Gwlad All Over: Inside Palace's presence at Wales' World Cup camp

It’s been a funny couple of weeks for Palace and Wales physio James Haycock. Four days separated his sprint onto the pitch at the City Ground to treat the fallen Wilfried Zaha to stepping off a plane in the bright Qatar sunshine. One moment the Premier League was raging, the next it was gone; one moment the trip to the Gulf seemed impossibly far away, the next the World Cup beckoned.

Stood on the touchline as Wales prepared to begin their first World Cup campaign since 1958, he listened to Hen Wlad Fy Nhadau being belted from the stands.

“I have to say that the Welsh national anthem is unbelievable,” he says, having stood on the touchline in awe for the country’s opening. “The supporters sing it so well. It makes the hairs on the back of your neck stand up. The depth of feeling when they sing is incredible.

“The spirit between the players is something quite unique. They have all come through the system and all played with each other for a long time. There is an older guard: Gareth Bale, Aaron Ramsey, Joe Allen.

“Then there is the younger generation coming through: Nico Williams, Brennan Johnson, the younger players who all sort of bond together while on camp. The atmosphere is really positive.

“The Welsh fans seem to see that and appreciate it and there is a real bond between the fans and the players.”

The bond between the players is all the more special when you consider their different club levels: Wales brought two League Two players to the World Cup, as well as four-time Champions League winner Gareth Bale.

“I suppose that’s one of the reasons it works as well as it does,” Haycock considers. “Gareth and the bigger players have no egos about them when they come on international duty.

“It's very much one team when they come in together. I would say it is relatively unique for teams at this level to have such a wide spread of players playing in different leagues. But it helps that the bigger players, if you want to call them that, they have no airs and graces about them in camp.

“They don’t expect to be treated differently. They realise as much as everyone else that they can’t win anything without a team and that everybody has to be together.”

That team spirit is fostered within the camp, and the players have plenty to keep them entertained – not least the festival of football around them.

“There is a big communal area with a TV, so everyone is gathered around watching all the World Cup games and trying to get into the spirit of the tournament,” Haycock says.

“Most of them are really immersed in that and watch a lot of football – watching the opposition, watching the other players.

“We’ve got a pool table, table tennis. Ethan Ampadu is pretty good, and there are a few staff who are a bit of a dab hand. You don’t want to be playing them, they will beat you quite comfortably.

“There is a golf simulator we have in place, which Gareth [Bale] and Aaron [Ramsey] and a couple of guys who are into their golf [use].”

Wales, golf… well, you know the rest. The atmosphere is set by manager Rob Page, an unassuming coach representing something of an unknown to those outside the Welsh game, but an important figurehead nonetheless.

“Rob has been really good – he is very mild-mannered with the players,” Haycock explains. “There is a sense of discipline but the players all respect him.

“He gives them freedom and license to do bits and pieces, have a laugh and have a joke, but at the same time the players respect how we have got here, the unity in the camp and the team spirit. The team spirit is one of the massive things of the Welsh camp.

“The players and the staff have been around it for a long time and the camaraderie is one of the things that certainly helps to get us as far as we’ve gone and get the success we’ve had in recent years.”

When push comes to shove, however, the joking stops and the focus descends. When Wales prepare for their final group game against England on Tuesday night, the build-up will be no laughing matter.

“The lads are generally quite quiet in an afternoon before a game,” Haycock says. “The same applies at Palace or wherever you are: you know that you’ve got a big game coming up. People prepare differently for it.

“The level of joking and banter drops and people become serious as you approach kick-off time. There is certainly an air of excitement but also an air of nerves and knowing the magnitude of where you are playing and the importance of the game.

“The day of the game the tone always changes and that’s the same at Palace or the World Cup. People start to get their head on and think about what they have to do when that whistle blows.”

In his capacity as Head of Physiotherapy at Crystal Palace, handling the rough and tumble of domestic football is a daily challenge. But in Qatar, as Senior Physiotherapist with the Welsh national team, he is tackling a challenge like no other.

“I started in 2017 with Wales,” he says. “My first tournament was last summer. The advantage you have for the Euros is that we had three weeks where you could clean up anyone who was injured. If there was a small niggle, you had time. This one, if a player pulled up a week before the tournament there was no time to rehab them.

“In a summer tournament, you may take two or three players who have a chance of being fit for the tournament. You can almost give them a steady download week before you really build up the training.

“Now you’re just straight in – but they’re all fit and ready to hit the ground running because they are not fully tired from a long, hard season. They are all at a level where the fitness is good.”

That being said, any niggle picked up at the tournament is handled differently to a league campaign. After all, players will run through walls to play on the world’s biggest stage; something like a tweaked hamstring won’t keep them out.

“Medically we would never risk any serious or significant injury,” Haycock explains. “But with club football or international football there is the risk-reward debate. That is with the player, the medical staff and the management team.

“As the medical staff it is your job to try and give an objective view on the risks if it was to go wrong, but ultimately from a player perspective you’re playing in a once in a lifetime tournament. Are you prepared to try and get on that grass no matter the risks?

“Nobody – manager or medical staff – is looking to create a big injury issue by getting someone on the pitch, but there is that balance of: ‘Can you get out there and play?’

“At the same time there is also a responsibility not only to the player but to the clubs, to make sure we aren’t putting them at undue risk. Ethically there is a responsibility to do the right thing.

“Ultimately the decision comes down to the player, what he wants to do and what he wants to risk.”

Come Tuesday evening Haycock will be an Englishman behind enemy lines; an adopted Welshman wearing his metaphorical red and yellow bucket hat, and yearning for the red wall to suck the ball into the back of the Three Lions’ net. On a personal level, it will be a tad strange.

“It is a weird occasion,” he admits. “A lot of my friends will be in their homes supporting England and willing England on for the game.

“I’m focused on Wales professionally, and it will all be about us trying to win that game and progress to the next stages. Once the game is finished we can chat to the English staff who we know and have a good relationship with and wish them the best for the tournament

“Then depending on how far we go and how far they go, I will be watching hoping they do well – but not at our expense in that game.

“Could we meet again in the final? We would certainly take that…”