Is money changing women’s football in Wales?

By Daniel Davies

Women’s football is one of the fastest growing sports in Wales, with attendance records for matches being growing constantly. Nearly 13,000 people watched the national side defeat Bosnia and Herzegovina last October, while Wrexham women smashed the record for a Welsh football league game when over 9,500 people attended the Racecourse Ground for their game against Connah’s Quay Nomads. One of the more significant developments of recent times was when the FAW announced that it’s men’s and women’s national sides would be paid equally for their time on international duty. With the professionalism of the women’s game in England and Scotland growing, I took a deeper look at the affect money is having on women’s football in Wales, how quickly the country’s women’s teams have developed and what challenges this influx of money poses to one of the oldest women’s football clubs in the UK, Cardiff City Ladies FC. I also looked for the answer to a question that would have been incomprehensible 30 years ago – is it possible for young women in Wales to forge a career in football?

Creative industries professional practice

This is a selection of pieces of work I’ve done or contributed towards over the past year as a part of my creative industries professional practice university module.

BBC Wales

This is a piece I wrote and researched myself having been given a brief to produce stories for North-East Wales while I was there. https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-64834690

I thought it was worth mentioning that I also contributed to this piece, transcribing an interview and finding the most noteworthy quotes. https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-64834025

YYFM

These are the podcasts I took part in with YYFM:

Cardiff City Ladies FC

Recent examples of some of the work I’ve done with Cardiff City Ladies FC.

Bro Radio

Of the work I did at Bro Radio this year, covering Barry Town FC winning the Cymru South league title recently was some of my favourite work from the past year. Here is the report from that day, as well as some of the other content I provided for the radio programme on that story. https://broradio.fm/five-star-barry-are-champions

My time with the station also included covering a charity walk and aiding with a story over a far-right group protesting in Llantwit Major, however I no longer have access to those files.

Cricket podcasting with YYFM

I’ve recently participated in a couple of podcasts with a fellow USW student, Blake Bint, and Dan Whiting, a published cricket author, Gloucestershire Cricket commentator and founder of the popular cricket blog The Middle Stump. We reviewed the England cricket team’s recent tour of Pakistan with a view to continuing the podcast over England’s future fixtures. We produced these podcasts for YYFM, a hospital radio based in Cardiff. I’ve attached the links to the most recent episodes below.

Dispute over outdoor seating spaces poses problems for Penarth

A local council dispute has caused big issues for restaurants on the Penarth seafront, invoking a petition from locals who aren’t happy. During the Coronavirus pandemic these restaurants were told they could convert parking spaces outside their restaurants into seating spaces for customers who weren’t allowed into the shops at the time. The time has come for these spaces to be reverted back into parking spots, sparking a petition to prevent the change. I went down to Penarth to find out the latest…

Refugees learning to speak English at Cardiff’s Trinity Centre

Cardiff’s Trinity Centre is where University of South Wales lecturer Mike Chick is teaching refugees from all over the world how to speak the English language so that they can overcome the barriers that prevent them from entering British society. I spoke to Mike and a number of his students to find out more…

Fowl and Fury has found a new home!

Fowl and Fury are one of Cardiff’s best known and most popular food vendors. They are currently situated in the heart of Cathays but are restricted to operating on a few days a week as they operate out of Sticky Fingers, a restaurant that invites chefs to work there on different days of the week. However, that is all about to change as Fowl and Fury’s owners, Jamie and Natalia, have found themselves a new permanent home of their own on Woodville Road. I spoke to Jamie about the inspiration behind the company and its future…

I have also produced a visual version of this story for those who would like to see how the chicken is prepared or who simply prefer audio stories.

The Pierhead Clock

The Pierhead clock was once housed in the Pierhead building, overlooking Cardiff Bay. Now it has an all too different view, as neglect from the council means rubbish and waste pile up around it. This clock, which has been all the way to America and back, is an historic part of Cardiff which is in desperate need of some attention and care.

The Bute influence on Cardiff

The Bute family are a Scottish aristocratic family from the Isle of Bute who revolutionised the city of Cardiff. They invested the modern equivalent of millions upgrading the city’s parks, docks and Castle. From John Stuart, the 1st Marquess of Bute, through to John Crichton-Stuart, 5th Marquess, all have played a significant role in the development of the city, shaping what it looks like today. This piece analyses what the city would look like without their investment, as well as asking the question of whether or not the family is starting to be forgotten by the current residents of the city they did so much for.

https://usw-broadcasting.shorthandstories.com/the-bute-influence-on-cardiff/index.html

From the Royal Marines to Cardiff Met

Joe Hearn served in the Royal Marines for seven years before he suffered life changing injuries that meant he was no longer fit to serve, and he was forced to consider a new life. He now studies English and Media at Cardiff Metropolitan University, and is currently in his first year of study. In this interview he details the changes he has been forced to go through as well as discussing his plans for the future. He aims to be a journalist covering the service he was made to leave behind through no fault of his own.