Wales 'culturally behind' with women's football - Wilkinson

Wales women's head coach Rhian Wilkinson says she hopes qualifying for a first major tournament can adjust the football landscape in Wales as the country is currently "culturally behind".

In a wide-ranging interview with BBC Sport, Wilkinson, a former Canadian international with 183 caps, expresses her belief that Wales fans do not support the women's team with the same fervour as the men's side.

The 42-year-old says she wants to see the Football Association of Wales' (FAW) slogan of 'Together Stronger' "mean something", as a generation of fans are "in danger of missing the women's game taking off".

Wilkinson says she feels some Wales supporters still only opt to watch men's football and is wary of that attitude creeping into the next generation of supporters as she "hates this men versus women argument".

Wales' women will head to Euro 2025 in July in Switzerland for a first major tournament appearance, and Wilkinson is desperate to leave a lasting legacy that will change the landscape of football in Wales, admitting that slow progress in growing the game has left her "frustrated".

"I'm a feminist by sheer fact that I was a footballer now I'm a female football coach," she said.

"You become a feminist because I have the advantage for all the fights that have happened before me. I have to talk about it, because we're not done yet. We're far from it.

"I don't want to shy away from mentioning what needs to be mentioned and we're not there yet in Wales."

Wales head to Switzerland this summer after what has been a slow and steady rise of the women's game over the past decade.

The FAW has increased investment in the women's game considerably in recent years and the players now receive equal pay with their male counterparts for playing for Wales.

After three near misses to reach successive major finals with the last two World Cups and previous Euros qualifying campaign, Wales finally reached the biggest stage with a 3-2 aggregate victory over Republic of Ireland.

Though a record crowd of 16,845 witnessed Wales' first-leg 1-1 draw with Ireland at the Cardiff City Stadium, that still only constituted a half-sold stadium. It was the same in Dublin as 25,000 fans attended the second leg at the Aviva Stadium with around 400 Wales fans making the trip.

By contrast, since the success of Wales' men at Euro 2016, the sold-out signs regularly adorn Cardiff City Stadium for their internationals. Indeed, support for Wales' men has become so vociferous the players even adopted a term for them, calling them the 'Red Wall'.

However, Wilkinson says she is disappointed that support and national pride has not translated into bigger support for Wales' historic women's team and hopes the Euros qualification will change that.

"I think I'm probably going to start getting people annoyed and angry at me because I love Wales and I've talked at length about how much this country means to me, how I was brought up Welsh in Canada even though I have an English father. But culturally we're behind, we are behind and it's a frustration," she said.

"We broke an attendance record. I want more. And that's a frustration for me, because I think it's this weird idea that people have in their minds here.

"It is just taking longer than I would like for it to, for people to recognise what's right in front of them. They are missing this incredible generation of players.

"By the time some of these young girls are older in their lives they'll have missed it, missed the opportunity to see them and to be a part of the women's game taking off.

"The FAW has the 'Together Stronger'. I think it's incredible, as long as it means something, if it's just a slogan on a wall, don't bother. But it means something to this group and it means something to the front office, the staff - I've never seen a better staff - the FAW staff is incredible."

Wilkinson says she would like to see more families embracing the women's game and feels there is still a perception being fed down that it is inferior to the men's game.

"I hate this men versus women argument, I've spoken to Craig [Bellamy, Wales men's manager] at length about it," she said.

"I am as big as supporter of his, as he is of mine, and there's no need for comparison. We are Welsh, we are proud of being Welsh, we are proud of Welsh sport. Your Welsh women's team is on the world stage, come and support them.

"Get rid of all this other story you've got in the back of your head. It's time to step forward and just support our female and male athletes equally.

"Whenever I feel that we are demonstrating to our young people, boys and girls, that there is a more than and a lesser than and that it's gendered, it really bothers me.

"Because I can see that next generation, don't think that they're not noticing that their mums and dads bring them only to the men's game, like that is of more value.

"I'm not talking about financial value and that's where I think people get confused. I'm talking about you're showing and demonstrating that the men are more deserving just by showing up or how you talk about it at home."

Wilkinson says men's boss Bellamy has been a great advocate.

"The men's team, I've had a few of them come in to speak to the group, it means a lot," she said. "Why wouldn't we try and big each other up and promote one another?

"And I think Craig epitomises that. He never mentions being a father or having a wife or having a mother. It's just he's a proud Welshman and the women had an opportunity to put the sport on the world stage."

Wilkinson says players like Jess Fishlock, Wales' most capped player and record goalscorer are "criminally underrated, even at home", and adds she is hoping Wales' first major finals appearance can create a lasting legacy of more opportunity for girls at grassroots level.

"I think my biggest, biggest message is we cannot continue to be okay with it being so difficult for our young girls to have the same opportunities," she said.

"I'm hoping that this Euros campaign will continue just to highlight these incredible women, ambassadors of the game, give them a platform that they so richly deserve and that that message starts resonating more and more - not just in our cities but across this amazing country.

"Because there's a lot of beautiful small areas in Wales that really do have a challenge to not just have a women's team but to have a competition for those young girls' teams to play in.

"That is the challenge, it needs to continue to be invested in and to continue to grow."

Wilkinson only took over as Wales boss in February 2024 but her connection to the country of her mother's birth spans her lifetime.

She was born in Quebec but spent some of her childhood in her mother's native country, living in Cowbridge in south Wales and attending Bont Faen Primary School between 1989-1991.

As a football-obsessed child, a lack of sporting opportunity for Wilkinson and her sister played a part in the family returning to Canada.

Had the pathway been clearer in Wales, Wilkinson, a top player who made 183 appearances for Canada and played at four Olympic Games, might never have left Cowbridge.

"For my Mum, family where she was from was really important and they tried to move us back to Wales," she said. "I had already grown up in Canada, I was already playing ice hockey, I was already playing football, I was already playing basketball.

"My brother was less interested in sport and then we moved back to Wales to give it a go.

"I was not able to participate (in football), because I was a girl and my poor brother was forced to participate in cricket and rugby and he did not want to be, but that was expected of him.

"My mum and dad went to battle for me and my sister. They took on the governors with a group of women and they did make changes in the school. But my mum wasn't allowed to play sports when she was young and the fact that was still a reality for me forced... I say forced, but I know that it was a big reason why they moved back to Canada.

"They sacrificed their family, being with their family, being in the country they loved, because they felt that their daughters were not going to get the same opportunities."