Cardiff City Football Club’s decision to relaunch its app in Mandarin Chinese but not Welsh has outraged fans.
It is the first club app in the UK to be available in Mandarin, with the club saying it is “pleased with the new integration of Mandarin on our official App, allowing us to produce multi-lingual content on the platform for fans around the world.”
However, the omission of Welsh language content has caused a furore on social media and amongst some fans.
Cardiff councillor and Cardiff City fan Peter Bradbury told CJS News: “I’m not so much bothered by the fact they’re offering it in Mandarin. Football now is a global game and the club are trying to make Cardiff City a global brand.”
But Cllr Bradbury, who is cabinet member for culture and leisure continued: “What does annoy me is that you’ve got a club based in the capital city of Wales and yet one of the biggest sporting clubs in Wales have decided that they are not going to offer their app in Welsh and they are going to offer it in Mandarin before.”
Fans use Cardiff City’s official app to keep up-to-date with news about the club including transfers, fixtures and injuries.
Cardiff City’s official club app now offers 2 languages; English & Chinese. Not Welsh, but Mandarin Chinese. And they wonder why fans still feel disengaged.
— ffwtbol (@ffwtbol) February 17, 2018
Chair of Cardiff City Supporters Trust Tim Hartley told CJS News: “I think it’s great that Cardiff City are trying to reach out to new markets and get more people supporting the Bluebirds but you’ve got to ask the question: who is this app for if not for the people of Cardiff and Wales?
“When we had the lucky red shirts very few of them sold in China and mainland Asia so how many people are going to access it in Mandarin? Wouldn’t it be better for people like my family who speak Welsh naturally to be able to have the app in Welsh if they choose to?”
The club has not responded to CJS News’ request for a comment.
