Wales’ achievements really are worthy of celebration

WALES’ dream run in the Euro 2016 tournament has finally come to an end.

And while the hangovers may last a couple of days, something which will last a lot longer is the sense of pride the team has given to the nation.

And while their footballing skills on the pitch have captivated fans from far and wide, it is their teamwork, friendship and love for their nation which has enthralled the world.

Though they didn’t go all the way, Wales’ success is a salutary lesson in how hard work and self belief can get you anywhere despite what anyone else thinks.

Digesting their fame is a welcome change to our usual celebrity diet.

The word celebrity originates from the Latin celeber, which means honoured. So presumably those who become celebrities should be those who are celebrated or honoured for a particular achievement.

So how come I struggle to identify any sort of achievement in the people we are constantly being told are celebrities.

I worry for young people growing up now because all they see on social media and TV are people who wouldn’t know what real struggle and achievement is even if it jumped up and slapped them around the face.

How can we seriously expect to get through to our children that they must do well at school and work hard in order to make something of themselves when all they see is people getting the maximum benefit from doing sweet FA.

I’m constantly amazed by the stories that pop up on the internet about the love lives of people whose names I see daily but have no idea who they are.

Our view of those we should celebrate has become so skewed that someone appearing on a reality TV show once is guaranteed wall to wall coverage of every cough, spit and fart for the rest of their lives.

They even have the nerve to call it “a career” without any hint of irony because the world is telling them that merely by existing they are enriching our lives and must be elevated to greatness.

While walking into my son’s school the other afternoon I saw an older girl and her mum coming the other way.

The girl, who was maybe 10 or 11, was wearing a shirt which listed these names in large letters: Kendall, Kylie and Gigi.

I fear she wore the shirt as these personalities, to use the term loosely, are constantly exalted as something that young girls should be living up to.

Yet the first two’s claim to fame is purely based on being the half-sisters of the equally vacuous Kardashians, whose own fame is built on the foundation of the fact that one of their number, Kim, once made a sex tape which got leaked. So far, so disappointing. Now Kendall and Kylie, whose surname is Jenner, have built what they obviously believe are careers on this nonsense, having gone into, respectively, modelling and cosmetics.

They also peddle strong sideline in pouty selfies on Instagram. Are there no limits to these girls’ talents?

The other one, Gigi, is also a model and mostly famous because she’s their mate.

I’ve singled these so-called celebrities out, but it is slightly unfair that a I’m picking on them because they are by no means alone. The whole world, including the UK, is now being populated by people whose achievements you could list on the back of a postage stamp. And then enter Chris Coleman and the boys to save us all from ourselves. No overnight success stories here, far from it. Their position in the world today has been built on the back of struggle through the tragedy of Gary Speed’s death, hard work and practice on the training ground and their love for each other.

Celebrations of their achievements should not end after today’s welcomehome parade in Cardiff.

Their story should be told over and over in classrooms across the land until it drowns out the noise from the superficial reality TV mob.