Mind your language!

It was with great sadness that I learned Sky Sports will be scrapping its Welsh language option for international football matches. I have become accustomed to watching the national team in the national language (the Dragon has two tongues of course). 

 

Can you imagine French football fans having to watch games in German? How about Germany fans having to watch their national team Polish? Or even worse, English fans having to watch their team in German or God Forbid – Romanian! (UKIP wouldn't be happy)

The broadcaster said it was scrapping the “red button” option in order to show other internationals as only around 1,000 viewers use the service.

 

The FAW has called the decision “disappointing.” 

He went on to say “When we were negotiating with Sky we made the Welsh language service a requirement but that clearly has not been discussed between Uefa and Sky"

Ian Gwyn Hughes from the FAW added “It’s disappointing because the FAW have a strong bilingual policy and we know that many of our supporters are Welsh speakers."

The numbers watching football in Welsh have been disappointing, that is a fact. Why is that the case? How many Welsh football fans have Sky Sports to begin with? Equally I normally watch Wales’ matches in ‘Welsh’ pubs and the feed is often or indeed solely in English. It’s like the rugby analogy – use it or lose it. 

The same is true regarding those who opt for Welsh while at a cash machine or at a self-service till (although not all of these are available in Welsh). 

Using the ‘red button’ the reality was that the picture was worse. You often had to wait for the page to load, the quality was not the same.

Let’s look at some facts – BSkyB makes an annual profit of over £1 billion! I believe that Welsh speakers have a right to watch Wales in the Welsh tongue. What else do Sky produce that is relevant to Wales only? 

Yet Sky has enough to spend vast amounts of money on American soaps and endless programmes with the ‘comedian’ James Corden. It only proves what many of us feared would happen at some stage.

I understand that Cymdeithas yr Iaith will appeal Sky’s terrible decision – I wish them the very best in this endeavour – pob lwc i chi!

For the record here is Sky’s response.

A spokesman for Sky Sports said: "We always endeavour to be able to provide additional services where possible, but we have to make choices dependent on where the greatest customer demand is.  With huge pressure on our production and technical capacities from offering up to nine live international fixtures a night, we are not currently in a position to offer an additional commentary service.”

In 2014, it is right that I cannot watch Wales in Welsh? You be the judge.

Classified result, Wales 0-1 Profit  (goal scorer, Cappi Talisst 90mins)