Apparently they're on the verge of insolvency and a takeover by the WRU is imminent.
Professional sport in Cardiff is in a sorry state of affairs.
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Apparently they're on the verge of insolvency and a takeover by the WRU is imminent.
Professional sport in Cardiff is in a sorry state of affairs.
Cardiff is arguably the worst sports supporting major city in the UK by the citys own inhabitants.
Forgive my ignorance, is Cardiff Rugby a separate entity from the regional side, Cardiff Blues?Quote:
Originally Posted by LeningradCowboy
Cardiff Rugby is the team that was previously called Cardiff Blues.Quote:
Originally Posted by Rock_Flock_of_Five
Seems like poor finances is something that is catching up to a lot of rugby clubs even in richer leagues. At least some of those clubs had some good times along the way, Cardiff haven't.
i think this is a franchise team not the old cardiff :shrug:Quote:
Originally Posted by Trigger
Administration, not Insolvency.
If they went insolvent there wouldn't be anything for the WRU to take over.
By what metric? Over the past few years we’ve got a football team that’s averaged 15k-20k, a rugby team averaging ~8k and an Ice Hockey team averaging 3k.Quote:
Originally Posted by J R Hartley
I’d guess that’s better ratios per population than the likes of Reading, Milton Keynes, Norwich, Bournemouth, Peterborough and probably several other cities depending on your definition of “major”.
how many do Glamorgan or Welsh Fire get?Quote:
Originally Posted by Canton Kev
Apparently 7k-10k depending on different sources. But I don’t know cricket so I don’t know which tournaments are what.Quote:
Originally Posted by Rjk
2018 could be argued that Cardiff’s sporting teams were very successful.
Football promotion to PL.
Rugby won the equivalent of the UEFA cup.
Ice Hockey won league and playoffs.
Quote:
Originally Posted by The Bloop
Administration is a form of insolvency. It is not Liquidation but still insolvency - a business has to be insolvent to enter Administration
And Geraint Thomas won the Tour De France!Quote:
Originally Posted by 19bluebirds27
None of those are major cities and half of Cardiff City FCs support isn’t even from Cardiff!Quote:
Originally Posted by Canton Kev
Thanks. My bad.Quote:
Originally Posted by Ninian1962
Is Sunderland a major city in your eyes? The football team gets ~35k but that’s pretty much it as far as sports goes. There’s no major rugby, cricket, basketball or ice hockey teams in the city.Quote:
Originally Posted by J R Hartley
Surely Sunderland should be considered a worse “[B]sports[B\] supporting city” when their next best supported sport measures their crowds in the tens or low hundreds.
:hehe:Quote:
Originally Posted by Canton Kev
Their football team dwarf Cardiff football, rugby and ice hockey put together.
By the way, Welsh Fire / Glamorgan represent a country / county, that is not a Cardiff sports team.
Next you’ll be arguing for the crowds at Wales Egg, which is mainly made up of women from the valleys.
You said sports, plural. Sunderland has one singular well supported team.Quote:
Originally Posted by J R Hartley
On Jan 1st both Cardiff Rugby and Cardiff City played at home at 3pm. The rugby had a crowd of 12,100 and the football was 19,100.
On the 25th both teams again played on the same day. The rugby had 11,700 and the football 19,500.
So 31k+ on both occasions excluding the Devils. Pretty comparable to Sunderland after all it seems.
welsh fire does not represent a country they are a combination of glamorgan, gloucester and somersetQuote:
Originally Posted by J R Hartley
Going off the ‘attendances’ thing, I often wonder had rugby not been the sport in this area that had been foisted on us from a young age, very different from the majority of English towns & cities, how many top rugby players would have made it as top footballers. I’m thinking of some of the outstanding half backs, centres, wingers that Wales have produced, not so much now but, over the years. Our pool of sporting youth is quite small given our population and to be split between the two sports dilutes it even more.Quote:
Originally Posted by Canton Kev
Similar size countries such as Uruguay, Croatia have shone on the world football stage due to the football, football, football mantra bred into them from toddlers. I’d imagine. I s’pose rugby aficionados could say the same vice-versa but that doesn’t concern me.
That is true of Croatia but not sure about Uruguay.Quote:
Originally Posted by splott parker
Rugby is a major sport in Uruguay and they have been quite successful in recent decades.
Wales population: 3,107,500. Registered Rugby Union players: 79,800.
Uruguay population: 3,388,000. Registered Rugby Union players: 37,463.
Either way, they are not a Cardiff sports team.Quote:
Originally Posted by poc
But is rugby the sport that’s, more or less, religiously preached in their schools or is it a sport that failed footballers pick up later in life?Quote:
Originally Posted by jon1959
Not comparable in the slightest.Quote:
Originally Posted by Canton Kev
Go off the average attendances, not cherry pick when they had a good weekend of attendances over the festive season, and taken into account the size of the city's its not even close.
Also, as you keep avoiding the point, I will repeat it again - Half of Cardiff City FCs support is not even from the City so make sure you divide Cardiff City FCs average attendance in half when you perform another round of mental gymnastics to try and support your opinion.
Rugby definitely has a presence in Uruguay. They have a professional team in the Super Rugby Americas league, which is for South American teams. I don't think the team -Penerol rugby (tied to the massive football team of the same name)- ever get more than s few thousand though.
You can see on their main sports paper website, rugby is the third tab but it's way way behind football.
https://www.elpais.com.uy/ovacion
They do play entertaining stuff mind and beat Fiji in the 2019 world cup!
Cardiff Rugby's average crowds since Covid as follows:Quote:
Originally Posted by J R Hartley
24/25: 8,456
23/24: 9,243
22/23: 7,267
21/22: 7,819
I think a different league, more success, more consistent kick off times and even better prices (can be nearly £30 for a match day ticket on the open north terrace if purchased on the day) would see higher crowds though. I don't think Cardiff is a particularly rugby-mad city but I think we are more so than the crowd figures suggest.
Welsh clubs are now seriously behind rivals in Ireland, France, England, Japan, NZ, SA and Aus. Scotland and Italy have caught up. Even some American teams get crowds better than the Ospreys and Dragons
They also play less than half the amount of home games that football do. Shit crowds for a supposedly rugby mad country that has only 3 teams you can support in top flight rugby.Quote:
Originally Posted by JamesWales
Yeah that's true. In terms of total attendance over the course of a season, the difference between City and Cardiff Rugby is even starker.Quote:
Originally Posted by J R Hartley
There are four teams in the 'top flight' mind..Cardiff, Ospreys, Dragons and Scarlets.
They also benefit from a prime location with Arms ParkQuote:
Originally Posted by J R Hartley
They hated the 50 mile hike to the CCS when they relocated there:hehe:Quote:
Originally Posted by City123
We’ve always had to rely on the hill Billy’s from the sticks. Nothing new there.Quote:
Originally Posted by J R Hartley
Mind you, I’ve always been glad to have been born in the Capital. Last time I drove through Merthyr, it looked like they were auditioning for a remake of The Hills Have Eyes.
I’m “cherrypicking” games based on when both teams are at home at the same time so there’s no question about people attending both sports. Something you no doubt would’ve mentioned.Quote:
Originally Posted by J R Hartley
It’s rare it happens, but for both instances it has happened this season, over 30,000 individual people have attended a sports event in Cardiff at the same time.
Does every single Sunderland fan walk to the ground for their games? Not a single person travels from Blyth, Durham, Whitley, Seaham or any of the other number of towns in the area? It won’t be half, but it’s more likely to be in the thousands rather than hundreds.
Maybe Sunderland is a better supported Sport city, but Cardiff is certainly a better supported Sports city. You should be careful how you word things, some people are pedantic :hehe:
https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/rugby-un...s/cx2ww03epd1o
The Welsh Rugby Union (WRU) has taken control of Cardiff Rugby after the club's legal entity was placed temporarily into administration by its directors.
The development was expected after Wales' capital city side had served a notice of intent (NOI) to appoint an administrator for Cardiff Rugby Limited.
That decision was made once it became clear the club's owner, Helford Capital, who secured an 84.5% majority stake in January 2024, was unable to meet its obligations to fund the club as it was contractually obliged to do.
Immediately following the appointment of PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC), the administrator sold the club's business and assets to the WRU.
The WRU say Cardiff players and staff will be unaffected by the sale and fixtures will be fulfilled, with season and match tickets remaining valid.
Sobering thought for Cardiff rugby fans that an organisation that’s overseen 17 straight defeats by the main team in their charge now running their club.
Very true, what you reckon about 1 to 2% follow ccfc? If you consider penarth at least as part of the city it’s got to be pushing 400,000 then there’s Barry, Caerphilly with a field or two in between and the forgotten town of Newport. 700,000 people and barely any go? It’s weird.Quote:
Originally Posted by J R Hartley
When Did they change name? News to me…..but I don’t ever see or hear any thing rugby to be honestQuote:
Originally Posted by LeningradCowboy
Yeah that’s shite, how many of the 18000 come from Cardiff itself for the football? The rugby don’t get 8k and most of the devils support is from outside tooQuote:
Originally Posted by Canton Kev
Did it move location from Swansea then?Quote:
Originally Posted by William Treseder
Hes confused bless him. He was looking at himself in the rear view mirror.Quote:
Originally Posted by goats
Don’t start him off again ffs. :hehe:Quote:
Originally Posted by goats
20+8+3 equates to more than 40 if you listen to him.