A warm welcome for Wales – and questions for Drakeford
WALES have touched down in Qatar ahead of their historic appearance at the 2022 World Cup.
Rob Page and his squad had a packed day on Tuesday, receiving rapturous applause from hotel staff and members of Wales’ rugby team before open training sessions at Cardiff City Stadium in front of 2,000 schoolchildren.
The players arrived in Doha on Tuesday evening and then spent yesterday settling in to their new surroundings ahead of their opening match against the USA on Monday – Wales’ first game at a World Cup since 1958.
The side will then take on Iran next Friday before battling England on November 29.
Yesterday was another busy day for the players, who took part in a photoshoot before heading to Al-Sadd Sports Club in Doha for a community engagement event.
Meanwhile, back home, the First Minister met campaigners ahead of his trip World Cup who urged him to use “every opportunity” to speak up for LGBTQ+ and women’s rights.
Mark Drakeford was at Cardiff City Stadium to meet Tracy Brown, cochair of the Rainbow Wall - the Welsh football team’s first LGBTQ+ supporters’ group which was launched in 2021.
Ms Brown presented the First Minister with a Rainbow Wall badge and rainbow bucket hat, and said: “We’re a small nation, but we can have a big voice while we’re out there and it’s one competition the whole world watches, and it’s a universal language - football.
“I think it’s about holding Qatar to account, but also FIFA, because they made the decision to hold it there.
“The LGBTQ+ community is still persecuted, so even though they’re trying to say we’re all welcome, we’re obviously not, and that’s a major problem.
“My point of view, and the point of view of our friends and allies, would be that when you go out there, if you have the opportunity, to raise those questions and see what they say back to you.”
Mr Drakeford insisted there would be opportunities to highlight those issues, and said the Welsh Government had already discussed them with those involved in the tournament.
He later told the PA news agency it had been a “challenging decision” whether to attend the World Cup in the Arab state.
He said: “On the one hand it is very important that we are there to support our team – it’s the first time in 64 years – but also because it provides such a platform to promote Wales and its interests around the world.
“On the other hand, the concerns about the World Cup being in Qatar the concerns about workers’ rights, human rights, LGBTQ+ rights, those are very real.
“There’s a proper debate as to whether or not the best way to try and influence those matters is to make a stand by not going or whether it is better to go and to voice the concerns and the values that matter to people in Wales.
“Having thought a great deal about it and weighed it all up, our view is that other countries right across the world will be represented at the World Cup by their governments. It is right that Wales should be represented as well.”
Mr Drakeford added that the Welsh Government “shares the discomfort” of people concerned about the World Cup being held in Qatar.
“But, nevertheless, Wales is in the World Cup, one of only 32 countries, a small nation of only three million people on that stage, a rare opportunity – we shouldn’t allow that opportunity to go missing.”