In Wales, Gareth Bale says ‘football can overtake rugby soon’

With Wales set for a major Euro 2016 qualifying match against Bosnia on Friday, Gareth Bale believes advancing to the European Championships would be a watershed moment for Welsh football.

Gareth Bale trains with Wales during European Championships qualifying.

Gareth Bale believes beating Bosnia and Herzegovina on Friday night will be the first step to football overtaking rugby in Wales.

The Real Madrid superstar became the first player to be named Welsh footballer of the year for a fourth time at a Cardiff ceremony on Monday night but it is a place at the Euro 2016 finals in France that Bale really craves.

Wales have not qualified for a major tournament since the 1958 World Cup in Sweden and Bale reckons that if Chris Coleman’s side were to end that long wait then even the national sport of rugby would be eclipsed.

That would be some task given Wales have won three Six Nations grand slams in the last 10 years and came within a penalty kick of reaching the Rugby World Cup final in 2011, but Bale believes Welsh football is on the threshold of a great new era.

“We have massive potential and I want to make history with Wales and qualify for a major tournament,” Bale said after picking up his fourth Welsh player of the year award in five years.

“I feel football can overtake rugby soon. I remember when I was younger the Millennium Stadium was full every time I went to watch.

“Rugby has obviously overtaken it in recent years but I feel football is on the incline and we can get a lot of fans to the games and get the support behind us.

“It’s not only important for us as a team to get to a major championship, but as a nation as a whole.

“We want to inspire more kids to play football and become a better national team.”

Bale spared Welsh blushes in Andorra last month with his double strike, including a superb late free-kick winner, seeing off the Pyrenees part-timers and ensuring the Euro 2016 campaign would get off to a winning start.

Despite the loss of key midfielders Aaron Ramsey and Joe Allen through injury for this week’s home qualifiers against Bosnia and Cyprus, expectations remain high around Coleman’s squad with Bale providing the stardust to a group full of Premier League players.

That optimism has been reflected by a dramatic rise up the Fifa rankings as Wales have climbed to 29th in the world, just two places short of their all-time high of 20 years ago.

“We’ve been together for quite a long time now, we get along really well and it’s really a tight-knit group,” Bale said.

“We’re growing as players and as long as everyone stays committed and working hard we can go on to achieve our goals.

“We’ve got off to a positive start in the group with three points and we feel we’ve got the momentum behind us.

“We want to carry that into the next game and get a positive result.”

Bosnia are first up at the Cardiff City stadium on Friday and it is only four months since Safet Susic’s side were gracing the World Cup finals in Brazil.

But Bosnia surprisingly lost their opening Euro 2016 qualifier at home to Cyprus last month and Susic’s future is said to be far from clear.

“We know they’re a very good side, they showed that by getting to the World Cup and they’ve obviously got some good players,” Bale said.

“But we believe in ourselves and hopefully we can get the victory on Friday.

“We’ve got two massive games but we just want to concentrate on Friday and not think about anything else.

“The fans can be the extra man. We haven’t had too many big crowds in the past but I really feel we’re on the rise now.

“As a team we’re playing better and getting the right results and that shows in the rankings.

“We all firmly believe we’re pushing in the right direction, and hopefully the fans will come out and support us and we can give them a good performance.”

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