Kicking the ball into the long grass

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Why did they call a politician a ‘lying cunt’ and then deny it despite the evidence?

Angry Welsh football fans have received no substantive response from the game’s governing body in Wales about extremist Welsh nationalist groups ‘tagging on’ to the Wales national football team on social media”, and a controversial supporters’ brass band which denied calling a politician a “lying cunt” even though we have found the evidence, The Eye can reveal.

Now a former director of one club in Wales has called on the man in charge to resign.

The complaint had to be discussed with FAW head Jonathan Ford but there was no reply

On May 27 last year the fan followed up his earlier demand for action from the Football Association of Wales (FAW) by telling them: “I have continued to experience harassment from certain groups… Can you please respond to the concerns?”.

In documents we have seen, a reply from the FAW was simply:  “I have not discussed fully with (Chief Executive) Jonathan Ford. When I returned from holiday he went away on his…I have followed up on the issues raised but need to talk to Jonathan first.”
EIGHT directors contracts terminated on ONE day?!

After such a long delay without a full reply, the former director of the Welsh football club has now told The Eye“In my opinion the head of the FAW needs to resign over this”.

The accounts of the FAW also make for interesting reading.
On July 31 last year EIGHT directors had their contracts terminated on the SAME day.
‘Definitely not English’

Yet this is not the first time that Mr Ford or his organisation have hit the headlines.

In December 2017 it was reported that the FAW would not take action against him for saying that the Wales football manager could be “foreign”, but “definitely not English”.

In a BBC Sport Wales interview Mr Ford had said: “We have always favoured Welsh people because arguably the passion is there.

The Barry horns say they didn’t use the ‘C’ bomb

“Somebody said this earlier, Welsh most definitely, foreign possibly but definitely not English.”

Apart from telling Nigel Farage on Twitter that he was a “lying cunt”, the Welsh football team supporters’ brass band The Barry Horns also proclaimed about Brexiteers on Twitter “fuck you”and declared about a UK cabinet minister “Go fuck yourself you Tory bastard“.

In December last year the angry football fan also outlined to the FAW a series of problematic issues: “The Barry Horns have had their official Twitter account shut down for foul and abusive behaviour, and repeated violations of Twitter’s terms and conditions. They then set up another account, which was shut down within a week.

  • A group calling itself ‘Welsh Football Fans for Independence’ held a march from Womanby St to the Cardiff City Stadium before the last home game. They were setting off flares and singing foul-mouthed chants about the Union Flag (Union Jack).
  • Large stickers have appeared on lamp posts, post boxes etc around South Wales (and possibly North Wales) from ‘Welsh Football Fans for Independence’. The stickers contain the FAW emblem (albeit the old one).
  • The FAW’s stadium announcer, Rhydian Bowen Phillips, has publicly called for the reinstatement of The Barry Horns on Twitter and has endorsed Welsh Football Fans for Independence.
  • There were banners endorsing Welsh independence at the stadium during the most recent Wales home international.”
The Barry Horns have support (and detractors) but the FAW didn’t want to talk about it

But the FAW have been at the centre of a storm of controversies before. Past issues have included further accusations that officials have failed to do anything about extremist ‘supporter’ groups and The Barry Horns.

Another outraged fan has also asked in the past: I would like to know what the FAW position is on the Barry Horns who having affiliated themselves to South Wales football now appear to have adopted an aggressive political agenda.

Jeremy Hunt – a Tory ‘bastard’?

“Some of their language on Twitter is worse than I have ever endured on football terraces. Is this the sort of agenda the FAW condone?”, and action was demanded from the FAW. Neither, though, have received a reply. The ‘Tory bastard’ comment was hurled by The Barry Horns on Twitter at the then UK Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt.

The band were barred from the social media outlet following remarks like this, and after the ban was lifted said that they were “beautiful”, yet serious questions have been raised about this contentious decision.

The former leader of Plaid Cymru (PC) Leanne Wood spoke out against the restriction at the time, saying on Twitter:  “… you ban the Barry Horns? For defending the NHS?”, this was then re-tweeted by PC MP Jonathan Edwards. 

Leanne Wood liked The Barry Horns

They clearly support their party because before the Twitter ban, they exhorted followers to “Join @Plaid Cymru”.

The Barry Horns are an eleven-piece brass band, created in 2011 by BBC Wales promos director ‘Fez’ Watkins.

Their first public appearance was outside the Wales v England World Cup qualifying match in Cardiff on 26 March 2011.  They also appeared at the Welsh Cup Final in the same year, which was broadcast on television.

In March 2017, they were banned, too, from the Republic of Ireland Wales World Cup 2018 qualifying match in Dublin. In September of the same year, they gave a headline performance at the first Welsh Independence music festival in association with Yes Cymru, held at Clwb Ifor Bach in Cardiff.

Suitable for all ages?

That month The Barry Horns also gave football fans from North Wales a surprise welcome to Cardiff with a performance at Cardiff Central Station ahead of Wales’ match against Austria at the Cardiff City Stadium. At the time they declared: “The Horns couldn’t wait to greet the train upon its arrival to Caerdydd. Next stop – 3 points!”.

The Barry Horns ‘couldn’t wait’ to greet football fans at Cardiff Central Railway Station

Arriva Trains Wales stated:  “The atmosphere on board was amazing with everyone in great spirits all the way down and for The Barry Horns to be welcoming the train and fans into Cardiff was the icing on the cake”.

A Welsh TV company said:  The Barry Horns know how to get a party started, even on a station platform”.

The BBC – ‘amazing’

The controversial broadcaster BBC CW has also found itself brought into the growing row.

BBC Radio Cymru (BBC RC) and the BBC National Orchestra of Wales (BBC NOW) were due to stage the ‘Red Wall’ with The Barry Horns at Pontio in Bangor, although the venue was closed due to coronavirus/Covid-19.

The event was to mark “the amazing journey supporting our national football team through Euro 2020”, with the controversial band as ‘guest’ performers, and officials claimed it was “Suitable for all ages”.

Saoradh like marching and the violence of some Wrexham football fans

Football in Wales has long been contentious, and recently the North Wales town of Wrexham has been at the centre of an extraordinary row. The FAW were founded in Wrexham, and earlier The Eye exclusively revealed how the violence of some supporters of Wrexham AFC in Manchester, was celebrated by a dissident republican group linked to a militant organisation allegedly behind the killing of a journalist.

An alarming post on Twitter from ‘Saroadh PR’ said that some fans of the Welsh football club “beat the absolute shit out of Tomy (sic) Robinson (former English Defence League [EDL] leader) far right fascists” and backed the message with a picture of men in balaclavas holding guns aloft. The tweet outlined a series of mundane actions which included waking up early and taking a train to Manchester before the violence.

‘All in a days’s work for the Welsh lads’

It then proclaimed:  “All in a days work for the Welsh lads” – 197 accounts retweeted the message and more than 1,200 accounts liked it.

Saoradh, liberation in Irish, is a grouping which has the support of dissident republican organisation the New IRA, which was blamed for shooting journalist Lyra McKee.

Our journalists on The Eye have been alone in bringing out controversies like these.

You will only find them reported here…

 

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Soon – disturbing revelations about a controversial outspoken sports TV reporter in Wales who has been urged on Twitter to ‘stop moaning’. 

Our Editor Phil Parry’s memories of his extraordinary 36-year award-winning career in journalism as he was gripped by the incurable neurological disabling condition Hereditary Spastic Paraplegia (HSP), have been released in a major book ‘A GOOD STORY’. Order the book now!