7. Will the Cabinet Secretary provide an update on the proposed national football museum? OAQ(5)0205(EI)[W]

Yes. Can I thank the Member for this question? It’s very exciting. We are currently running a procurement exercise on Sell2Wales to appoint a contractor to complete a feasibility study on the football museum. The study is set to commence around the end of August and will be completed within six months.

Well, thank you for your answer, and I welcome, obviously, the commissioning of this study as a consequence of an agreement between the Government and Plaid Cymru, of course. But some people are asking the question of whether there’s a slight change in direction here because the original commitment was to look into a football museum located in the north, whereas the feasibility study looks at a more general sporting museum, which, potentially, could be anywhere in Wales. Now, some people are worried that north-east Wales might lose out.

Okay. Can I just assure the Member that the specification does state that the preferred location is in Wrexham or elsewhere in north Wales? I think it’s well recognised that north Wales would do well to have a sports museum or a football museum—a specialist football museum. It could potentially complement the football museum that exists in Manchester. Given that it’s a live procurement, there’s a limited amount that I can say on this, but we have honoured the agreement that we reached, and I’m excited about this piece of work. I think it could produce a very, very enticing idea that we would be keen to deliver, provided the feasibility study makes it an affordable one.

On a similar theme, I’ve also had similar concerns raised with me regarding the feasibility study—the procurement document you refer to—which does, I’m told, talk of there being a sports museum in Wales, so I’m reassured by your comments. But do you agree that it is important that what comes out of this ensures that the north-east is recognised for its pioneering role in promoting what’s become, for many, the national sport—some might argue it’s rugby union but, for many others, it’s football—recognising that this club started in 1872, that it’s where the first international match was played in Wales, where the Football Association of Wales was formed, and that it’s home, of course, to one of the world’s oldest football clubs?

Yes, absolutely. Wrexham Association Football Club have an incredible history that deserves to be recognised and promoted. I can also assure Members, because I heard on the opposition benches concerns expressed about whether this would be a national museum of Wales or just a football museum. We will be engaging the National Museum Wales in discussions and deliberations as part of the feasibility study. As far as Wrexham AFC and football as a whole are concerned, north-east Wales has a very proud heritage in the sport. Many of us from that part of Wales would consider it to be certainly one of the national sports—probably the one that was most widely played by us when we were growing up—and we’re keen to make sure that any investment in a facility such as this serves to inspire people as well as to capture the past and to inspire people to go on to be very successful in football in the future.

Thank you, Cabinet Secretary.