WHEN I moved to Wales I made sure that I got my family tickets for the next visit of Scotland to the Millennium Stadium in the Six Nations.

It was a chance for my mum from the Highlands to cheer on the boys in blue and my dad and brother to experience the famous Cardiff atmosphere on international day.

They didn't have a bad time despite the result – part two on Wales' journey to the 2008 Grand Slam – but the occasion was slightly sullied by the frequency of those around them getting up around them for drinks while it was an afternoon kick-off so thankfully they only saw the tipsy build-up to the drunken mayhem on the streets of the capital.

So to quote John Toshack quoting Bill Shankly, the only thing that surprises me is that people are surprised when it comes to the debauchery at the England game last Friday.

It has been coming for years and the current atmosphere has been actively encouraged.

There is always a danger of romanticising past decades and I don't speak from experience like many of you as my youth was spent at Welford Road and my only trip to the old National Stadium was to watch Brive dish out a Heineken Cup final hammering in 1997.

But I have seen a shift in the eight years that I have been covering internationals and can see that Wales is in danger of losing the very thing it is famous for; a genuine rugby welcome.

Go to clubs (rugby, not night) and you will hear from plenty of folk that say that the Millennium Stadium is no longer a place for them.

It can be a different kind of loud, brash and with booming music during breaks in play rather than Calon Lan, while the behaviour can be mystifying (one man, beer in hand, seem surprised when his autumn singsong of "If you all hate Fiji clap your hands" failed to catch on).

You certainly cannot pin all of the blame on the Welsh Rugby Union because there are greater social issues at work here and the scenes at the southern end of St Mary's Street will be horrendous tomorrow evening, just as they were last Friday.

But the governing body ARE in a position to shift the emphasis of international matchday back towards the 'organic' atmosphere of years gone by. They can set the tone.

It is often said in disparaging terms that Wales games are full of event-goers yet that should always be the case, it’s just that at the moment it’s the wrong sort of event.