Wales fans berate fellow supporters over bad behaviour
WELSH football fans have criticised the behaviour of some of their fellow supporters amid allegations of racism.
Claims have emerged from fans themselves on social media in the last few days that captain Ashley Williams was racially abused and that a group of Welsh supporters sang a racist song before the game against the Republic of Ireland at Dublin’s Aviva Stadium.
Other concerning claims include supporters indecently exposing themselves in public while following the team in Georgia last October.
Last Tuesday was a superb night for Giggs’ young Wales side on the pitch in Dublin, with Harry Wilson’s stunning winner going a long way to restoring the feelgood factor within Welsh football after a difficult defeat at the hands of Spain at the Principality Stadium.
And throughout a period of revival in playing fortunes, Welsh fans have also been widely praised for the way they have behaved and wholeheartedly backed their team, not least during the Euro 2016 tournament which saw the Dragons reach the semi-finals.
However, the alleged recent antics of a small minority of Wales fans has threatened to overshadow this week’s win in the Irish capital, with several deeply concerning claims being made.
A video was posted on social media apparently showing Wales fans singing a racist song on a Dublin bus.
Alun Eurig, who’s been following Wales since 2002, filmed the disturbing footage, and believes that such incidents have unfortunately coincided with the swelling interest in the national team.
“I think that because the following of people going to watch them play away has shot up, you get more people and more trouble,” he said.
“It’s a lot to do with that. I’ve seen a few examples recently.
“I was on the bus from Dublin airport to the city centre and there were loads of fans on there and most of them just got on and got off. There were about three or four of them that started singing these songs and I saw them in Wales shirts and realised it was definitely them.
“I saw it in Brussels where there was a group singing songs about Ched Evans in poor taste and you’re just thinking ‘for goodness sake stop signing that.’
“Then there was an incident where several fans unzipped their flies and started basically comparing their private parts, and then to the right of me there were people having a fight at the same time.
“It just made me think, I’ve not travelled all this way to watch this kind of stuff taking place.
“People have basically started to treat it as a stag weekend and not really as a chance to support the team. That’s what it is in most cases.
“It’s such a small amount of people causing the trouble, but it has such a huge impact on the rest of us.
“But the pleasing thing is the amount of people saying that this isn’t on, saying that we need to nip it in the bud.”
As well as the claims from Mr Eurig, there have also been allegations of racist abuse directed at skipper Williams.
Meanwhile, Ashley Drake, a fan from Cardiff who claims to have confronted the person alleged to have directed a racist comment at the Everton centre-back, told BBC Radio Wales : “It was so shocking because I haven’t heard it for so long.
“If he thinks he’s having a go because he doesn’t think he’s playing very well then that’s his right to do so, but it started getting worse and worse... Then out of nowhere he suddenly shouted abuse at him because of the colour of his skin.
“My view is that if you hear it once then that’s enough and you’ve got to stand up and challenge the person.
“I berated him and told him it was a disgrace, it was unforgivable and he should know better to do that and it was an appalling thing to do.”
A spokesperson for the FAW said they had not yet received any official complaint, but urged fellow fans to speak out against racism.