As the one-and-only Gareth Bale nears 100 caps, Dai takes a look at some amazing memories.
It’s easy to look through a modern lens and think that Gareth Bale is the best Welsh footballer of all time. I never saw John Charles or Ivor Allchurch play so can’t compare. Ian Rush was just before my time, although I saw glimpses of him. Giggs never quite produced for Cymru, despite being an outstanding footballer for his club.
Embed from Getty ImagesThen you look at it, arguing with yourself, and think well actually, is it right that he’s put on that particular pedestal? Especially when compared with other greats from our continent of a country, in Chris Coleman’s words. Only one male player has more caps than him. No male player has more goals than him. No Welsh player has won as many European trophies as him. He scored seven goals in ten games in the Euro 2016 campaign. With one exception (Cyprus at home), every time he scored we won a game. That’s frankly staggering. So yeah, he does deserve that place. And here’s ten more reasons why.
- Where it all began. Bale’s debut goal in front of around 28,000 people. It felt like much less. An awful haircut (Paul Jones. Not Bale) and awful performance saw Wales soundly beaten. But there was one glimmer of hope, and yet we had no idea of what was to come. A gangly teenager equalising from left back with a great freekick. Wales would go on to get destroyed 5-1 but his goalscoring odyssey would begin in the Millennium Stadium, where we would have to endure many more moments of misery in the coming 10 years, before the ecstasy he provided in 2016.
- The night the Gary Speed era sprung into life. A 2-0 win over the Swiss in Swansea. Perhaps not the best of goals, but after a lovely little ball from Steve Morison, Bale rushes clear and scores to seal a crucial victory. This was in an era where we did have some players who would be great for Wales, and those players started to shine in this time. He was still surrounded by some “iffy” teammates though, which likely (in part) explains why he had a three-year spell with no goals in Welsh red preceding these two games against the Swiss.
- Bale scores what I think the kids describe as “worldy” against Scotland. Possibly a result that kept the public swell of opinion with Chris Coleman after a shocking start to the 2014 campaign which involved the 6-1 hammering by Serbia. Bale scored the one goal there too, by the way. Picking up the ball and driving past Charlie Adam in the pouring rain in Cardiff before unleashing a shot I don’t think I’ve seen anything similar to. The ball swerved and fizzed into the back of the Scottish net, before Bale slid into the corner flag. Drowned by rain and his teammates, all wearing the very underrated Umbro kit with the yellow stripe on it. A win for Wales. A win for Coleman. And the start of something special for Wales.
- Yes, it was a friendly. Yes, the stadium was far from full. Yes, it was against Iceland (who weren’t the Iceland of a few years later) and yes it didn’t matter as much as the identikit goal he scored in the Copa Del Rey final. But for those of us who were there, it was magical. In yet another underrated kit (white Adidas with red stripes) Bale picks up the ball in his own half, squares up an Iceland defender who had no idea what was to come, and frankly, destroys him. Bale runs around the linesman as well as the defender (likely to stop him being fouled!) before cutting inside onto that peach of a left foot of his, and then rifling a rocket of a shot into the bottom corner, across the keeper. It’s 3-1 and we are the best team on the planet. Probably.
- Bale’s 13th, 14th, 15th and 16th goals for Wales were amongst his most important. They underlined his supreme ability and told us just how good he was at that time. When the chips were down, sometimes appeared to be no chips at all, or when he went all in, Bale did what Bale does best. Impose himself and drag us all kicking and screaming to the highest of highs. An equaliser in Andorra with a delightful header (he was and is very good in the air) against a keeper who always looked like an under 12’s kid in big goals for the first time in my eyes.
His 14th a do over freekick after an encroaching wall impeded his first shot, and he didn’t make the same mistake second time around. Scenes in Andorra as fans fall on a pitch covered in more rubber than a David Gold warehouse. Make no mistake, if that doesn’t go in, the summer of our lives doesn’t happen in 2016. The second and third goals in Israel were just as vital as they were impressive. Another whipped freekick and a lovely finish having arrived late in the box, set Wales up for a memorable win in Haifa.
Embed from Getty ImagesYet he saved his calmness and control for when we were all losing our minds. The night we all believed. The night of THAT mid match anthem. The night Gareth Bale became everything and more. Courtois had no chance and Wales were singing in the summer rain as Cymru held on for an unexpected and stunning victory all while Gareth celebrated his 50th cap. Was this it? Only a few more hurdles to overcome it seemed…
Embed from Getty Images- The Wales fans were extending the summer. It was swelteringly hot. The pitch was bone dry, but it was looking increasingly like the Wales of old had returned. Labouring to a frustrating draw to a stubborn Cypriot side, aided by the referee who’d disallowed a goal – I’m still not entirely sure why. Jazz Richards hangs up a cross and from nowhere, a levitating ponytail arrived and plundered the ball into the back of the home net before beginning riotous celebrations on and off the pitch. The away fans, at the opposite end of the ground to the goal went wild, whilst our hero ran to the away bench and celebrated as a squad. The thing is, it’s never about Bale. It’s about the team. The fans. The dragon on his chest. A vitally important and hard-working win for Wales put Cymru on the brink of qualification. Sat in my classroom, alone, thousands of miles from home in Boston I screamed and cried. I think this may actually be happening.
- Almost a year to the day after Bale started our journey proper, with his goal against Belgium, he started the party in France. It had to be him though, didn’t it? Jonny Williams gets fouled and you know who stands over the ball. The keeper is fooled, and the ball sails over the wall and into the back of the Slovakian net. It’s 1-0 Wales, in Bordeaux and the summer of our lives is getting started. Hal Robson Kanu seals a famous win and it’s happened. We’ve won our first game at the euros; we’ve scored; we’ve celebrated. All over the world, we’ve got really drunk. It’s amazing. And it just had to be him starting it all.
- The Monkey King as he’s dubbed by the adoring Chinese fans (a cartoon likeness I’m told…) strides into the Guangxi Sports Centre with history at his feet. And as always, Bale delivers. A sublime hat trick sees the Whitchurch man become Wales’ all-time leading goal scorer, surpassing Ian Rush. A 6-0 win sets up Wales for a date with Uruguay in the final of the China Cup. It’s just a shame it wasn’t in Cardiff. Unless you were one of those who went. In which case I bet you were buzzing.
- We hate Ireland in a footballing sense really. They pooped our party in the race to qualify for Russia 2018 and did so in a way which earned Joe Allen a concussion. Bastards. Anyway, we exacted revenge with a performance so good, we’ve not really reached those same heights since. The nadir of the Ryan Giggs reign in a football sense and the dawning of yet another new era. Funny how Bale has played his part in a few of them, eh. We scored some superb goals and none better than Bale’s. A raking cross field ball from Ben Davies, chested down on the run by Bale, before cutting inside to unleash a pearler of a curling strike. The goal was stunning. The cupped ear celebration to the Irish away fans was delicious.
- The road to Euro 2020 was a rocky one. Questions about Bale’s form were widespread but a crucial header against Azerbaijan kept the campaign on track. The goal which sent Wales fans into delirium though was scored against Croatia. Fresh from a World Cup final and 1-0 up, Bale and Ben Davies (again) were determined to not let the Croats get in the way of a Welsh party across the continent. If only we knew what was to come. Anyway. A great ball, a superb first touch and a drilled precise finish saw Wales draw 1-1 and keep us afloat as we tried to get to successive tournaments. And whilst I’m on Euro 2021 (eye roll emoji), who could forget the assists for Ramsey and Roberts against Turkey.
There will be things I’ve missed, remembered wrongly and things I couldn’t squeeze in. But that’s what happens if you try and break the greatest player this country has even seen down into ten moments. I probably could have done 100 and still missed moments of magic.
Chris Coleman’s most famous line was about not being afraid to have dreams. The thing about dreams is, you have to wake up. With Bale on song, the dreams keep continuing and the waking hours are often better than you dreamt they ever could be. Whatever your favourite Bale moment, or moments, and whatever happens in the future, we haven’t just dreamed. We’ve lived those dreams. Those dreams have come true. And that’s due in no small part to Wales’ own Divine Ponytail. Diolch Gareth, for everything. And here’s to more dreams being realised.
Gareth Bale. Y ponytail dwyfol.
Feature image: still from press conference Nov 12 2021, courtesy of FA Wales.