Dressed to impress - and the game left a lasting mark

Mal Pope is a songwriter who co-produced the film Jack To A King, about the 10-year rise of Swansea City FC

- 

MUST admit, I thought that I might have gone a little over the top with my outfit for the Wales v Italy game at the Swansea.com Stadium on Tuesday. I wanted to be patriotic and also bright enough for the family to be able to see me on the TV from home. Let me say straight away it wasn’t about me just wanting to be on the telly; I’ve been on telly before. The reason I wanted to be easy to spot was I had a very special guest and I wanted everyone at home to be able to find us.

I was going to the match in the company of my 5-year-old granddaughter. I choose a red hat, red glasses and red T-shirt all topped off with a bright yellow raincoat. Over the top? How wrong I was.

I’ve really enjoyed watching the women’s game develop over the past few years and in many ways I enjoy the game more than some of the men’s games with all of their ‘professional’ antics. It was also incredible to see the delight on the faces of so many women and girls when England won the Euro 2022 final. Although my granddaughter was really very young at the time, she was being shown that football was not just for boys.

The relationship between grandparents and grandchildren is very, very special. I always say if I’d known it was going to be so great I'd have ditched the idea of kids and gone straight to becoming a grandparent! I know everyone says it’s because you can give them back at the end of the day when you get tired but there is something much deeper. Maybe it’s because you have more time or more patience, maybe you have more confidence because you've seen it all before. Whatever it is, I'm loving it.