AS tiresome as it is to make hackneyed comparisons between football and rugby in Wales and debate as to which is the true national sport, it is an appropriate time for football to take stock of what is happening with the funny shaped ball.

I don’t mean the annual “let’s all get our hopes up for a bit and then lose to the Southern Hemisphere sides,” but rather, the crowd crisis in Wales.

Not only are the regions falling to pack them in but now the national side aren’t putting up the ‘full’ signs in contests that in years gone by would’ve sold out a stadium almost twice the size of the Millennium, empty seats for a clash between Wales and Australia something I frankly never expected to see.

The issue, without question, is ticket pricing and there are lessons to be learned across the board for football, from the Welsh national side down to Newport County in League Two.

Watching sport live in the United Kingdom costs far, far too much; it really is as simple as that and the Football Association of Wales need to continue on what has been an encouraging path in terms of engaging supporters.

While I was the first in line to slaughter Jonathan Ford and his colleagues for the way they bumbled the sales for the sell-out clash with England at the Millennium Stadium in 2011, we should similarly acknowledge that they do a fine job in ensuring loyalty is rewarded among the die-hard Welsh fans.

Those that travel to away games regularly are rewarded by knowing they won’t miss out on the big games – like Belgium on Sunday – and similarly there is something to be said for the fact that the FAW set prices for the duration of this campaign. The outcry at the Scottish FA launching prices into the stratosphere for their vital clash with Republic of Ireland evidence of the fact that those in power are generally always thinking about the pound coins in the bank tomorrow, never the legacy they are setting for the days after that.

It’s the same at nearly every club side, the global popularity of the Premier League basically exempting 20 clubs from having to adhere to what is decent, because tourism alone will ensure that a Tottenham or a Chelsea can basically charge whatever they please and still sell out. Though you would actually pay to watch Chelsea this term. Tottenham charge the second highest season ticket prices in the land and they’ve lost four of five home games without playing a top team. But I digress as ever...

I don’t want to seem like I’m picking on Newport County, thought it’s logical in an Argus column to use them as my reference point, but it really rankled with me that they patted themselves on the back on their website for their ticket prices comparing well in the BBC cost of football study.

There are several reasons why there is no reason to gloat that adult fans in Newport can stand for £16 or sit for £18 per game (only by booking in advance), because the fact is I can go and watch a Borussia Dortmund game against Bayern Munich and my full price adult ticket won’t cost more than Newport charge for children.

By the same token, football clubs should be considering their supporters’ individual circumstances when reviewing their own ticket policy. Is it right, for example, that it costs the same to watch Newport as it does to watch Cambridge United?

The average house price in Cambridge in £419,000. That is well over double the cost of property in Newport.

Those who see the problem now and do something about it will reap the rewards in the long term.

The FAW and Newport County should already be thinking about drastically reduced prices for U16s for their next campaigns.

Wales have Gareth Bale, arguably the third most famous player in the world and they are playing fixtures away from their national stadium because they can’t come close to filling it, which is an utterly absurd situation.

The only way to get back to the Millennium Stadium is by filling it and the FAW are wrong if they think having a successful side is the only way to achieve that dream. If they make a huge drive to publicise a kids for a quid policy, it would win plaudits far and wide and the public would respond. How can I tell little Jonny he can’t go and watch Gareth Bale when it only costs a pound?

Similarly, Newport County are arrogant in the extreme if they genuinely budgeted for a crowd of 3,500 this term based on prices that are merely competitive by comparison to other League Two clubs, rather than attractive.

The answer is exactly the same for them. Season tickets for U16s of £25, rather than £125, would be a start and Newport should freeze U16 prices at £1 for an entire campaign, be that in League Two or even better, League One.

I firmly believe that would double junior season ticket sales (and increase adult ones) and a deficit of £50,000 -plus a fiver a game for junior tickets - would I believe be offset by increased attendances and match day revenues.

However, even if it wasn’t, even if County took a loss on ticket sales next season, if they had to budget smaller as a result, wouldn’t the long term benefits negate that?

Bold thinking would lead to hundreds of U16s experiencing live football for the first time at Rodney Parade and that creates a future generation of supporters. If those same kids could also watch Gareth Bale and Aaron Ramsey as Wales packed out the Millennium Stadium; that would be even better.

Football clubs and associations, rugby ones, cricket ones, they can’t continue to drift along thinking they can charge what they like and that fans will just swallow it.

Welsh football fans have voted with their feet for years and now even large Rugby Union games at the Millennium Stadium aren’t a sell out attraction.

It needs to cost less to watch sport in the UK; it really is as simple as that.