Ok, I'm thinking about making the Wales v Finland match part of my vacation in March. First of all, how easy/tough will it be for me to acquire some tickets? Second, how easy is it to get from London to Cardiff by train, especially on a Saturday? Third, would the match have a good atmosphere? Would it be worth making the trek from London to go to? I've been to a Scotland match before and was blown away by the Tartan Army, could I expect the same from the Welsh support? Thanks for any advise!
Sorry, just noticed this! London Paddington to Cardiff Central is a direct train journey taking about three and a half hours. The Millennium Stadium is a couple of hundred yards from the station. You're certain of tickets as the stadium will only be half-full, meaning the atmosphere will also be poor, unfortunately.
Thanks for the reply. That's goods news about the train from Paddington because I usually stay close to there. I did just notice that Wales also have a home match the following Wednesday against Germany. Am I right to assume that a ticket to that match will be tougher to acquire? Thanks again
Nah, should be okay for tickets. It's worth bearing in mind that the Millennium Stadium can hold one in every forty of Wales' population. And our team is perennially terrible. Bear in mind if you do visit, though, that, virtually everyone in the stadium will be using the same train station, so either leave the game a few minutes towards the end or queue for half an hour with thousands.
Basically what Bluebirds Boyo said. Direct trains to Cardiff from London run all day, every hour I think. Tickets will be no problem whatsoever, you could pick some up on the day but that would probably involve queuing for them which could take a while. Best to order in advance if you can. If you've never been to Cardiff before then it's definitely worth a look around, plenty to see including the castle, and bay and probably your last chance to visit Ninian Park. If you were still around by the 4th April I'd suggest trying to take in our last * visit there, but getting a ticket for that will be near impossible. The atmosphere can be very good if the stadium is full, however it will be nowhere near capacity for either game, and therefore will be bobbins. The German fans are usually pretty decent though. We could definitely beat Finland at home, although it really depends on us having key players fit, while Germany will probably beat us, despite two very good rearguard displays against them away from home in the last year. * We could still meet in a playoff semi-final, which isn't looking that unlikely with the way both teams are playing at the moment.
I'm sorry if I sound a bit naive, but why don't Wales fill the seats for national team games? Is rugby the dominant sport, or are people simply just not that interested in the national team? You guys have a lot of good players, what gives?
72,500 seater stadium and around 3 million people in the country. Our attendances aren't that bad compared to other countries of similar size.
Big stadium, small country. When it's full, the Millennium Stadium would qualify as the third or fourth most-populous town in the country! Oh, and to correct some of the rail information, from London Paddington it's 2 hours 3 - 5 minutes to Cardiff Central, and there are trains every half hour for most of the day.