WRU confirm proposal to only have 2 professional men sides in Wales

https://ymlaencymru.com/consultation...1zS3HVitdXTQKQ

Any thoughts on this? Not clear if the regions will have to join or theyll kill them all and make 2 new teams?

Not sure where either team would play?

2 professional men sides and 2 professional women sides so still 4 professional teams in total?

Massively retrograde step. I hope there is very strong pushback against the WRU.

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Originally Posted by JamesWales

Massively retrograde step. I hope there is very strong pushback against the WRU.

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My gut says the consultation will fall apart and nothing will change.

The WRU should be outright put out of its misery at this point, and something else should be established to replace it.

Interesting the WRU chairman actually said on camera as justification "we think going forward there are fans of players rather than fans of teams". Interesting take!

you could build a v nice swimming pool where the stadium now is. Oops silly me there was one. I learnt to swim there in the 60's.

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Originally Posted by Father Dougal

Interesting the WRU chairman actually said on camera as justification "we think going forward there are fans of players rather than fans of teams". Interesting take!

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This just sums up the WRU, especially a few days after the country's most popular and marketable player decided to sign for a team in England.

I initially thought this whole thing was a negotiating tactic to make the uneven funding model more palatable, but if they're coming out and saying their preferred option is two teams then what's the point.

The proposed rise in funding wouldn't scratch the surface of making either team competitive, either. And the trade-off is losing an entire generation of fans, who will have no connection to "West Wales RFC" or "Carport OrangeBlues" - and who will most certainly not support the rival region that usurps them.

It's not ideal but the best-case scenario for me is to retain the four clubs, and if that's on an uneven funding basis, so be it. Leinster have a far bigger budget than the other Irish provinces and it works there. If that means the clubs themselves have to find new revenue streams or even go the South Africa route of having sponsored teams, so be it: it's better than losing what few genuine Welsh rugby fans are still left, and having to start from scratch all over again.

I think it's the best idea they have had for decades.

Regional rugby has failed. Nationally (GB), rugby's decline is gathering pace; it tried to be pro football and failed.

Wales is too parochial; they need village A to be better than village B. Most fans are armchair experts rather than ticket-buying attendees. Going back to Cardiff RFC, Newport, Ponty, Swansea, Turks, Merthyr, and even a north Wales team allows fans to return "home".

You then have the option to watch half of the Wales team. Play in the English system and offer season ticket holders first dibs on Wales tickets, and the controversy will be a distant memory.

They will mess it up thoughm the WRU's only role is to make Vinny and Co look competent

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Originally Posted by llan bluebird

I think it's the best idea they have had for decades.

Regional rugby has failed. Nationally (GB), rugby's decline is gathering pace; it tried to be pro football and failed.

Wales is too parochial; they need village A to be better than village B. Most fans are armchair experts rather than ticket-buying attendees. Going back to Cardiff RFC, Newport, Ponty, Swansea, Turks, Merthyr, and even a north Wales team allows fans to return "home".

You then have the option to watch half of the Wales team. Play in the English system and offer season ticket holders first dibs on Wales tickets, and the controversy will be a distant memory.

They will mess it up thoughm the WRU's only role is to make Vinny and Co look competent

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THIS

Playing in the English leagues is Avery good idea (but not proposed here). The lack of promotion and relegation is a bit problem, the closing off or success to tonnes of clubs (Ponty, Pontypool, Neath, Bridgend, Ebbw Vale etc) is a big issue. All of these clubs were comparable to Gloucester or even Bath a couple of decades back. Newport and Scarlets certainly were and now get about a third of the crowds.

This will cut two more teams. Create two weird regions who will presumably have limited connections to fans, and still probably not compete with the top England and friends sides.

It's a huge mess. The WRU are an absolute state. An organisation not fit for purpose any more in my opinion.

Merge with the English league lock stock and barrel would be the best idea. Let the teams compete. Let the best rise to the top

I didn't understand why they don't compete in an English/Wales league... Maybe the English don't want them. Instead this have 2 South African clubs???
English rugby is a lot more competitive and have greater financial gains.
I can't see the dragons remaining. There has to be a Cardiff team.
It's trickier to the West where Llanelli have their own stadium.. but the ospreys are having an upgrade of St Helens

I think the two men's teams and the two woman's teams should join together, and then have four mixed teams.

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Originally Posted by llan bluebird

I think it's the best idea they have had for decades.

Regional rugby has failed. Nationally (GB), rugby's decline is gathering pace; it tried to be pro football and failed.

Wales is too parochial; they need village A to be better than village B. Most fans are armchair experts rather than ticket-buying attendees. Going back to Cardiff RFC, Newport, Ponty, Swansea, Turks, Merthyr, and even a north Wales team allows fans to return "home".

You then have the option to watch half of the Wales team. Play in the English system and offer season ticket holders first dibs on Wales tickets, and the controversy will be a distant memory.

They will mess it up thoughm the WRU's only role is to make Vinny and Co look competent

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Yeah i think best way forward is kill all regions and turn clock back to 2002 and go back to the clubs you mention above. The league will be good and the teams can have the 2 mil each from the WRU.

The top players wont be there but the talented welsh lads all go to hartbury college at 16 anyway and play for english clubs so stop trying to compete with these silly made up teams which will be crap anyway.

Remember when Cardiff and Swansea went on strike and wanted to join the English league?

The Regions were a disaster.
History and heritage given away for a few years of National Team Sucess.

How could The Scarlets and The Cardiff Blues ever be considered to be anything but a simple rebranding of what they were.

The Newport Gwent Dragons ostracized a lot of Newport RFC fans and with the exception of fans from Newbridge, Cross Keys and a few others, fans from other clubs wouldn’t go near Rodney Parade...Ebbw Vale and Pontypool particularly, even though the name Newport and then Gwent was dropped.

Pontypridd and Bridgend were screwed over royally.

The only region that did make an effort were The Ospreys as in Swansea and Neath, merging.

When I go home, if I’m not watching City…I try to take in a Newport RFC game.
My old man and his mates are still Dragons Season ticket holders but the passion and history isn’t there.

Rugby in general is pig shit as a spectator sport nowadays.
Sorry for any offence, but Wales games are full of Women wearing daffodil hats and there isn’t a 1/4 of the passion that there used to be.

I would honestly like to go back to how it was and let the best Welsh players go play where the money is if they are good enough.
Let the clubs play amateurly how it was.
Before the boot money which started way before professionalism.

I remember Newport RFC playing in the Schweppes Cup and I cared.
In the unlikely hood of The Dragons winning whatever the Heineken Cup is is now…I wouldn’t give a hoot.

So the day where both Welsh Football and Rugby Union are gonna have to go cap in hand to England for regular competitiveness gets closer.

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Originally Posted by William Treseder

So the day where both Welsh Football and Rugby Union are gonna have to go cap in hand to England for regular competitiveness gets closer.

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What point are you trying to get over?
Would you rather CCFC in a Welsh league?

The logical conclusion to all this is we have one region called something like Wales Development and then some bright spark thinks let’s drop the word Development. One of the first rugby games I went to was Cardii v Newport in the old Arm’s Park when the old North Stand had been knocked down. The teams played each other four times a season back then and Newport had never won all four before, but they came into this game having won three out of three. The game was a sell out which meant something 40,000 turned up and Cardiff held on to draw 6-6 I think it was. If you told the thousands of Newport fans who turned up that night that one day they’d have to come to Cardiff to see a team called East Wales represent them they’d have laughed in your face. That situation will be repeated all over Wales in much the same way as it was thirty years ago when regional rugby was created - it didn’t work then and it’s hard to see it working now. How can rugby claim to be Wales’ national sport when it will only have two “elite” teams that the large majority of fans will not want to support?

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Originally Posted by William Treseder

So the day where both Welsh Football and Rugby Union are gonna have to go cap in hand to England for regular competitiveness gets closer.

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What have I missed? What is the reference to footy about here?

BTW, I really don't care about rugby anymore- all hope is lost; it has become too brutal and boring. Any last semblance to the game of skill and grace of days gone by finally removed by a combination of steroids, stupidity and selfishness. On the plus side, I believe that Welsh football is already starting to reap the reward of rugby's decline, as the well-balanced, speedy and gifted fly-halves, centres and wingers of days gone by are now lured by the bright lights of Leckwith. Always a positive.

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Originally Posted by Wash DC Blue

What point are you trying to get over?
Would you rather CCFC in a Welsh league?

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The point I’m getting over, is obvious.
We can’t sustain ourselves in Wales when it comes to Football and now it seems, rugby union.
What do you think the average attendance would be at the CCS if we played in a Welsh league.
What calibre of player would we be able to afford or attract ?

The regional concept has never been bought into in Wales,it didn’t take rocket science to know that valley fans, especially from Ponty would never go down to Cardiff to support the blues, for years Ponty were a bigger,better supported side than Cardiff, imagine trying to combine Say Liverpool and Man Utd and play all games at Anfield?. It’s going to be a long hard road ahead for the WRU,to be honest I gave up caring a long time ago.

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Originally Posted by Boanagers

The regional concept has never been bought into in Wales,it didn't take rocket science to know that valley fans, especially from Ponty would never go down to Cardiff to support the blues

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Which is why it's so insane that the WRU want to double down and start merging teams again.

I think most people agree regionalisation was a bad idea in the first place, but it happened and the WRU should be focusing on how to boost revenues, manage each region's roles, and engage new fans - not just make irreversible changes and cut everything back to save a few millon.

It's interesting to note that the WRU hold the licenses to play in the URC, whereas in the English Prem it's the clubs themselves. So it wouldn't surprise me in a few years to see the Scarlets (or an iteration of) playing in the English system if, as expected, they get shafted in this shake-up.

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Originally Posted by FormerlyJohnnyBreadhead

Which is why it's so insane that the WRU want to double down and start merging teams again.

I think most people agree regionalisation was a bad idea in the first place, but it happened and the WRU should be focusing on how to boost revenues, manage each region's roles, and engage new fans - not just make irreversible changes and cut everything back to save a few millon.

It's interesting to note that the WRU hold the licenses to play in the URC, whereas in the English Prem it's the clubs themselves. So it wouldn't surprise me in a few years to see the Scarlets (or an iteration of) playing in the English system if, as expected, they get shafted in this shake-up.

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Yep thats the answer that is attractive.

We have bristol bath gloucester on our doorstep who would bring thousands to away games and vice versa- but currently the welsh teams are flying to ireland scotland italy and even south bloody africa for normal league games! Insane.

The Welsh sides have to play in the Premier. Without that income, they are just going backwards, and the national side is going the same way. Problem is, I can't see the English RFU going for it. Unless they start up a Division 2, and let the Welsh sides join that, and try to win promotion.

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Originally Posted by tforturton

The Welsh sides have to play in the Premier. Without that income, they are just going backwards, and the national side is going the same way. Problem is, I can't see the English RFU going for it. Unless they start up a Division 2, and let the Welsh sides join that, and try to win promotion.

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Yeah as someone else said if funded by WRU they wont be allowed in. But fan/community/privately owned they will be. Hope one of them makes a break away to england and becomes successful and sticks 2 fingers up to the WRU.

Like the irate 8 did to the FAW!