A key reason that I wanted to have a short debate on sport is due to the fact that sport is so important, as I'm sure we know, to our health, our well-being, our sense of place and our sense of community. It really has the power, as we see from time to time—more often than not, actually—to unite our local communities and the power to unite us as a country as well. As a relatively small country of just over 3 million people, we certainly punch above our weight on the world's sporting stage—and that wasn't an intentional pun, actually, but there was one there, and I promise it will be the last one.

But, despite our smaller population, we see some fantastic results. Our men's football team is currently ranked nineteenth best in the world and is going off to the world cup, as we know, next month; our rugby team is ranked at No. 7 in the world; we have the world's best darts player, who is Welsh—I know that James Evans will be very pleased about that; and at the recent 2022 Birmingham Commonwealth Games, Wales won 28 gold medals, which is a fantastic haul for us and we should all be very proud. If we look at women's sport, we continue to see women's sport growing and thriving, along with audiences, with, most recently, 12,000 people attending a Wales women's football game against Slovenia last month. Of course, we're all very excited to see that the Wales women's football team is on the cusp of qualifying for the world cup.

I'm sure that Members from across the Chamber will enjoy a wide range of sports, whether it's the more mainstream sports of football and rugby, or, perhaps, some of the less mainstream sports of mud snorkelling or foot golf. But, in addition to this, these sports are a really important part of our community, with social clubs, bars and a genuine place for people to come together. They have fantastic mental health and well-being benefits. These are often much better, of course, when we are winning, which, for me, doesn't always happen, but it helps from time to time. Along with this, we know that sport also delivers clear physical benefits and is one of the best ways of staying fit and healthy, or at least trying to. Sport can be played by all ages or demographics and by all communities.

A second part, and the bit that I want to focus most of my time on this evening, and the main reason for my short debate, is to highlight that many people across north Wales simply don't have enough of these opportunities. We don't see the same access to sporting opportunities that other parts of the country enjoy, and we need to highlight this inadequacy and take urgent action to rectify it. Some examples of this: with a population of around 700,000 people in north Wales, we have just one professional sports team in Wrexham Association Football Club. In Wales, we have, of course, as we know, four professional rugby teams, but all of those are concentrated in the south. And in north Wales, we have no Olympic-sized swimming pool.

It's this lack of facilities and lack of opportunities for people that hampers people's ability to, first of all, take the next step to an elite or professional level, and it certainly diminishes the exposure of local heroes to inspire the next generation of sportsmen and women. It's extremely frustrating that the concentration of sport in Wales is often around four hours away from the residents I represent in north Wales. Despite having the fantastic and historical Racecourse ground in Wrexham and a growing stadium in Colwyn Bay, sports events are too often centralised in the south.

In addition to this, the people of north Wales don't even have the sufficient transport links to get back home after events if they are in the south. Just last week, Wales played Belgium at the Cardiff City Stadium, but north Walians who'd travelled down certainly struggled to travel back due to the lack of trains.

As I'm sure, Deputy Minister, you will outline in your response, sporting organisations and governing bodies, such as the Football Association of Wales and Welsh Rugby Union, are responsible for their relevant sports. Nevertheless, Deputy Minister, as I'm sure you are fully aware, your list of ministerial responsibilities does include elite sport, along with community sport, physical activity and active recreation in Wales, including sponsorship of the Sports Council for Wales. So, there is a clear role here for the Welsh Government to work with the relevant governing bodies to ensure that we have the opportunity for all when it comes to sport in north Wales. The Welsh Government has the power to enable our governing bodies to deliver successful sporting facilities across north Wales whilst setting the right tone and expectation around fairness and access for all.

Additionally, Deputy Minister, there are major spending departments that could make a significant difference to people accessing sport in north Wales. These of course include our health service, education, local government and even practical departments, such as land and estates—we could enable the development of facilities in north Wales.

Linked to this, facilities in north Wales are one of three key areas that I believe are important for us to focus on, the others being funding and exposure. It’s regrettable that many of our sporting clubs and organisations across north Wales continue to suffer from a lack of resource and there continues to be poor quality infrastructure. Many of our sporting clubs continue to struggle financially and suffer from a lack of resources, along with that poor infrastructure. Without investment in elite sporting facilities in north Wales, many of our future sportsmen and sportswomen will continue to see barriers in their way to competing, with many having to travel many hours to do something they love. There’s a clear trend of people giving up when they reach that elite level. So, the Welsh Government has a key role in working with the responsible organisations, along with local authorities and our communities, to ensure we have co-operation in ensuring sport doesn’t become too centralised in one part of Wales. This can be done by providing support and investment in both elite and grass-roots sport, where we can ensure greater opportunity for all.

When it comes to the exposure of sports and elite sports and the opportunities that presents, it still frustrates me regarding the fact that, even with that population of 700,000 people, and rugby being such an important sport in Wales, we don’t have that professional regional rugby team in north Wales. So, from today’s debate, I’d be grateful if the Deputy Minister could also outline what discussions she’s having with the WRU regarding work on having a professional regional rugby team in north Wales. It simply cannot be right that there are four professional regional teams in Wales and all of these are four hours away from the residents that I represent in north Wales. Perhaps, in the meantime, an interim method to bring this elite level of sport closer to residents in the north could be something similar to what Glamorgan cricket club do. We could see Wales’s four professional rugby teams come to play one of their games each season in north Wales, which would be a fantastic way to improve access to sport and access to that elite level of sport in north Wales, whilst making a huge difference to the local economy as well. You can imagine one of those professional teams down here in the south playing a game up north, perhaps against a team from Ireland, and the economic benefit that would bring to north Wales and the exposure that has to our younger people in particular to see that quality level of sport being played.

Minister, I understand you cannot insist on this, but certainly your support for these types of ideas would bring these opportunities much closer. Of course, in north Wales we have a great foundation for a professional rugby team to take place, with the Gogs playing in Colwyn Bay very regularly, and that academy that’s built into there is really good. That could be built on, and so, Minister, I’d urge you to look at that and how you can work with the WRU to see that come to fruition.

These kinds of actions around seeing more clubs play up in the north may seem tokenistic, but they would make a big difference in helping to engage and inspire people and, as I say, boost the economy by seeing more people involved in all aspects of sport. It really can never be underestimated how important sport is to all aspects of our lives. All efforts that are put into making sport even more of a success also ensure north Wales is not left behind.

So, in closing my contribution today, Deputy Presiding Officer, I look forward to hearing other Members’ valuable stories about their interactions with sport, along with their views about ensuring we have opportunity for all in Wales, and especially in the north. I also look forward to the Deputy Minister for Arts and Sport’s response on how we can ensure the future sporting stars of north Wales gain the access and opportunity that they deserve. Diolch yn fawr iawn.