Rugby favoured over football in Wales

Wales sing their national anthem at the Rugby World Cup. Photo / Getty

It's not fair - you like rugby more than football.

That's the bleat coming out of Wales' Football Association over the BBC Wales' Sports Personality of the Year award.

The Welsh roundballers are boycotting the awards because they regard BBC Wales as being rugby obsessed and sneering towards football.

While barmy world boxing champion Tyson Fury is doing his best to derail this year's national event with his abhorrent views, the BBC Wales version didn't pass without controversy either.

The FA of Wales decided that their 12-strong group of invitees, including manager Chris Coleman, chief executive Jonathan Ford, plus a number of players, would snub the awards ceremony in Cardiff.

The last straw - in a year that Wales qualified for their first major tournament since 1958 - came when the BBC ran a story about an alleged pay dispute between players and the FAW over bonuses for reaching Euro 2016.

The story claimed the players had been offered a smaller pot than the seven-figure reward mentioned before the qualifying campaign.

The FAW insist that no bonus figure was agreed ahead of Euro qualifying and that the issue of the figure - which is determined by the yet-to-be-known UEFA prize-money for the 24 finalists - has already been resolved.

An insider said: 'We're fed up to the back teeth with the way BBC Wales look down on football while glorifying rugby - and a divisive story published just before they wanted us at their ceremonial event was the final insult. Somebody had to make a stand.'

The FAW's absence meant ex-internationals John Hartson and Iwan Roberts accepted the manager-of-the-year award for Coleman and the team trophy for Wales. But fly-half Dan Biggar was voted sports personality despite Gareth Bale's heroics on the road to France.

BBC Wales said: 'We stand by the editorial integrity, accuracy and impartiality of our sports journalism, including the recent report on Euro 2016 bonus payments. We were disappointed the FAW decided not to attend the awards.'

-Daily Mail