The opening rounds of the British and Irish Cup produced a string of poor results for the newly-created Welsh Premiership Select teams. Only the Scarlets Premiership Select VX won (twice) among the opening eight matches featuring Welsh sides and there were some heavy defeats for the Cardiff Blues and the Ospreys. Owen Robins argues that the failure to keep Pontypridd in the tournament – and grow the club into a region – is a costly mistake.

 

Former Wales and World Cup winning coach Graham Henry stated the following about the creation of a so called regional structure in Welsh rugby.

“How one of the franchise teams was not based in Pontypridd has always been a mystery to me. That enormous passion for the game in Wales seemed to me to have its backbone in the Valleys, and Pontypridd lead that.”

Well, Graham – nothing has changed. We are in 2016 and the Valleys are still the heart of Welsh rugby. Pontypridd and the Valleys are still a core, viable and real rugby region waiting for the mystery to be solved.

When Pontypridd RFC went to away games in the B&I Cup it was great to watch the shock and surprise of the English/Irish/ Scots home supporters at the scale, noise and numbers of Valley Commandos entering their ground. The shock turned to want as time after time fully pro teams were beaten by the Pont. This Valleys team had real soul.

Compare that to the almost non-existent support for the regional Premiership select teams that replaced WRU clubs in this RFU club-based competition and you have a real problem. Add in the total lack of success of these teams without soul and you have a rugby disaster of epic proportions. To sum up the scale of this, read the following recent comment from a leading BBC Cornwall sports reporter.

http://

I love Welsh rugby but @WelshRugbyUnion can we please have your club sides back in #bandicup pic.twitter.com/IrauoGrAQv

— Dick Straughan (@DickStraughan) October 23, 2016

This dis-jointed system is having a huge impact on crowds supporting our great Welsh rugby clubs. As my blog below shows, some great clubs like Cardiff and Llanelli are now only getting a few hundred as their home gate. This is a direct result of an unstructured system.The intention, as detailed in a WRU press release on the creation of Premiership select teams, was to also submit these sides in the Anglo-Welsh Cup. It is worth noting that the WRU have now allowed regional “A” teams to be entered in this similar development tournament. This is just another example of the sheer scale of disunity and dis-jointed systems that pretend regions are creating.

https://owenins.wordpress.com/2016/10/25/welsh-rugby-unity-where-are-the-crowds-2016-update/

A national newspaper poll asked why the current Welsh rugby regional structure was not well supported. The poll results showed that the No.1 ossue was a lack of affinity. For the majority of fans, the home ground, colours, and name of one city-based club – which also has a semi-pro team with the same name – is not what regional rugby is about. For others, it is called the Great Welsh Rugby Lie – See Ponty article below on this.

http://www.ponty.net/this-is-my-truth-tell-me-yours

The fact is that we have a structure in place, one which has faltered and failed for the past 10 years, based on a concept of “regions” that simply do not exist.

Pontypridd and its Valleys supporters have no problem with affinity. We know what we are and what we stand for – we are Valleys people. We have a worldwide-known brand and a landscape made for rugby. It is a national disgrace that the most regional Welsh team is not represented in the top tier of Welsh rugby.

The English Championship clubs would be delighted to play a Valleys club on a regular basis. Games against Bedford, London Scottish, London Irish, Yorkshire, Cornwall etc. would be well supported, create real investment, enhance TV monies and provide a huge boost to Welsh rugby.

Welsh rugby needs the Valleys to engage with pro rugby. We need unity, reform and real regions that all clubs can identify and have affinity with. Rugby hurts. The badge matters. As Munster have recently shown, the bond between fans and team is vital. New Zealand is a great example of a regional structure that works. All we have to do is copy and paste in Welsh.

The alternative is almost unthinkable. It is a future with Pontypridd and other great clubs acting as feeder clubs to unloved pretend regions and pretend regional “A” teams in the B&I and Anglo Welsh Cups, development split leagues where clubs do not know who they are playing in the second half of a season, and a broken bond between the majority of fans and WRU teams.

We have come to a point of no return. The WRU has created a structure that divides, lacks affinity and is damaging our national game. Instead of a system that all clubs and fans can support we have a failing and broken backbone.

The WRU must decide.

Vote YES – To return to a real Union that all can support.

Vote NO – For a divided Union that can break up.

The End Game is here.