RUGBY IN WALES

 One of the activities we did during our stay in Cardiff was visiting a Rugby Pitch.

 

Rugby is not just a sport in Wales, it is also part of Welsh culture. Just walking through the Cardiff streets, you can realise that rugby is a way of living. The Millennium Stadium, known since 2016 as the Principality Stadium for sponsorship reasons, is the national stadium of Wales. Located in Cardiff, it is the home of the Wales national rugby union team and has also held Wales national football team matches.

 

Rugby was created in the mid-19th century at British universities. It is said to have originated at Rugby School in Warwickshire, England, in 1823 when during a game of football, William Webb Ellis decided to pick up a ball and go with it. However, a historian claims he has proof that Rugby was first played in Wales - and had nothing to do with William Webb Ellis or the town that gave the game its name. Dr Russell Rhys, from near Newport in South Wales, is trying to rewrite the history books.

 

Nowadays there are several variations of this sport, the best known is the compound by 15, 13 or 7 players but there are others like beach, touch, wheelchair, or underwater rugby.

Rugby helped create Welsh nationhood. When the game took hold in the last years of the 19th century and thrived in the first years of the 20th, Wales embraced this relatively new sport because it gave a small nation the chance to be on top of the world.

Wales has a successful national team that is currently ranked 4th in the world according to the world rugby ranking. These successes from the team have made the sport popular in the country. The people in Wales also love playing the game and currently, there are 79,800 registered rugby players, something really amazing in a 3 million people country.

 

The nickname of the national team is Wales Dragons. Many rugby teams from around the world have another name by which they are more well known. These are not always official names, and some national teams have more than one nickname.

If you travel to Wales, do not lose the opportunity to visit the Millennium Stadium to watch the Dragons. You will remember that atmosphere forever.