Today, the second annual Wal Goch festival opened in Wales. The festival, being held between the 10th and 15th of this month, will fill Wales with a series of events in Wrexham, Swansea, and Cardiff, all celebrating the international matches Team Cymru is playing in October.
On October 11, Wales will play against Gibraltar at Stok Cae Ras and at three other festival venues, there will be debates, showings, exhibitions, an evening of international poetry about soccer, and music.
The international poetry evening, all about the “beautiful game,” was held on October 10 in Wrexham at an event called “90 Minutes of Poetry,” in which Ifor ap Glyn, Sarah McCreadie, Jon Maya Soria, and Amets Arzallus took part.
Back of the net for the poets. Cymru v Euskadi @gwylwalgoch #pêl-droed #WALES #Euskadi pic.twitter.com/s6L0qFleyh
— Wal Goch (@gwylwalgoch) October 10, 2023
Tomorrow, on October 11, these same poets will take part in the official opening of the festival, which will also take place in Wrexham at 10:00 am.
We don’t know much more about these events or the participation of our two bertsolaris.
But there is definitely a mark of Basque soccer in these ancient Welsh lands, which is full of symbolism. We’re referring to the Basque Boys team, made up of the Basque war children who, as we recalled in 2012, “almost 75 years before Athletic beat Manchester United, a team made up of only Basque boys triumphed and won the respect of the fans in Cardiff and throughout Wales.”
Those boys had been taken in at Cambria House, in Caerleon, which is known for its great archaeological importance, for having remains from the iron age and buildings from the Roman Empire. But it’s also known as the true birthplace of King Arthur, where he led his Romanized tribe against the Saxon invasions.
Will the bertsolaris Jon Maia Soria and Amets Arzallus make any references to him? We hope they do: it would be beautiful.
We’ll leave you with all the information we were able to find about this festival and our two bertsolaris’ presence there.
Nation Cymru – 1/10/2023 – Wales
Croatia legend Davor Suker headlines this year’s Wal Goch Festival
Croatia’s all-time top goalscorer Davor Suker has been confirmed as the keynote speaker at the third Gŵyl Wal Goch festival for football fans. Davor will talk about his amazing career with Real Madrid, Arsenal and the Croatian national team whose success helped put a new country on the World map with football fan, academic, activist and pop star, Ani Saunders.
(Follow) (Automatic translation)
The Leader- 30/9/2023 – Wales
Wal Goch festival to return to Wrexham next month
Official Festival Opening
(Follow) (Automatic translation)
Festival’s website:
(Follow) (Automatic translation)
Last Updated on Feb 12, 2024 by About Basque Country