As the Ospreys struggle for results and appear ever more vulnerable to losing their best players, Owen Morgan has a radical solution – one that’s common enough elsewhere from Bristol to Barcelona.
With Swansea City’s takeover of the Liberty Stadium apparently imminent, the club should take another arguably bolder and even more beneficial step forward.
It’s a step I believe would also be hugely advantageous to their fellow tenants at the Morfa ground, making the Ospreys more resilient to the kind of raid which has lured star outside-half Dan Biggar away to Northampton in a £600,000 deal.
Despite this, I suspect many rugby and football followers in the city aren’t going to like what I’m about to suggest, but here goes . . .
I think football club should invest in the Ospreys and create a new Swansea City Sporting Club.
I would imagine the majority of Swans fans wouldn’t be happy joining forces with the “egg-chasers”.
And I’m sure Ospreys supporters wouldn’t be happy to jump into bed with a bunch of what they like to describe as “Wendyballers”.
But bear with me for a while here.
My suggestion isn’t as bad as it first sounds. The Swans would still be the Swans and the Ospreys would still be the Ospreys.
It’s just that they would come under the umbrella of one sporting organisation.
Not only would the Swans and the Ospreys share the Liberty Stadium, they would share everything else in any area where skills and facilities could easily be transferred between the two organisations.
I’m not suggesting Alun Wyn Jones turns out in goal for the Swans, or that Leon Britton plays second-row for the Ospreys.
Although, admit it, the latter would be quite fun to see! The Ospreys pack certainly wouldn’t have any problem lifting little Leon at the line-out! And I’m sure there are a few Premier League centre forwards who would back off seeing Alun Wyn leaping through the air to claim a cross.
The playing staff may not be interchangeable, but what about finance, administration, marketing, press and publicity?
The Swans are actively trying to raise their profile and set up a market in America. With the recent news that the expanding Pro14 will soon welcome a team from across the Atlantic, the Ospreys could also piggy-back those efforts.
Obviously, on the coaching side, Paul Clement isn’t going to work on the Ospreys’ scrum and Steve Tandy won’t organise the Swans at set pieces, but what about the fields of sports science, medicine, nutrition, physiotherapy etc? Facilities and expertise could all be shared and ideas swapped.
If the Ospreys have knowledge that could help the Swans in any of these areas, then share it, and vice versa.
Perhaps the two organisations already work closely together and exchange ideas, I don’t know. But surely, if they were all under one sporting organisation, any transfer of knowledge or practice would be far easier.
Before staff at the two organisations start getting twitchy fearing this would become an exercise in cutting staff, that isn’t the objective.
Both organisations would retain their experts in their respective fields, but they would work more closely together.
A financial investment by the Swans would make the Ospreys far more resilient, and potential generate more money, making both of Swansea’s major sports clubs more resilient.
At the moment, the Swans obviously generate far more money than the Ospreys could dream of, but who’s to say the gap will always be that wide? Look where the Swans were 15 years ago. And who’s to say what the expansion of the Pro14 could bring?
Strengthening the Ospreys squad considerably would only take a fraction of what it takes to strengthen the Swans squad.
For the price of a decent back-up Premier League full-back, the Ospreys squad could be hugely enhanced.
A relatively small and careful financial investment could recruit two or three marquee signings to supplement the current playing staff. The injection of cash could also help nurture and keep the already hugely rich seam of local talent, enabling the Ospreys to challenge the big guns of European rugby for the highest honours in the game.
Success at that level would bring in finance and bigger crowds. Surely seeing the Liberty packed every week for rugby and football matches would be more efficient and productive for all concerned . . . especially if the Swans do take over the stadium.
While the Leon Britton playing second-row scenario is clearly a laughable one, who’s to say there couldn’t be some transference of talent between the two codes at a far younger age.
At present, junior rugby and football clubs all around the country battle against each other in a bid to attract young players.
Instead of a rigid system where rugby is rugby and football is football and never the twain shall meet, why not promote a far more flexible approach at every level?
Natural ball players are natural ball players, whether it’s with an oval ball or a round one. The area has a rich history of producing talent equally adept with the round ball and the oval one . . . the great Gareth Edwards probably being the most notable.
More recently, former Swans product Ben Davies was an outstanding schoolboy outside-half at Ysgol Gyfun Ystalyfera, while the Ospreys’ rising star Sam Davies was on the Swans books until he chose the oval ball game.
However, some are not so lucky. If they don’t make it in their original chosen field, they are sometimes lost to sport altogether.
Others may have their development delayed in their eventual chosen sport, for example football, because they persevered too long with rugby before their potential was spotted.
If all talented ball players were coached and monitored under the umbrella of one sporting organisation, perhaps decisions could be made earlier regarding the player’s natural aptitude for one sport or the other.
Switching from one sporting section within the same organisation to the other would be seamless and not involve some of the upheaval and stigma currently experienced by players moving from rugby clubs to football clubs and vice versa.
Anyway, isn’t it time we put an end to this rugby v football debate.? Isn’t it better to encourage our kids just to play sport . . . whatever the shape of ball?
And why keep it to rugby and football? Other sports could be brought under the umbrella of the sporting club, boosting all-round sporting participation in Swansea.
Given the current ownership, American football anyone?! Okay, perhaps that’s going a step too far, but there are plenty of other sports which could benefit from coming under the umbrella of a Swansea City Sporting Club.
Swansea Harriers have just been promoted to the Premier Division of the British Athletics League, where they will next season compete against some of the biggest domestic names in the sport. Surely they would benefit from a close relationship with the Swans and the Ospreys and all the professional facilities and resources at their disposal.
Imagine what the back-room staff at the Swans and the Ospreys could do to help some of the Harriers’ athletes.
And what about the Harriers utilising some of the young academy rugby and football players during the summer athletics season?
Competing or simply training with the Harriers, or other south west Wales -based athletics clubs, such as Neath Harriers or Bridgend Athletics Club, during the summer would also help keep players fit during the close season.
All this could be done under the close supervision of the rugby, football and athletics coaches.
Perhaps the footballers and rugby players could learn something from the likes of the Harriers’ Josh Griffiths, who recently competed for Great Britain in the marathon at the World Athletics Championships in London and has a Masters in sports coaching.
If you don’t think this kind of multi-sport club can work, let me throw a name at you . . . FC Barcelona.
They’ve been doing this for years. As well as the massively successful football section, Barcelona run a number of other sports sections, including, you guessed it, a rugby team.
Tactics from the club’s highly successful professional basketball, futsal and handball teams are combined with the football section to create a philosophy on how sport should be played.
FC Barcelona’s famous pressing and quick passing across the opposition’s box is a common tactic for its handball team. The football team have also learned from basketball attacking drills and during Pep Guardiola’s time as coach, top water polo player Manuel Estiarte shared his knowledge with the football department.
“Barcelona is one of the richest clubs in terms of value, knowledge and talent,” says the club’s Head of Sports Technology Raul Pelaez.
“Not a club that can compete with Manchester City, Real Madrid and Chelsea in terms of money however, but whose culture has created an environment where the talented learn from the very best at a young age.
“The entire operation is open-plan, so everybody has access to one another regardless of their position or power, allowing knowledge to be shared naturally and with relative ease.”
The Swans have been compared to Barcelona on the field in the past . . . and with great success. What about adopting some of their principles off the field too?