Grand Prix, qualified in pole position.
Pryce's career was cut short at the 1977 South African Grand Prix after he collided with volunteer marshal, Jansen Van Vuuren, killing both instantly.
The nation has 4 clubs registered with the British Octopush Association and regular sees native born players compete for Great Britain.
[39] In the 1908 Olympics, Wales were allowed to enter a Welsh national team for field hockey and won third place.
[citation needed] Other Olympians of note include, Beijing 2008 Olympic Gold medalist and international champion cyclist Nicole Cooke (Road Race), who also won the 2006 and 2007 Grande Boucle – the women's Tour de France, and Geraint Thomas who won Gold (Team Pursuit) at the Beijing 2008 Olympics.
[47] Two Plaid Cymru politicians, as well as other individuals and pro-independence group YesCymru have called for a Wales Olympic team separate from Team GB which represents the United Kingdom,[48][49][50][51][52] citing the Faroe Islands and Puerto Rico as examples for non-sovereign states competing at the Olympic Games or as a proposal of the Welsh independence movement.
Founded in April 2010, the league plays using the Women's Flat Track Derby Association rules set.
The team was formed in 2001 after the Tiger Bay Warriors had disbanded due to the departure of head coach Rob Mota, along with key staff and players, by the remaining players and staff, using equipment, resources and shirts from the folded Tiger Bay Warriors for economical purposes.
