3. Will the First Minister make a statement on the development of football in Wales? OAQ(5)0102(FM)

The outstanding performance by our national team in Euro 2016 has presented a great opportunity for us to represent Wales abroad. I know that the Football Association of Wales Trust is already planning to use that success as a catalyst to grow the game further across the country.

Thank you, First Minister. I’m also very pleased with how the Welsh team did in the European championships, and I am sure that I’m not the only one who spent Sunday night thinking, ‘It could have been us’, especially when a former Swansea City player won the tournament for Portugal. In order to continue to develop football, there is a need for improved pitches. I would like to ask the First Minister how it is intended to increase the number of 3G and 4G pitches in Wales, thus reducing the number of games lost to bad weather throughout the winter.

I know that Sport Wales are working with the governing bodies of various sports, such as the Welsh Rugby Union, Hockey Wales and the FAW, to develop an investment programme for 3G pitches. I know as well that they’re developing a blueprint for sport and recreation facilities in Wales to support our drive to facilitate regular participation in sport and physical activity, and to make sure that we have facilities that are appropriate and sustainable in the future.

Do you not think that there’s a contradiction between seeking to increase the number of 4G pitches, and yet, just a mile down the road, there is an all-weather pitch that is locked up? Children are unable to play there because it’s too expensive. Also in this city, in the south of this city, in a very challenged ward such as Splott, the STAR leisure centre is being closed by your Labour council here in the city. So, there is a hall that children use, where they learn to play football. Do you not see the contradiction between what is being said here about increasing facilities, and yet the reality on the ground is that your Labour councils are actually cutting them?

Same in Carmarthenshire.

Well, I think the same is true—. I am told by my colleague, the Member for Llanelli, that Carmarthenshire is in the same position—run by his party, of course. The reality is that councils are in difficult positions financially, but they must ensure that they don’t price communities out of facilities in those communities. The Member makes a fair point, actually, which is that we need to make sure that, where facilities are developed, they do not become so expensive that people can’t use them. Where there is a danger of doing that, we would urge all those involved to think again in order to make sure that facilities are accessible.

First Minister, I’d like to join with you in saying what wonderful news it was last week. Not only did our Welsh team do as well as they did, but they actually managed to turn someone like me, for whom, I can honestly say, football was of absolutely zero interest, into a passionate supporter. I could probably even talk about the offside rule if I tried hard enough. But I was very proud of them, and I was also incredibly proud of our fans and the way our fans behaved. Also, our footballers came across as real, decent, grounded human beings, and a real example to our young people. So, I come to the heart of my question, which is: will you have discussions with the Cabinet Secretary for Education to talk about how we can up the hours and minutes that young people in primary school spend in sport? It’s actually been cut consistently, year on year. If we want to identify not just our football stars of the future, but also our sporting stars of the future, we need to start early, get them early, get them healthy and get them really used to the whole sports agenda. Instead, at the moment in primary schools that is becoming a dwindling time, and very difficult for rural children, especially those with no access to public transport, to access after school as well.

These are the issues that we’d love to explore with sports governing bodies. The Member has refreshing candour when she says she had no interest in football until now. [Interruption.] Well, converts are always welcome, of course. It’s difficult to underestimate the publicity that this has given our nation. I was in Paris on the night of the semi-final. I was in Mametz the following day. Around me, all I could hear was people saying ‘Pays de Galles’. That kind of publicity is very difficult for us to replicate. We have to build on that, and we’re working with Visit Wales in order for that to happen.

She’s absolutely right to say as well that the team have been role models as far as young people are concerned. They will see that it is possible to be hugely successful in football—and, indeed, in any other professional sport—without carrying emotional baggage, if I can put it that way, as we have seen in years gone by. We are fortunate in Wales in that we haven’t lost many school playing fields, as has been the case elsewhere over many years, and we will look to work now with Sport Wales and the governing bodies in order to deliver as many accessible facilities of the highest standard that we can across Wales.