English comedian is ‘jealous’ of coverage of Wales’ Euro 2020 matches
An English comedian has said he is “jealous” of the coverage of Wales’ Euro 2020 matches.
George Lewis praised the “tone” of ITV’s broadcast of Wales v Italy, which he claimed was “full of smiles and overachievement”.
The football columnist and presenter of the Radio X show BritPopCast compared a trip down memory lane with Wales’ 20216 campaign, to Scottish and English montages, which are “made up of failure and heartache”.
In a column for The Times, he wrote: “The mainly Welsh cast took us on a trip down memory lane with Hal Robson-Kanu talking us through his amazing goal against Belgium and Joe Ledley finally revealing why he danced in the way he did on the pitch in 2016 (that’s how he always dances).
“It’s hard not to feel a little envious of the way the Welsh enjoy these major tournaments. I’m also jealous of the tone their coverage has.
“The Scottish and English montages are made up of failure and heartache, whereas the Welsh ones are full of smiles and overachievement.
“The players all seem lovely and we are presented with a completely different Gareth Bale to the one we are shown during the domestic season.”
‘Golf-loving’
He added: “This isn’t the overpaid, difficult, golf-loving character we’re told he is from August to May. He’s actually one of the most humble, happy-go-lucky footballers around.
“This was reinforced with footage of one of his ex-teachers — who looks like he hasn’t cried in 40 years — welling up with pride.
“Bale’s missed penalty against Turkey was spoken about, but it was done with apologetic embarrassment by the star himself, his team-mates were laughing about it and it was set to optimistic music.
“I can’t help think that if the equivalent had happened with England, there would be calls for the player to be dropped, the manager to be sacked, and the film would be set to Hurt by Johnny Cash.”
Support our Nation today
For the price of a cup of coffee a month you can help us create an independent, not-for-profit, national news service for the people of Wales, by the people of Wales.
Am I the only one getting a bit fed up with NC’s ‘click bait’ type headlines? I was expecting a miserable dig at the Welsh media being too jingoistic etc.. Instead, the ‘jealous English comedian’ sounds like he was full of praise for the coverage Wales were getting and was, if anything, being critical of the less pleasant way England and Scotland games were being presented. Please stop using deliberately negative headlines when an easy positive one, such as, ‘English comedian praises Wales team coverage’, exists. I know the tradition is to prove one’s Welsh credentials by dissing anything English… Read more »
More lies from you, Huw… The Irish are far more ready to lend sugar. We’ll get a tea bag or two from the English. It will be the least they can do, given how often they’ve had a lend of our water 😉
I was thinking the same before I read the story. NC is a great resource, but, it seem to me anyway, has focused more recently on stories (or at least headlines) highlighting grievance and victimhood rather than emphasing Wales’ positives
Exactly right. Whether people like the English or not, they’ll always be just over the border from Wales. If Wales stays in a union or becomes independent, it’ll always make sense to get on well with its neighbours so there’s not much point being needlessly antagonistic.
Are you sure that in this case it’s not just your perception? I read the headline and immediately thought an English comedian was applying a comical twist to giving praise.
That’s not to deny that you are correct about other headlines (the 50 000 Welsh Scots come to mind…) but news services are bound to play to their majority readership and given the slant of most comments here there’s only one outcome.
Some fragile sensibilities here. I didn’t get that from the headline at all. And this whole “dis the English” thing seems to be a figment of certain imaginations I reckon.
No fan of the Leave Party government antics on NC that’s for sure. But anti-English? not seeing it. Sometimes certain behaviours from some English are challenged (EG inflating the prices of our housing stock; complaining about Welsh people speaking Welsh etc). But not anti English. That would be stupid.
Correct. This isn’t an anti-English headline or article at all. The headline, however, should hae said “envious”, not “jealous” to be more factually correct.