Sport in Wales plays a prominent role in Welsh culture. Like the other countries of the United Kingdom, Wales enjoys independent representation in major world sporting events such as the FIFA World Cup and in the Rugby World Cup, but competes as part of Great Britain in some other competitions, including the Olympics.
The Millennium Stadium is the largest stadium in Wales. Located in Cardiff, it is the home of the Wales national rugby union team with a capacity of 74,505. It was the temporary location for English football and rugby league finals during the redevelopment of Wembley Stadium. The Cardiff City Stadium is currently the home of the Wales national football team.
Sport Wales is responsible for 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%).Welsh Assembly Government | Local Area Summary Statistics p44
Native Celtic sports The native games that developed in Wales share a Celtic heritage with coeval sports in Cornwall, Scotland and Ireland. A number of sports are recorded, including variations of 'village football', 'bat and ball' and 'hand ball' games. The most prominent native sports to survive into modern Welsh history are Bando, Cnapan and Pêl-Llaw.
Bando
Bando is a team sport that is related to hockey, hurling, shinty, and bandy which was first recorded in Wales in the eighteenth century. The game is played on a large level field between teams of up to thirty players each of them equipped with a bando: a curve-ended stick resembling that used in field hockey. Although no formal rules are known, the objective of the game was to strike a ball between two marks which served as goals at either end of the pitch. Popular throughout Glamorgan, the sport had all but vanished by the end of the nineteenth century. Now a minority sport, the game is still played in parts of Wales where it has become an Easter tradition.
Cnapan
Cnapan (sometimes spelt Knapan or Knappan) is an ancient form of medieval football, with similarities to both rugby union and rugby league, and is cited as a possible antecedent to modern rugby union. The game is most associated with the western counties of Wales, especially Carmarthenshire, Ceredigion and Pembrokeshire.
According to George Owen of Henllys, in his Description of Pembrokeshire (1603), cnapan had been "extremely popular in Pembrokeshire since greate antiquitie [sic]". 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.
Pêl-Llaw
Welsh handball, more commonly known as "Pêl-Llaw", is related to Irish handball, Fives, Basque pelota and later American handball and has been continually attested since the Middle Ages. The sports popularity offered ordinary people opportunities through prize-money, bookkeeping and even player professionalism. Pêl-law has been described as "Wales’ first national sport".
Other sports Rugby union
Rugby union is often stated to be central to Welsh culture, with the Encyclopaedia of Wales stating that the sport is "seen by many as a symbol of Welsh identity and an expression of national consciousness".Davies (2008) p. 782 Indigenous Welsh sports such as cnapan have also been identified as possible antecedents of both rugby union and rugby league. 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).
Outside of Wales, rugby union has been associated with the country and its culture from the nineteenth century onwards, and a perception of both Welsh men and women being "addicted" to rugby union became a stereotypical characteristics early in the sport's history. After The Original All Blacks game against Newport RFC at Rodney Parade in 1905, a journalist from the Daily Mail reported that "The average woman in Newport, judging from the expert feminine criticisms punctuating Saturday’s play, apparently knows as much of the science of rugby [union] as any man." Another reporter stating that "fully a third" of the spectators at Stradey Park, Llanelli were female.
Today, both the Women's national team and Men's national team takes part in the annual Six Nations Championship and the Rugby World Cup. The Men's sevens team won the 2009 Rugby World Cup Sevens, and is one of 15 "core teams" in the annual World Rugby Sevens Series. Four Welsh teams (Cardiff Rugby, Dragons RFC, Ospreys and Scarlets) compete in the professional United Rugby Championship, the European Rugby Champions Cup and the European Rugby Challenge Cup with semi-professional teams competing in the Welsh Premier Division, the WRU Challenge Cup and Welsh Championship. In total, 320 rugby union clubs are affiliated with the Welsh Rugby Union.
Rugby league
Early attempts made to bring rugby league to Wales in the 20th century, was the formation of the short-lived Welsh League in 1908 which was followed by the second Welsh League which ran from 1949 until 1955. There are currently two professional rugby league clubs in Wales, the North Wales Crusaders (previously known as Celtic Crusaders and Crusaders RL) based in Colwyn Bay (formerly in Wrexham) who played in the Super League from 2009–11, and Llanelli based West Wales Raiders. They both compete in League 1, the third tier of British Rugby League.
The Rugby League Conference Welsh Premier is the top division for rugby league clubs in Wales and the division below is the Rugby League Conference Welsh Championship
The national side, nicknamed the Dragons, has often been one of the strongest sides in international rugby league and has also provided a number of players for the Great Britain team. They compete in the European Nations Cup and the World Cup. The national side competed in the 2011 Four Nations, finishing last in the table.
The Wales Rugby League achieved governing body status in 2005.
Football
The governing body for football in Wales is the Football Association of Wales. It runs the national teams, the recreational game and the main cup competitions. Dragon Park, the Wales National Football Development Centre, is located in Newport.
Football developed in the late 19th century, and currently claims the most participation of any sport in Wales. The most successful teams are Cardiff City, Swansea City, Newport County, Wrexham and The New Saints. Cardiff City were the most successful in the 20th century, having won the FA Cup in 1927 and spent 15 seasons in the top-flight English First Division. Swansea City have also played in the top flight, playing two consecutive seasons in the early 1980s, and were the first Welsh team to win promotion to the English Premier League in 2011. Swansea stayed in the Premier League for the next 7 years and also won the EFL Cup in the 2013-2014 season after winning 5-0 in the final and earned a spot in the UEFA Europa League. Newport County have played in the second tier of the English football league system and reached the quarter-finals of the 1981 European Cup Winners' Cup. Wrexham, one of the oldest surviving football teams in Britain, have won the Welsh Cup 23 times and reached the quarter-finals of the 1976 European Cup Winners' Cup. The New Saints have topped the Welsh Premier League a record thirteen times – including the past eight seasons.
The Welsh football league system has been headed since 1992 by the Cymru Premier. The second tier below the Cymru Premier is split between the Cymru North and the Cymru South. Below this is numerous regional leagues. The main Cup competitions in Wales are the Welsh Cup and the Welsh League Cup. However, for historical reasons, five Welsh clubs (Swansea City, Cardiff City, Newport County, Wrexham and Merthyr Town) play in the English football league system.
The Wales national football team have played in multiple major tournaments including the 1958 FIFA World Cup, UEFA Euro 2016, UEFA Euro 2020 and the 2022 FIFA World Cup.
Athletics
Wales has produced a number of athletes who have made a mark on the world stage, including the 110m hurdler Colin Jackson who is a former world record holder and the winner of numerous Olympic, World and European medals. Marathoner Steve Jones set the world record for the marathon in Chicago in 1984 with a time of 2:08:05. He also won a bronze medal at the Commonwealth games in the 10,000m in 1986.
The Isle of Anglesey is a member island of the International Island Games Association and compete as Ynys Môn. In the 2015 Island Games, held on Jersey, the Isle of Anglesey came 13th in the medal table with five gold and three bronze medals, won in sailing and athletics.
Snooker Although little is known of the development of snooker (or billiards) in Wales, in the 20th century it became a popular pastime in working men's clubs. 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.The 1927 World Amateur Championship Peter Ainsworth Coles reached the final again in 1935, this time victorious over McGhie of Scotland to take the World title.Past Champions International Billiards and Snooker Federation 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.
The popularisation of colour television in the 1970s, brought the game of snooker to a new demographic of viewers. The decade was dominated by Ray Reardon from Tredegar, who won six World Snooker Championship titles, and when the first world rankings were introduced in 1976, Reardon became the first world number one snooker player. Some of Reardon's contemporaries included Gary Owen from Tumble and Cliff Wilson also from Tredegar.
Wales has continued to produce world-class snooker players since Reardon's time, including Terry Griffiths, Mark Williams and Matthew Stevens. Amateur participation in the sport is very high.
Cycling
Cycling has been a popular sport in Wales since the Victorian period. Two of the first stars of British racing both came from Aberaman, Jimmy Michael and Arthur Linton. The Wales National Velodrome is located in Newport and Wales has continued to produce a number of successful international cyclists throughout the modern era including Olympic champions Nicole Cooke and Geraint Thomas.
On 29 July 2018 Thomas went on to become the first Welshman to win the Tour de France. Cooke had previously won the women's equivalent, the Grande Boucle Féminine Internationale, in 2006 and 2007.
Boxing
Wales has a strong connection with the sport of boxing, particularly in the South Wales Valleys, with fighters such as Tommy Farr, Freddie Welsh, Jimmy Wilde, Dai Dower and Johnny Owen all competing at the highest level. 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.
Welsh baseball