Welsh Premier's Xmas sparkle

By Oliver Hides
Welsh Premier columnist

As it's a traditionally charitable time of year I'm going to say something that I haven't said in this column before.

Well done to all at the FAW.

For once the Welsh Premier has set an example to the rest of football in Britain

For once the fixture list makes perfect sense as Boxing Day features a bumper boys compendium of local derbies.

Boxing Day could have been made for football, who can forget the smell of cigar smoke and new gloves, and with the addition of local rivalry it's the one day that many casual supporters get to a Welsh Premier match.

Unfortunately the fixture list hasn't always made this possible.

Remember the fiasco of three years ago when the millennium bug hit the Football Association of Wales computer 12 months late and sent Aberystwyth away to Connah's Quay and Cwmbran to Carmarthen?

I remember two years ago watching Aberystwyth against Haverfordwest (incidentally the worst game of football I have ever seen) while Rhayader played the Druids.

This year, though, the fixtures are spot on.

As usual there's Caernarfon against Bangor and Caersws against Newtown, while the steel-town derby makes another St Stephen's Day appearance as Afan Lido face Port Talbot.

Things could be interesting at Richmond Park where any fuzzy heads could see a memory lapse from half the Haverfordwest team and send them into the Carmarthen dressing room.

TNS face a huge clash with Aberystwyth

There are others, too, which while not quite derbies make perfect geographical sense.

Rhyl against Porthmadog isn't too bad, and the Druids visit to Connah's Quay won't mean a dawn start.

And then there's a game which would attract a big crowd no matter when it was played, but by putting Aberystwyth against TNS on Boxing Day a four-figure gate is almost guaranteed.

The Boxing Day fixture list is a belter, exactly what the league needs to attract the casual football fans.

Forget the Premiership and the Nationwide League trips for just one day, after all since when did Arsenal against Wolves count as a Boxing Day classic, or Leeds against Villa, or Leicester against Newcastle?

Why did Southampton play Portsmouth last week? What on earth are Swansea City doing going to Torquay, or Cardiff at home to Walsall?

For once the Welsh Premier has set an example to the rest of football in Britain.

Getting to a game in Wales on Boxing Day couldn't be easier or more attractive, so give the Wizard of Oz a miss (it's all a dream by the way), grab your friend/neighbour/uncle/sister who usually spend their Saturdays on eight-hour coach journeys to the corporate sterility of the Premiership and take them to a real game of football.

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