THOUSANDS of football fans turned out across the region to support Wales in their semi-final clash against Portugal last night.

Despite Portugal winning 2-0, the atmosphere at fanzones in Anglesey, Colwyn Bay and Rhyl remained vibrant and excited throughout, right up to the final whistle.

North Wales Chronicle reporter James Wilde was at Colwyn Bay's fanzone at Eirias, where attendees were able to enjoy a free, family-friendly environment with some children’s entertainment.

He said: "After all this anticipation of 58 years of waiting, except for the result this more than lived up to the hype."

Prior to the game at the Rhyl Events Arena, emotional fans proudly sang the national anthem. It is believed about 7500 attended the fan zone. 

Two people were arrested for letting off flares at Eirias fanzone whilst in Rhyl, a small number of fans who let off flares were removed from the outdoor area by security.

Even though the Wales fairytale has ended, fans from across the country are holding their heads high.

Prestatyn Councillor Will Davies, owner of SkyWeb Media in Prestatyn, was keen to show his support to 'our boys in red' and flew the Welsh flag over Prestatyn using a drone prior to yesterday's match.




Cllr Davies said: "Reaching the semi-finals of perhaps the second biggest football competition in the world, was just a dream for any Welsh football fan. I felt we needed to show the team in every way that we were behind them.

"In terms of deciding to film over Prestatyn, it was easy an easy decision. We all just left the office, abandoning our current work and took our TV cameras and our mid-size drone, and hoisted the Welsh Flag above Prestatyn for all to see. Missing our main cameraman, our director operated the camera, that was how enthused we were.

"It was absolutely worth it - the reaction was amazing. People honked their horns and took photos on their phones. The open-topped buses had people pointing, staring and smiling, and people were Tweeting and Facebooking afterwards."

Denbighshire County Council said they are already looking to the future, and tweeted:

In addition to Colwyn Bay and Rhyl, Anglesey held a fanzone at Mona showground.