Why do the Football Association of Wales (FAW) insist on making Wales play almost all of their home matches at the Millennium Stadium?

Last night’s crowd of 11,589 for a World Cup qualifier against Russia was an embarrassment to the nation, the sport and the competition.

These days you get more people queuing to audition for X Factor than go to support the Welsh national team when there’s little hope of qualifying, leaving an awful, and almost training ground atmosphere. At times it was quite eerie inside the ground.

It’s overdue for the FAW to leave the home of Welsh rugby and make a new home for itself at the Cardiff City Stadium just down the road. With a capacity of almost 27,000, the ground won’t look so empty the next time there’s a small eastern European nation in town, or fans just can’t be bothered to turn up.

A quick look at the attendances for Wales’ home qualifying games in for the World Cup 2010 shows that all five games could comfortably have been accommodated at the Cardiff City Stadium, had it been built then.

There might be a recession still kicking about, but you never see the Millennium Stadium with a crowd of less than 20,000 for a friendly involving the Wales rugby union team, even for a game against the sport’s international minnows.

Yet even the arrival of Germany – one of football’s powerhouses -  could only attract a mere 26,064.

Wales are moving into a new era; they have a relatively young squad, with a number of players already settled in the Premier League or Championship, and those that aren’t, soon will.

With the exception of seasoned campaigners like Craig Bellamy, Danny Gabbidon, Rob Earnshaw and Simon Davies, the majority of the Wales squad are inexperienced on the big stage. With each failure to qualify comes an experience, and as the players mature, Wales will become even stronger.

Their failure against Russia was down to their performance; they did threaten several times on the counter attack, but were wasteful in front of goal. That has been true of their World Cup qualifying campaign so far, with just six goals scored in their eight games.

Compare that to other countries currently fourth in their respective groups, and the difference is staggering. Israel have scored 17, while the Czech Republic have 15 in a group where fifth-place Poland have 19. Belgium have 11 goals, one more than Belarus - in a group where fifth-placedKazakhstan have 10. And these are just the countries in double figures.

Some might argue that some of them are coming up against the minnows of European football, the likes of San Marino and Andorra who really should be hammered in every game. That may be so, but Wales had to play Liechtenstein and Azerbaijan  – not exactly the most watertight defences in Europe.

I’ve yet to understand why there is apathy in Wales when it comes to international football, particularly when they boast two teams in the Championship, arguably the most competitive league in the world. They have a number of young players graduating from the Cardiff City academy and stepping up to the Under-21s, with many tipped for a bright Premier League future.

Yet game after game, fans just don’t turn up. Even back in March against Finand, Wales could manage just 22,604 for what was a must-win game. It’s times like those when you need a packed ground with a little hostility and a lot of support for your players.

Perhaps some of the problems are to do with the ambitions of the Football Association of Wales, who have failed to appreciate the situation.

Wales is a small nation, and one with a very noticeable north-south divide. Anyone who has travelled from one to the other knows it isn’t the easiest journey, by car or train, and on a Wednesday night, it is a logistical nightmare.

There is no quick route, and a trip to Cardiff from somewhere like Bangor, or even Wrexham, can become expensive if you have to take time off work to stay over.

If Wales want to continue hosting games at the Millennium Stadium to attract the biggest possible crowd, they need to try to schedule as many of their home games as possible on a Saturday.

The alternative for midweek games comes in the form of the smaller stadia, based largely in south Wales which would be fitting for the majority of their matches.

In addition to the Cardiff City Stadium, there is the Liberty Stadium in Swansea, with a capacity of almost 21,000, and Llanelli’s Parc Y Scarlets, able to host 14,000. In north Wales, the Racecourse Ground in Wrexham – considerably older than the others – can accommodate up to 15,000, but has the downside of not being all-seater yet, and in a town that lacks a lot of the glamour and convenience that Cardiff has.

The Under-21s rotate between the other stadia, and until 1989 it was the way the senior squad played there home games.

My preference would be to use the Cardiff City Stadium, but with the Cardiff Blues RFU side also playing there, in addition to Cardiff City, it might just be too much for the pitch to take on a cold, wet night in October.

A rotation policy could work well for Wales if the FAW were to revert to the old ways. And if a qualifier against England comes calling, or Wales are in with a chance of qualifying and expecting 50,000 or more to turn up, then the game could be played at the Millennium Stadium - if the Welsh Rugby Union allow them to, that is.