Fans wore the bobble fans - perhaps unwittingly - when they cheered on Wales women's side on Friday(Image: @ian_hamer/X)

Sports Direct slammed for spelling Wales wrong on bobble hats in baffling gaffe

Sports Direct has removed the beanie from its website but it reportedly still can be bought from some shops - and several were spotted on the heads of football fans at Cardiff City Stadium on Friday

by · The Mirror

Sports Direct has been blasted for misspelling Cymru as "Cyrmu" on Welsh beanie hats.

Cymru is Welsh for Wales, and seen widely on signage and literature across the nation. However, Sports Direct's hats somehow spell the country name incorrectly, mangling the "m" and the "r".

They've been removed off the retail giant's website but, according to reports, can still be purchased in its shops. Several were spotted on the heads of football fans at the Wales women’s Euro 2025 playoff final first leg at Cardiff City Stadium on Friday.

One critic on X, formerly Twitter, asked Sports Direct: "Can you maybe spell Cymru correctly?" A Welsh brand, Penwisg, posted images of its hats with Cymru correctly spelt and promised: “You can trust us with your merchandise, we’ll make sure it’s correct every time!"

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The spelling mistake is glaring - and people took to social media to vent their ire( Image: SportsDirect)

Shoppers in Cardiff city centre expressed their anger at the mistake. When asked for their opinion on the street by a BBC reporter wearing the beanie, one shopper said: "It's a bit weird because at least get the name of the country right."

Another woman said: "They definitely need to have somebody doing their quality control better, shall we say?" A further shopper added: "That's not great, it's not great at all."

Nevertheless, it is said the garment is now being targeted by buyers eager to grab an item which could become a collector’s piece. Many who wore the bobble hat to Friday's game at Cardiff City Stadium appeared unaware at the gaffe.

But Ian Hamer, a producer for BBC Wales news, posted that the "funniest moment" at the playoff game was "realising there was a row of fans in front of us who all had matching bobble hats spelling … CYRMU!" The Mirror has approached Sports Direct for comment.

In February, a road sign in Monmouthshire, southeast Wales, directed drivers to "Trefwynwy" - which directly translates to "town egg gas". In another gaffe, the alcohol-free section in Asda in Cwmbran, which is in south Wales, was wrongly translated to "free alcohol" in 2019.