Footballers 'mocked for speaking Welsh' sparks probe

The Felinheli women's football team have made an official complaint to the Football Association of Wales

A women's football team have claimed they were mocked by the opposition during a match for speaking Welsh, and told to "speak English".

The Felinheli team have complained to the Football Association of Wales (FAW) following the game against Wrexham Foresters in the Bute Energy Welsh Cup last Sunday.

Felinheli claim Foresters' players, coaching staff, and fans mimicked them - telling them to speak English and asked why they bothered speaking Welsh.

Wrexham Foresters have called the allegations "baffling" and "baseless". The FAW is investigating.

Felinheli manager Aaron Jones-Evans said: "Everything I was shouting to our players, tactical decisions and so on, their players and coaches were then repeating what I said, laughing, and saying it sounded like gibberish [and] for us to go and learn to speak English.

"It was really upsetting to see how the girls were after the game, because they were shell-shocked.

"You don't expect to get that in Wales, do you?"

Felinheli manager Aaron Jones-Evans says he should have raised the issue with the referee during the game

The players say they have decided to speak out because they are "it's an attitude we see time and time again as a club"

He said the mocking escalated during the second half of the tie at Brymbo Sports and Social, which Foresters won 4-2.

"It started coming from the fans too, it was coming from every direction. The coaches, players on the pitch, players on the bench, and from the fans," he said.

"I was flabbergasted, to tell you the truth.

"I went home that night feeling disheartened that I'd let the team down because I should have said to the ref, 'we're not playing this anymore', but hindsight is a brilliant thing, isn't it?

"I've never seen anything like that in my life, to the extent that it happened."

Felinheli players who spoke to BBC Cymru Fyw said they felt their opponents had made fun of them for speaking Welsh.

A Felinheli player told BBC Cymru Fyw that an opposition player had asked, "can you speak English please?" and that they were "making a joke of the language".

Felinheli said they did not complain during the game because they only realised the seriousness afterwards.

They also claimed "it's an attitude we see time and time again as a club".

Wrexham Foresters deny claims

Wrexham Foresters' club director Adam Alfi denied the claims, and said: "As a Welsh club I have to say that we find these allegations completely baffling.

"We strongly refute these allegations, which are completely baseless.

"Wrexham Foresters FC has several Welsh-speaking players and staff, and we take pride in promoting respect and inclusivity at every level.

"No complaints were raised with us, or match officials, at any stage."

The FAW said it was investigating but would not comment further.