Good luck Wales!

Good luck to our national football team in the match with San Marino tonight.

When our national football and rugby teams win it certainly raises the national spirit. I was at the Wales v England rugby game two weeks ago (to take part in a ceremony to celebrate the EU’s 50th birthday) and the atmosphere was electrifying. The mood leaving the stadium and travelling back home on the train was really happy and friendly.

We might not be doing brilliantly at the moment but we should count ourselves lucky to have national sports teams. Countries like Catalonia and the Basque Country don’t have their own official teams despite having parliaments and more political powers than Wales currently holds.

I think it’s totally unimaginable that the Welsh rugby and football teams would be scrapped in favour of a UK Team.

That’s why I’ve put down an amendment to a report that the European Parliament is discussing today on the future of professional football, which emphasises that ‘member state’ is not always the same as footballing nations and that this should not be challenged.

I hope all Welsh and Scottish MEPs will support me in this so that we can look forward to success in Euro 2008, the Rugby World Cup in September and all future competitions.