Iconic voice of Principality Stadium says atmosphere is not Welsh enough and the place has become a disco
Iestyn Garlick, 73, retires after 35 years as Principality Stadium announcer following Saturday’s Wales v South Africa match
09:46, 29 Nov 2025
Pre-match lighting at the Principality Stadium in Cardiff before Wales v New Zealand last weekend (Image: Gruffydd Thomas/Huw Evans Agency)
The stadium announcer at the Principality Stadium believes that rugby match days in Cardiff need to be “more Welsh” and not “some kind of disco”.
Iestyn Garlick, who is 73, will retire after Saturday’s match between Wales and world champions South Africa at the stadium in Cardiff.
His career has spanned 35 years and seen him cover hundreds of matches, initially at the old National Stadium, and then at the newly built Millennium Stadium, which replaced it in 1999.
However, he has observed many changes and feels that many traditions, such as a live band and hymns, have been lost from the matchday experience.
“The atmosphere has changed significantly since the old Arms Park, where you just had a band and the leader conducting the crowd,” he told the BBC.
“Now, technology has allowed for all the lights and it’s turned into some kind of disco with lights flashing everywhere. But it’s not very Welsh. I don’t mean that it’s anti-Welsh or un-Welsh. Keep it lively and young and all that – but a little more than a nod at Wales, we should be Welsh.”
Iestyn Garlick(Image: Western Mail)
Mr Garlick has witnessed a lot of bad times at the Principality Stadium of late, with hardly any victories to cheer in Cardiff. But he will always remember the good times, such as the Grand Slam in 2005.
“It was a wonderful day in Cardiff, the place was buzzing and you knew we were going to win,” he said. “The whole script was in place, the actors were in their positions, although Ireland had tried their best to tear the script apart, they failed and we had a wonderful day.”
The retiring stadium announcer also remembers a nerve-wracking moment when announcing the scorer of a significant try, adding: “There’s one story I tell very often. There was a prize of £1,000 for whoever scored the first try in the stadium and the very first game we played happened to be against South Africa.
“Everyone knows by now that Mark Taylor was the one who got that first try. But I announced with pride that it was Allan Bateman.
“There’s a reason for that – I didn’t have a television, there wasn’t a big screen in the stadium, he scored at the other end of the Cardiff pitch and all I saw was number 12 crossing the line.
“I looked at my programme and saw number 12, Alan Bateman. No-one had told me that Allan Bateman and Mark Taylor had swapped shirts.”
Talking about the current state of the Welsh rugby team, he said: “I’ve been part of the highs and we’ve gone to the lows. There’s no doubt, the 15 who will be on the field on Saturday will do their utmost to give a game to the opposition as we did last week against New Zealand.”
“I won’t be leaving with any regrets because I’m quite happy to bring things to a close. “It’s been a long enough period and I feel I’ve done my bit, keeping the Welsh going, and the voice is still in fairly good condition.
“I’d like to leave with people thinking ‘pity he’s gone’ rather than ‘pity he won’t go’.”
