Ar y Marc

"Ar y Marc" is a Welsh language football programme which is broadcast on Radio Cymru at the unearthly time of 8am on Saturday mornings.

The presenters are pictured, left to right: Dylan Llewelyn, Dylan Jones and Gary Pritchard (who writes Blogdroed).


This morning, my youngest son charged over to the Ar Y Marc World Cup Wallchart, which remains stubbornly glued to my kitchen wall. He pointed at Dylan Llewelyn and shouted repeatedly, "Daddy, Daddy, Daddy".

I had wondered. There is not a trace of ginger hair on his body. He has a sly look about him, and he is generally unintelligible. Now I know the truth. It should have been obvious all along.

I first met Dylan Llewelyn in supernatural circumstances. I had read his pieces in the legendary "Five to Three" fanzine, and I was writing at the time for "Intifada", a Cardiff City 'zine. I made my first ever visit to North Wales, aged 20 and after a session in the Globe I walked into a chip shop in Upper Bangor.

There was a lad in the queue wearing an FAW pinbadge. For some reason, I was compelled to enquire "Are you Dylan Llewelyn?". He was that man.

Dylan has written some books, including "Awe", about the people who follow Wales away. It has a photgraph of me in it, taken after the famous leek march through Nuremburg before the 1991 debacle. But that's another story.

"Ar y Marc" is well worth a listen. It is the only show in the World that even acknowledges the existence of the Welsh Premier. And I have just discovered that it is available online at
http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio/aod/networks/cymru/aod.shtml?cymru/ar_y_marc. The next step is hopefully a podcast of the show.