SATURDAY NIGHT FEVER
Thousands pack capital for sport spectacular
IT had been dubbed Super Saturday and everything about it was super-sized – from the two major sporting clashes, to the crowds of fans and even the daffodil hats. Cardiff is well used to hosting major sporting occasions but had never before hosted TWO major international clashes in rugby and football on the sam same day. An estimated 100,000 people had been expected to flow into Cardiff as first Wales took on Argentina in the second of the autumn rugby internationals at the Principality Stadium, quickly followed by Chris Coleman’s men facing Serbia in the World Cup group qualifier at the Cardiff City Stadium. Gridlock on the roads and rail had been predicted, and while the roads remained relatively quiet, there was major disruption on the rail network in South Wales. A woman died after being hit by a train, leading to major delays between Cardiff and Bridgend. The incident happened in Pencoed and services on Great Western Railway and Arriva Trains Wales were suspended between the two stations. All roads “in the immediate area” around Pencoed station were closed in the aftermath of the tragedy as emergency services attended. A spokesman for British Transport Police (BTP) said: “Officers from British Transport Police and South Wales Police attended the in incident that was reported at 12.49pm and is currently being treated as non-suspicious. “The woman was pronounced deceased at the scene. A file will be prepared for the coroner.” Services were reported to have returned to normal by around 3.35pm. Rhian Griffiths, who was on the train involved in the incident, said: “You could feel the train jolting. We knew we were approaching the station so at first just as assumed it was because of that. But it w wasn’t a normal stop.” Rugby fan Dr Chris Francis, 30, from Carmarthen, managed to make it into Cardiff on the train before the disruption. He said the First Great Western service from Swansea was so packed he was fo forced to stand all the way, leading to a close encounter with a rugby great. “The train was absolutely packed. I was stood next to Ryan Jones. I have never given him a cwtch before, but I have now.” Denise James, 50, from Tonypandy, was one of a party of five from the Rhondda who travelled to the capital to watch Wales take on Argentina. After bad experiences with Arriva Trains
Wales in the past, she said they took no chances and booked a taxi instead. “We knew how bad it was going to be. The taxi has cost us £70 return.”
Thankfully the occasion was not a disappointment. “It’s been fabulous,” she said. “I love Cardiff to bits.”
Football fan Gavin Davies, 36, from Porthmadog in North Wales, chose to drive into the capital.
“We came straight off the motorway and parked right by Cardiff City Stadium,” he said.
With both rugby and football fans quenching their thirst in city pubs, Nick Newman, chairman of Cardiff Licensees’ Forum and manager of the Brewhouse on St Mary Street, said: “It’s terrific. There was a great atmosphere.”
“But I wouldn’t say it was on any kind of epic scale. The thing is, for the next 10 years we will probably measure everything against the rugby World Cup.
“Also the [Principality] Stadium wasn’t full. When it is full there are a lot of excess people in the bars. If the stadium is not full then the people that come into town do then go out of the bars and into the match.
“With the football fans in Cardiff as well, we were hoping it would be better than a normal game against Argentina and, all in all, it was.”
The day held even more significance for Matthew and Sandra Pinnell, from Cardiff. Matthew, 45, a Welshman, met his wife, who is from Argentina’s capital Buenos Aires, 15 years ago, when he was travelling through the Andes mountains.
“When I came over to see his family 15 years ago, Wales were playing Argentina then and he took me to the stadium,” said Sandra.
“We have been married for 14 years and this is part of our anniversary celebration. We had very good tickets.”
After the games finished at both stadiums thousands of people headed to Cardiff Central Station to start their journey home.
While the usual queueing system worked well for the most part, some travellers became frustrated.
Chief Inspector Mark Cleland, of British Transport Police, tweeted that people were caught trying to jump the barriers into the queues, but “officers advised them of the error of their ways”.
Jack Doyle, 20, and Katie Hughes, 21, were in the longest queue for the Swansea-bound services. “We have had a good day, but we are being punished for it now,” said Katie.