The inherent criticism of the WRU and its approach to regional rugby cab sometimes indicate a basic lack of understanding of the situation. The WRU were faced with financial crisis due to Covid 19 several years back. That meant like so many others at the time that they took a huge financial hit that financially crippled the Welsh rugby regions from which they are still recovering.
Of course so did all clubs in the UK but the financial club set for clubs in England and Wales is somewhat different.
The financial resources available to fund rugby in England greatly exceed that of Wales. There are no multi-millionaire owners of rugby clubs in Wales, however, in England there are multiple examples, Craig, Rowe, Orange, Lansdown etc. Take away those benefactors and English clubs are in PRECISELY the same situation that the regions find themselves now in. should the RFU have to fund professional clubs they would find it almost impossible.
It’s all about the money.
The bare facts are that there is simply not enough money to run 4 professional regional rugby clubs in Wales so the WRU decided to cut the number of regions to 2 then 3 to accommodate the rugby public following a consultation. Once that decision is made geography dictates one in the East, one in the West one in the capital. That is the logical decision implemented after the WRU brought in a CEO to establish financial security after the previous administration were accused of racism, misogyny and failing to modernise the WRU’s governance.
That they have now done and a big part of that has been the reform of regional rugby along with the introduction of the successful SRC (Super Rygbi Cymru). The logical decision given the income of the WRU was to reduce the number of regions purely and simply based on the money available.
Logic v Passion
Now that decision is where the problem starts for Welsh rugby. The current WRU set up is strongly business focussed however the Welsh rugby audience is not really business focussed but is basically driven by emotion and passion. For many who follow the Welsh regions it is unconscionable to consider losing ANY of the current rugby regions. Let’s face it Wales has only just recovered from the original implementation of the regions back in 2003/4 when the original 5 regions were created. Scarlets, Ospreys, Cardiff Blues, Dragons, and the short-lived Celtic Warriors. The reason stated at the time being to make ‘Welsh rugby more competitive in Europe’.
The current 3 club solution has imbued a strong feeling amongst the grass roots Welsh clubs, fans, players and pundits that the regional casualty that is the Ospreys should retain their place in Wales. with fans in tears at the prospect of their region’s demise. This would be been the exact same response had the decision been to cut Scarlets, the Dragons or Cardiff to achieve a 3 club regional rugby solution. In short a logical decision has very little chance of being approved given the local feelings emotion surrounding Welsh rugby clubs.
What is there a future for Regional Rugby?
There are basically two options now, one is that the WRU push through their reduced regions decision, which would mean the demise of Ospreys given Y11’s successful bid for the purchase of the Cardiff region. This would seem to mean that a version of Ospreys or Swansea RFC playing at a refurbished St Helens in the SRC. Alternatively the WRU submit to the intense emotional pressure and keep all 4 regions. Frankly it could go either way bearing in mind that there are some legal challenges underway.
What the current WRU management didn’t expect was the strength of the emotional response from Welsh fans and players. That response has caused more than one advocate of cutting the regions to change their mind, notably Sam Warburton who now believes Wales should struggle financially for a while and maintain 4 regions while Wales rebuild. He was originally an advocate of cutting 2 regions but has been swayed by the arguments that cutting regional rugby would be too detrimental to Welsh rugby.
What everyone in Wales is agreed on is that the Wales national side have to regain something akin to their former status. The current Welsh national side in their last 25 international games have only beaten Japan and were recently dominated by France in Cardiff at the Principality stadium. However, the U20s side only narrowly lost the both France and England having defeated England to deny them the title last season. There are therefore signs that an improvement is on the distant horizon.
Funded rugby or Contented Fans?
There is little doubt that the introduction of the SRC, the 10-team semi-professional league by the WRU in May 2024 has been a success. It is ironic that the current WRU hierarchy wanted to give the SRC and its semi pro players a bigger role in the development of clubs and players. The initial formation of the regions 22 years ago was to make Welsh rugby more professional by having fully professional teams so making Welsh rugby more competitive in Europe.
This is basically a reversal of Steve Moffet’s original 2003 proposal. It remains to be seen whether logic or emotion wins the day. The logical answer would at least mean that the diminished Welsh region were properly funded and Welsh academies were better organised giving a better rugby pathway for young players. The emotional response keeps the full quota of regional rugby teams in Wales but with little excess cash to do anything in addition.
As a final subscript for those over the border in England gloating over the poor performance of Welsh rugby they need remember that without millionaire benefactors English clubs would have the same painful and difficult decisions to make and one wonders how the RFU might handle that?
