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That special entente cordiale |
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Thursday, 17 April 2008 |
Liz Morgan leaves Provence for the land of her fathers to watch Wales’ victory over France
Saturday March 15 was a chilly afternoon; rain bucketing down; all streets leading to mecca, the Millennium Stadium in Cardiff. The town was closed to traffic to allow the thousands of brightly bedecked Welsh and French rugby supporters clutching precious tickets to make their way to the huge stadium’s entrance knowing that today sporting history would be made. The rugby international crowd is good-humoured, non-aggressive and happy but never more so than when France plays Wales.
François Raquin from Paris, on his third visit to Cardiff, said the special relationship between the two countries is ‘bien marquée’, win or lose. “Besides,” said Francois, “the Gallois are such a convivial crowd anyway.” Fellow supporter Yves Ranoud is a Breton and with the common anthem ‘Land of my Fathers’, plus the similarity of language, Yves said he was probably ‘moitié-moitié’ as to which side he’d be shouting for.
David Widdowson, a Welsh lawyer from Saint-Paul-de-Vence, knows rugby from the pitch upwards: “Rugby in France, as in Wales, is a game rooted in ordinary communities, as opposed to England where the game is class-based, and of course it was a Welshman who first brought the game to France.”
The stadium, packed with 76,000 people, must be the only one in the world where hymn sheets are handed out, with the words in Welsh and English.
The choir, brass band and the crowd belted out old favourites in harmony, until finally, with tension mounting, the Marseillaise was followed by the most spine-tingling rendition of ‘Mae hen wlad fy’nhadau’ (‘Land of my fathers’) I have ever been part of. Never has a team been more willed to victory: sporadic bursts of ‘Bread of Heaven’ accompanied clever tactics, dangerous situations and point scoring.
After the match I spoke to rugby player Jean-Claude from La Rochelle, who seemed buoyant despite France’s defeat “because there is always such a welcome in Cardiff for France” and he was looking forward to a long, happy night.
We knew we could win the Grand Slam on
points but better, we pulled off an honourable and well-deserved victory.
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