Complaints over England branded World Cup displays in Wales
Panini, the company renowned for their football sticker collections, have received complaints after England branded displays for their World Cup trading cards were spotted around Wales.
The displays for the Panini Adrenalyn XL FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022 official card collection were spotted in Sainsbury’s in Penarth and Bridgend, Morrisons in Wrexham and Asda in Cardiff.
With Wales at their first World Cup since 1958 and are in the same group as England in Qatar, Welsh fans are wondering why there aren’t any Wales branded World Cup displays in stores around the country.
Several fans took to social media to complain.
Twitter user @bellisjones wrote: ‘Hey @Morrisons I’m in Wrexham which is in Wales, where is the one supporting the Wales team?’
Meanwhile, @EEnderinWales added: ‘So @OfficialPanini this football stand of yours is taken from Sainsburys Penarth in South Wales. Declan Rice should be replaced by a Welsh footballer given that not only are Wales in the World Cup as well but they’re in SAME GROUP AS ENGLAND’
Another Twitter user @Puzzle7 said: ‘Firstly Penarth, now Wrecsam, why is this happening in Welsh supermarkets? For a change, we really are being anti-English this time because they’re our bloody rivals in our World Cup group!’
So @OfficialPanini this football stand of yours is taken from Sainsburys Penarth in South Wales. Declan Rice should be replaced by a Welsh footballer given that not only are Wales in the World Cup as well but they're in SAME GROUP AS ENGLAND pic.twitter.com/WXyVxPTqZs
— EastEnder in Wales (@EEnderinWales) August 8, 2022
Firstly Penarth, now Wrecsam, why is this happening in Welsh supermarkets? For a change, we really are being anti-English this time because they’re our bloody rivals in our World Cup group!8 https://t.co/Kig9PL1sPr
— Paul Godding 🏴🇺🇦 (@7puzzle) August 12, 2022
Panini’s biggest seller, their World Cup sticker collection will be released on August 24. It will be the first time Wales fans would be able to collect a sticker album for a tournament Wales has qualified for.
For that reason it’s a hugely anticipated collection for Welsh football sticker collectors.
According to Greg Lansdowne – Panini sticker expert, the England-branded displays could be down to the simple fact of timing.
“Album, packet and point of sale imagery takes a long while to get ‘signed off’ so I would imagine the displays had been agreed a while back, probably before Wales had qualified,” he said.
The author of Panini Football Stickers: The Official Celebration: A Nostalgic Journey Through the World of Panini and Stuck on You: The Rise & Fall… & Rise of Panini Stickers, added: “In an ideal world there would be localised point of sale stands for every qualifier but the later ending of the qualification process would have complicated Panini’s life in putting their World Cup collections together. Had all the nations qualified at the same time it would have made matters a lot simpler.
“Of course it makes things worse that England and Wales are in the same group. In the age of social media it’s an issue that can easily be flagged up with Panini and I’m surethey would be receptive to looking into some bespoke point of sales stands for Wales
“In terms of the actual World Cup sticker album, the point of sales stands haven’t featured player imagery in the past (I’ve even got a 2018 one in my shed!) so, if that continues, there won’t be an issue with those.”
Wales sticker Twitter account @RedWallSwapShop said: “It’s not a great look is it. Although it’s not for the supermarkets to police, it’s more the merchandisers from Panini who commission these.
“It seems to be a systemic problem with Panini. Naturally there’s a ‘pull’ with England given their size, stars, etc, but it doesn’t really engage with our nation does it. I can’t imagine Bale or Rambo plastered up the side would increase or decrease sales, but at least it would be engaging for children – and the more grown up collectors! Sticker books weren’t around in 1958 when we were last in a World Cup, so there’s a real opportunity here.”
Nation.Cymru contacted Panini UK to ask why England-branded displays are appearing in Welsh stores and their plans for the forthcoming World Cup sticker collection.
This was the response we received from Managing Director Chris Clover: “I can confirm that the big launch of the World Cup sticker collection is on the 24th August
“Wales have a full spread of stickers like all the other teams competing and Wales stickers feature across all of our POS (point-of-sale).”
Read more:
Watch: A sneak peek at the Panini World Cup 2022 sticker album
Sticky fingers – the enduring appeal of football stickers
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.
Many of your younger readers will not remember the well known dictionary quote for those seeking ‘ Wales ‘
for Wales see England
Or
“Wales and Monmouthshire” – an area to the west of the English Midlanda
Or:
Section 4, Welsh Language Act 1967:
References to England in future Acts not to include Wales.
Section 3 of the [1746 c. 42.] Wales and Berwick Act 1746 (which provides that references in Acts of Parliament to England include references to Wales and Berwick) shall have effect in relation to any Act passed after this Act as if the words ” dominion of Wales and ” were omitted.
This is Euro 2016 all over again with the promotion of England Football kits in shops here in Wales 🙄 Anglo-centric crap from an English company 😠 I’m sick of it!! 😡🤬
Companies and authorities in England cannot accept that Wales has qualified for the World Cup.
Not because of any football “prowess” by either team, but because of the rise in nationalism that Wales participating in a World Cup will inspire.
Sources close to the government admitted as much during Euro 2020, that they didn’t like it, and would like to see one UK-based team, as would the UK media.
So, they try to undermine Wales’ independent footballing status as much as possible.
This is rediculous? I’ve noticed this in the past when Wales sadly didn’t qualify for tournaments and retailers had England flags and other material in their stores. We still get TV adverts supporting beamed into our homes today and the reason why we should have the devolution of broadcasting. I ask, would this be replicated in England? Hell no. So why Wales? After all we are in the World Cup ourselves. Are they stupid, insensitive , or both. I think both They should remove them. 🙄
Black tape works best
Excuses, excuses, excuses.
There is no logical reason to push the England team in Wales in anticipation of a World Cup that both countries have qualified for, other than to promote a colonial mindset.
How on earth can they say that the appearance of Welsh stars on the stands would not increase or decrease sales in Wales?!
Such imperialist nonsense. And the supermarkets are as much to blame for pushing this on consumers in Wales.
Ignorance isn’t an excuse. It fundamentally boils down to a lack of respect.
Same as 2016. Remember certain employers saying that people could have time off to watch England, but appeared to be ignorant of the fact that Wales were in the same group. Expect to be bombarded with hype about the Three Lions following the Lionesses to glory. The ‘nation’ is with them, we will be told about ten times a day.
Can we therefore look forward to the images of Bale,Ramsey at al gracing the hollowed shelves of supermarkets across the border.I wont hold my breath.