Quote Originally Posted by Eric the Half a Bee View Post
I think I'm right in saying that in rugby, the Welsh regions would collapse if they didn't receive significant funding from the WRU. Football is maybe the opposite to most sports, where the club game is bigger and more financially important than international level.
In most sports the clubs feed the international teams with players, but the international teams sell the television rights. On that basis its only fair that the International side funds the lower level or they will have no players to sell the product of international sport.

The premier league is a phenomena in itself. It sell its own right for huge sums, and doesn't really care about international performance.