Wales football fans’ charity World Cup song We’ve Got The Red Wall released

An anthem recorded by Wales football fans ahead of the Qatar 2022 World Cup has hit the charts.

We’ve Got The Red Wall went straight into the iTunes download charts at number 104 on Friday morning.

The fans behind the recording hope it will become a hit in the weeks leading up to the tournament – in which Wales will play for the first time in 64 years.

Singer-songwriter Andrew Dowling called on all Wales fans, often referred to as “The Red Wall”, to get behind the tune so it reaches number one before the competition kicks off in November.

Money raised by the single will go to Gol Cymru, the Wales football supporters’ charity which helps underprivileged children in the countries the team plays in.

Mr Dowling said: “I’m really delighted with how sales have gone so far. We’re reaching 104 in the download chart already and hopefully we can get that to rise.

“I really appreciate every person who has bought it, put it out on social media and got involved.

“Because getting involved is what it’s all about.”

He added: “This song is by the fans, for the fans, and is raising money for a charity who help vulnerable children right across Wales, and countries in Europe and the rest of the world when Wales play there.

“All the proceeds of this song are going to them.”

The 37-year-old, from Ton Pentre in the Rhondda Valley, South Wales, said he wrote the lyrics just after Wales’s play-off win over Ukraine in June when the team qualified for the World Cup.

Having once had his sights on becoming a rock star, and being crowned karaoke champion of Wales in 2005, Mr Dowling is now the main vocalist on the track.

No stranger to promoting a song, Mr Dowling was one of the driving forces behind getting Dafydd Iwan’s Yma o Hyd to number one on the iTunes charts after Wales’s qualifying match.

The finishing touches of the song were put on the track by a group of fans who were invited to a studio in Cardiff Bay to chant the chorus, and add authentic shouts of “Wales!”

Among those featuring on it is 11-year-old superfan Ioan Walters, from Crosskeys in Newport, whose mother drove him to the studio so he could be a part of the recording.

The song is bilingual and has verses in both English and Welsh, while the chorus is in English only, with lines such as “Support the boys, and make some noise in Qatar”.

Mr Dowling, who is learning Welsh, said it was important to him that the song included the country’s native language.

He said: “Anybody who is passionate about the Welsh language in general and the rise of the Welsh language should get out and buy it.

“It would be great to see a song containing the Welsh language and Welsh culture get into the iTunes charts.”

Lawrence Mora, talkSPORT pundit and creative director of Eat Sleep Media where the song was recorded, has provided commentary that was overlaid on the track.

He told the PA news agency: “I’m going to be out in Qatar heading for the USA and Iran game and I’m definitely going to put this on my travel playlist.

“What Gol Cymru do is incredibly inspiring and they’ve done a lot of good all over the world so I would urge people to go out and buy it.

“If not for my vocals and Andrew’s beautiful singing, then do it for the kids.”

The charity’s founder, Tim Hartley, said: “I really love this song and we are grateful that the proceeds of it will go to helping us help the children.

“Let’s sing it with pride and make it the fans’ own anthem for Qatar.”

– We’ve Got The Red Wall is available on Spotify, iTunes and other platforms from Friday September 30 for 79p.