4. 4. Statement: The Champions League Final

Part of the debate – in the Senedd at 3:44 pm on 2 May 2017.

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Photo of Dawn Bowden Dawn Bowden Labour 3:44, 2 May 2017

Can I say, as a huge football fan, Cabinet Secretary, like Rhun I’m also hugely excited at the prospect of the Champions League coming to Cardiff, and I applaud the work of the Welsh Government in helping to secure this? On Saturday, I’m going to be going back to Penydarren Park where Merthyr Town Football Club are going to be displaying the Champions League cup there. I think that’s a great initiative—that it’s going to small clubs like Merthyr Town, and people and fans will have the opportunity to get there and have their photograph taken. I’m certainly hoping that I will, because it’s the closest that a Bristol City fan is ever going to get to the European cup, I can tell you that. But perhaps it’s more appropriate that I should raise that the European cup is coming to Merthyr on the thirtieth anniversary of the year in which they beat the mighty Atalanta in the European Cup Winners’ Cup in 1987. So, I think it’s very fitting that we’ve got another European trophy coming here this year.

But along with everything else that you’ve said, Cabinet Secretary, about the financial benefits of the final coming to Cardiff, I’m sure you’ll applaud the initiatives that we see clubs like Merthyr engaging in, in community activity and community based football. This provides a greater opportunity for the development of that kind of community football. So, I really wanted to follow on from the question that Rhun asked and something that you have already touched on, but whether you could expand more on how the Welsh Government can assist clubs like Merthyr to develop their community activities, particularly for girls, which the club has struggled to engage to any great extent.