Wales football legend Gareth Bale has been no stranger to the world of golf since his retirement and is now committed to using the sport to promote opportunities for young people in south Wales.
The third annual Gareth Bale Festival of Sport took place this past weekend at the Celtic Manor Resort in Newport, with more than 100 children from some of the most underrepresented communities given the chance to try a wide variety of sports.
Organised in partnership with Wales Golf and StreetGames, the other side of the initiative focuses on building a platform for young elite golfers to progress in the sport.
Across the Festival, 84 junior golfers contested an elite junior competition at the renowned Ryder Cup venue, with the former Real Madrid winger presenting the Gareth Bale Championship trophy to the winning golfer.
“The festival and initiative is about giving young people the opportunity to try new things, to find something that they like and they’ll be able to take on their lifelong journey,” said Bale.
“It’s always good to keep our children active, keep them healthy and give them the chance to make new friends. It’s an important part of the initiative.
“I feel it’s massively important to give back, this means a lot to me. It’s so nice to see the kids running around, making friends and making memories.
“From my perspective, we want to keep growing everything. There’s definitely an improvement from last year, so let’s keep going. The bigger the better.”
Since the Festival’s inception in 2022, Bale has also linked up with National Basketball Association (NBA) player Stephen Curry to become an ambassador for ‘Underrated Golf’, continuing to create multi-faced sports opportunities for youth within Wales.
Bale, 35, who retired from professional football in January 2023, also believes the Festival will boost Wales’ hopes of seeing more professional golfers.
“In terms of the golfing side, we want to give more opportunities to get a professional golfer in the ranks,” added Bale.
“We haven’t had a lot of Welsh golfers come through, so it’s a joint effort from everybody to try and make that happen, that’s the aim. I don’t want to be the most famous golfer in Wales.
“I don’t think golf necessarily has a junior pathway programme in Wales. We want to get more youngsters playing and playing more competitively.
“If they then choose a career in golf, they’ll have this training base and platform to build off, it can kick start their journey.
“The hope is we can get it big enough to where we can potentially get college scouts from America or wherever to come over and look at our players. If we can get one player into the pro ranks it’ll be worth it.”
Exciting times
Theo Baker, head of participation at Wales Golf, believes the festival has only strengthened year on year, as the organisation pushes for diversity and inclusion.
With Royal Porthcawl Golf Club hosting the Women’s Open for the first time in its history in 2025, Baker has hailed the next year as “exciting times” for golf in Wales.
“We at Wales Golf have been working with Gareth in a collaboration over the past three years, with both the Championship and the Festival going from strength to strength,” said Baker.
“We’re working to show people the many benefits of our sport and what it can bring to our communities.
“Getting more juniors into golf is our biggest priority, it’s at the forefront of our strategy.
“All the work we do with key partners, facilities and venues is so important for us moving forward. We’d love to see both the Championship and Festival continue to grow, it can only benefit everyone.
“These are exciting times for golf in Wales with Gareth’s involvement and next year the Women’s Open Championship will be held in Wales for the first time at Royal Porthcawl, it’s a great time to be involved.”
