Gareth Bale PROFILE

It famously used to be Wales, Golf, Madrid. In that order. These days, Gareth Bale has mixed it up a little, but golf and football are still vying for his attention as Graham Thomas reports.

Craig Bellamy may have tempted one Wales legend out of retirement, but he believes another is in the wings when he gets back to fitness. Joe Allen’s return to national duties at the age of 34 had been flagged up for some time after Swansea City revealed Wales manager Bellamy had been in touch.

Abergavenny’s Alicia Kelly became the first girl to win the Gareth Bale Championship at Celtic Manor, dominating the field to earn a seven-shot victory. Beating the boys in such a prestigious competition is a boost for girl’s golf with less than a year to go before hosting the biggest female sporting event ever held in Wales when the AIG Women’s Open takes place in Royal Porthcawl next summer.

Craig Bellamy has always talked a good game, which is why as a player he was just as watchable off the field as on it. It’s no surprise, then, that in the lead-in to his first match as Wales manager, the former striker has proved entertaining as well as illuminating.

If Harry Wilson scores to put Fulham top of the Premier League on Friday night, then expect Craig Bellamy to be just as happy as the Manchester United-haters. The Premier League season will begin at Old Trafford where most eyes will be drawn towards Erik ten Hag.

In his brutally frank autobiography, “Goodfella”, written a decade ago towards the end of his playing career, Craig Bellamy gives a blunt account of his first impressions when he initially broke into the senior national squad. “When I first started playing for Wales, it often felt as if I had stumbled into a black comedy,” says the newly appointed Wales manager.

If Jeremiah Azu makes the Olympic 100m final this summer, then he will find inner calm to settle any nerves. On the track, Azu is Wales’ leading all-time sprinter, the first Welsh athlete to run 100m in under 10 seconds and an athlete now bidding to shake off a hamstring injury that forced him out of the current European Championships so he can make the Great Britain squad for Paris.

Josh Sheehan has admitted he will have to put aside his surprise on Thursday evening when he pulls on the captain’s armband for Wales. The Bolton Wanderers midfielder will lead a young and experimental Welsh side in a friendly against Gibraltar in Portugal.

Rob Page has defended his assertion that Wales are in transition after failing to reach Euro 2024. Wales end their season this week by playing Gibraltar and Slovakia, having missed out on a glamour friendly with two-time world champions France.

Wales boss Rob Page intends to “give everything” to qualify for the World Cup and repay the faith of those backing him. The Football Association of Wales quickly announced it would be sticking by Page as manager after the heartbreaking failure to reach Euro 2024.

Former Wales talisman Gareth Bale believes Jude Bellingham would be in a strong position to win the Ballon d’Or by inspiring England to Euro 2024 glory. No Englishman has won the honour as best player in the world since Michael Owen’s success in 2001, but Bellingham’s remarkable impact at Bale’s former club Real Madrid has put him top of the contenders alongside club colleague Vinicius Junior.

Imagine if Gareth Bale – or Jess Fishlock, for that matter – had packed in football at the age of 20 as a full Wales international to take up another sport. Now, consider the reaction if they had not only become an Olympic champion, but also world champion by the time they were still in their 20s.