Match day in Cardiff: (re)imaging and (re)imagining the nation

In their work on postcards as cultural texts, Pritchard & Morgan (2003) suggest that there is evidence of ‘an internal re-mapping of Wales that is celebrating the capital city of Cardiff as its metropolitan cultural core and marginalizing alternative imagined communities of Wales’ (Pritchard & Morgan, 2003, p. 111). This paper critically assesses this remapping with specific reference to the place of rugby union in the country and problematises the way(s) in which national identity is (re)created through the sport. Through focusing upon what is considered to be the national sport of Wales, this research critically assesses the relationship between sport and tourism in a country often overlooked in academic work within both of these areas. It shows how rugby union is a significant tool in the (re)imaging and (re)imagining of the nation but also considers how Cardiff is increasingly being used as a substitute for Wales and argues that many (re)presentations of Welshness are little more than a means of (re)imaging and (re)imagining the capital city.