Wales’ Brush With The UEFA European Championship

The fact that Wales haven’t qualified for a major football tournament since the 1958 World Cup in Sweden doesn’t mean that they haven’t produced some good teams in the decades since.

In 1976, Wales reached the quarter-finals of the European Championship, but only four teams would play in the actual finals held in Yugoslavia. Wales had also progressed further in ’76 than the other Home Nations, and their side included the likes of John Toshack and Leighton James. Mike Smith was manager of Wales then, with Terry Yorath (father of TV presenter Gabby Logan) the captain of the Dragons.

Having to get past Yugoslavia (who even had to qualify to be present at the tournament they were hosts of), Wales got off to a disastrous start in the first leg of their two legged quarter- final. In Zagreb, the Welsh were a goal down before a minute of the game had been played. Yugoslavia eventually won 2-0 to leave the Welsh with a mountain to climb in the second leg in Cardiff.

Leighton James, when remembering the Cardiff leg, said that the East German referee had awarded Yugoslavia “an awful penalty”, and, though Wales pulled it back to 1-1, they had too much to do to qualify. James recalled that Wales should have won the game, and had “played very well” on the night.

However, one famous Welshman did play a big role at the 1976 European Championship finals – legendary Welsh referee Clive Thomas. Thomas caused controversy in the 1976 semi-final, when the sublime Dutch side were beaten by eventual winners Czechoslovakia after extra-time. Frustrated by a sodden pitch, which negated the total football of the Dutch, Thomas sent off two Dutch players and one Czech player. So, it can be argued, it was a Welshman who played a decisive part in Czechoslovakia winning the tournament.

Wales have produced some outstanding players since 1976, including Gareth Bale, Ryan Giggs, Ian Rush, Mark Hughes and Neville Southall, but none have got as close to playing in the finals of a major tournament as the ’76 Welsh team.

Hopefully 2015 will be another year to remember.