"I wrote to the Football League before Christmas objecting to the Wolves ban, but no joy there.
On Wednesday I raised it in the Assembly Chamber."
The video of Leighton Andrews bringing the matter to the notice of the Assembly can be found here on his Blog.
Also Sports Minister Alun Pugh has written to Wolves owner Jack Hayward. That letter can be seen at the link below.
Download MBAP30.pdf
AM Lynne Neagle brought the matter to the attention of he Sports minister. The press release of that is below.
Wolverhampton Wanderers' decision to ban Cardiff fans from Saturday's
fixture has come under scrutiny in the Welsh Assembly today, following a
question by Labour AM to the Minister for Sport.
Lynne Neagle, AM for Torfaen, following up a letter from a constituent
questioned how the matter had been handled by the Football League and
Wolves, and asked the Minister to take up the matter with the League.
Speaking from the National Assembly for Wales, Ms Neagle said,
“It seems that the only Cardiff fans who will see this game will be
watching from a blimp they have hired privately to fly over Molineux.
Ingenious though this is, it does not provide an answer to the serious
question raised by the actions of Wolves and the League. I understand
that trouble did occur at the corresponding fixture last season, but
questions have to asked concerning the response to that.”
“Firstly, Cardiff were not given advance notice of the request by Wolves
to ban away fans from the game, meaning Peter Ridsdale and others were
unable to present Cardiff's case to the Football League. I also
understand that an investigation into what happened last season is still
pending. By taking this drastic action Wolves have in a sense pre-empted
the conclusion to that investigation.”
“Away support is vital to creating atmosphere at football matches – and by
taking this arbitrary decision, the Football League and Wolves risk
unleashing other requests from clubs who do not want to pay for adequate
stewarding and policing. There must be a better way of dealing with
issues like this.”
“Over recent seasons Cardiff City has made huge inroads into tackling the
minority hooligan element that had led to a bad reputation with other
clubs. Much of that work has been done by the fans themselves, and I am
therefore glad that the Minister agreed to write on their behalf to the
Football League to question how this banning order was allowed.”