Cardiff City Superstars Wembley Mix

Good riddance Mansfield

Mansfield were relegated from the 3rd Division last night. Thank God for that. Hopefully I'll never have to go to Mansfield again.

There are some places you just take against. I remember going to Mansfield for the first time in 1993, the Saturday after we had been to Liege to watch City in the Cup Winner's Cup. If I remember correctly, a week earlier we had played Millwall away. And then we had to go to bloody Mansfield.

I had the flu. It was an open terrace and it was raining. It was quite the most miserable afternoon anyone could hope for. And then on the way out, and I'll never forget this, their poxy little excuse of a football firm, called The Carrot Crew, cornered me and mocked my clothing. Unbelievable. I had the flu for God's sake, so what if I was wearing my cosy Fruit of the Loom sweatshirt.

Then about a decade later we played Mansfield in an end of the season affair. It was fancy dress I was told, so I dressed up as a woman. Typically I boarded the coach to find everyone else in various shades of grey - not a clown in sight. Oh well. I drunk so much and so quickly at the pre-match pub stop that I was sick against the bus. If I remember correctly there was a bottle of Gold Label involved.

Then when we got to Mansfield I got lost. I wandered round terraced streets in drag, with my Tina Turner wig on. At least there was no Carrot Crew this time. Oh no, this time I ran into Forest's firm ; about 30 of them. There was no choice, I would have to braisen it out. I walked straight through the middle of them, said "Hiya Boys", and winked. To this day I don't know how I got out alive.

Why are our balls so big?

I popped into a City Centre sportshop the other day on the lookout for a football. Just a normal ball for a seven year old lad. You think I could find one?

It wasn't that they didn't have balls, they had loads. they had one that cost £75. (Because it had Euro 2008 stamped on it. Don't UEFA know how to look after their football family?). But they didn't have any footballs for children.

I then nipped into Tesco (full of self-hatred of course). They keep their footballs in with the the children's toys. But every one of them was a full sized, size 5 football. What's the problem you might ask? A football's a football isn't it?

Well no it isn't. Under 8 players should be using a size 3 football. This is for a couple of good reasons. The first is a health and safety issue. Young players just don't have muscles developed well enough to be able to cope with prolonged use of a full sized ball. My own son regularly gets size 5 balls as gifts from well meaning parents and relatives. And it seems churlish not to let him play with it. At least it did until he had that sleepless night in pain after 4 hours of shooting practice with his mate.

The other reason is that a smaller ball is simply better for their technical development. It's a little harder to control, and the sweet spot is a little smaller. But the action they use to kick a size 3 ball replicates the action an adult will use with a full size ball. If you ask a little player to kick on over-sized ball, all their effort goes into just making it move.

THe Brazilians develop their skills through a game called futebol de salao. Generations of Brazilian footballers grew up playing a game with a size 2 ball. And they're not bad are they?

But the message doesn't seem to have reached all of our own coaches. there is still some sort of ridiculous macho kudos attached to playing with a bigger ball. I played an Under 8's game recently against a team run by a well qualified Academy coach. I was surprised to see his team use a Size 4 ball. When I brought this up he scoffed; "Oh, we breed big lads in Abercwmscwff." I saw an Under 9's game last weekend when the home team insisted on a size 5 ball. The 7 year old goalkeeper could hardly clear his box, but the home team's giant centre forward scored five goals.

I feel strongly enough about this that I think there should be some sort of control over ball sales. Why on earth are Tesco allowed to sell only size 5 balls? I'm sure the vast majority of their football sales are intended for use by children. Why is there no information given to parents at point of sales?

Here's the important information.

Size 3
Size 3 balls are the smallest balls and are generally used for children under the age of 8
These balls are generally 23-24 inches in circumference and weigh between 11-12 ounces

Size 4
Size 4 balls are used for players between the ages of 8-12
Size 4 balls weigh between 12-13 ounces and have a circumference of 25-26 inches

Size 5
This is the international standard match ball for all ages 13 and older, including all adult play
The size 5 ball weighs between 14-16 ounces with a circumference of 27-28 inches

Caernarfon Wanderers 1-3 Y Felinheli

Caernarfon Wanderers v Y Felinheli
Originally uploaded by Phil Stead

After an unfulfilling season, Felin managed to reach a Cup Final this afternoon when they beat the newly formed Caernarfon Wanderers
3-1 on a windy and exposed Cae Top.

Felin were up against it from early on when they lost two influential players, Jason Bayliss and Danny Hughes to injury within the first ten minutes. After a competitive first half livened up by the usual antics of our player-manager Chris Hughes the teams went in at 0-0 which was a fair score at the time.

Felin took the lead through Chris Hughes after about an hour and never really seemed in danger of losing the game. I was just thinking how comfortable we were when Wanderers equalised.

With twenty minutes left our energy levels dropped alarmingly, and then when our keepr Marc Wyn was carried off injured, the momentum seemed to swing to the home side. Chris Hughes took over in goal.

It looked like the only we would score a goal would be through a defensive mistake and so it proved. With five minutes left, a long Chris Hughes kickout was fumbled by his opposition goalkeeper and Carwyn Dafydd finished well.

A minute later, Carwyn squared for Archie to finish things off and we were in the Final. I'm not sure which Cup, against which team, where or when, but I know it's a Final and that's something to celebrate.

During the game we had used six players from last season's Under 17s team which is something that we can all be proud of.

Cardiff to represent England

Well, well, well. In the news today:

An FA statement said:

The board has given full approval for Cardiff City to participate in next season’s Uefa Cup as one of England’s representatives, should they win this season’s FA Cup. It was also decided that the Welsh national anthem would also be played ahead of the game.”

This is a turnaround that has surprised me greatly. Firstly the news that Cardiff will represent the English FA. This has enormous implications.

By following this route to Europe, Cardiff have effectively ruled out any return to European Competition via the Welsh Cup. Instead of using this opportunity to leverage their claim for UEFA Cup football via participation in the Welsh Cup, they have gone down the English route.

Now that's bad planning by any measure. It could well be another 80 years before they get this close to Europe in the English system, but Welsh Cup victories would probably come along ever other year. So instead of potentially playing European football regularly over the next decade, they will probably have just this one shot. Amazingly short-sighted.

On the other hand, has the FA's decision guaranteed the club's future in the English system? It looks like it. It seems that UEFA and the FA are officially recognising Cardiff's unique position as a Welsh club within the English system. There will be no imminent threat of political manouvering and Cardiff won't be forced to play under the Welsh FA's pyramid. Now that's good news for the club. It also means that any concerns about claiming future promotion to the English premiership have gone.

I am astounded that the Welsh anthem will be played. That is a magnificent coup for Wales. Wales' status as an independent nation is being recognised on the World stage. Even though we have no political independence the FA are tipping their hat to our cultural claims. I can't think of any precedent for that. Teams from the Basque Country, Brittany and Catalunya will be preparing requests for their own anthems at Cup Finals across Europe. It's that big.

Of course pragmatically, the FA are just trying to keep the peace. They will remember the serious crowd trouble that occured after God Save the Queen was played at Wembley before the Swansea v Northampton play-off in 1997. The thinking will be that if we get the Welsh National Anthem, then we will be less inclined to boo God Save the Queen, thus avoiding an awkward and potentially explosive situation. It will certainly help, though I think the FA may be over-estimating the evaluating skills of the average meathead.

Either way, we will get to sing Mae Hen Wlad fy Nhadau at Wembley. Let's all learn the words, through off our scowls and posturing and self-consciousness, and let's bloody outsing the English. Pleease try to sing a bit more than the "Gwlad, gwlad" in the middle. And for God sake, don't let Tom Jones anywhere near it.