Cardiff Council’s Deputy Leader Neil McEvoy has called on the Metro newspaper to stop selling Welsh sports fans short.
Councillor McEvoy has criticised the newspaper for failing to carry reports on Cardiff City and Swansea City’s matches this week and not reporting on the naming of the Welsh rugby team for the weekend international in Italy.
He said: “I was contacted by a commuter who read the Metro on the train from Penarth to Cardiff on Wednesday but there was no mention of either Cardiff or Swansea’s mid-week matches and not even a league table.
“They did, however, have reports on Manchester United and Chelsea. While I accept they are popular teams, the Metro managed to fit in decent sized articles on West Ham, Blackpool and Stoke City.
“This would not happen in Scotland – If Celtic or Rangers played the night before the Scottish version of the Metro would have covered the matches.
“Equally, yesterday the Welsh rugby team announced their squad for Saturday – again no news, but there was a story about Bath player moving to London Irish.”
Bluebirds’ fan Councillor McEvoy, who is leader of the city’s Plaid Cymru group, said: “The Metro may be a free newspaper but it should ensure it reflects the area it is distributed in. They are selling Wales short and treating Welsh sports fans as second class.
“Most Welsh football fans would certainly rather read about Cardiff City or Swansea than Blackpool or Stoke. It’s time the Metro newspaper realised that we are different from England and don’t want to read about minor English Premier League clubs.”
Councillor McEvoy said he was raising the matter with Welsh Sports Minister Alun Ffred Jones and contacting the editor and sports editor of the Metro newspaper.
