Action Replay – Conversion problems
There are currently four professional rugby union clubs in Wales: Cardiff, Dragons, Ospreys and Scarlets (the last three playing in Newport, Swansea and Llanelli respectively). The Welsh Rugby Union (WRU), however, has described this situation as unsustainable. This is partly on financial grounds, with Cardiff going into temporary administration earlier this year and being taken over by the WRU. Also, the Welsh international men’s side (once one of the world’s top teams) has been faring very badly, losing eighteen matches in a row.
The WRU originally proposed a system of just two clubs, each with a men’s and women’s team, featuring mainly players who are qualified to represent Wales. But this was then changed to three teams, one in Cardiff, one in the east (Dragons) and one in the west, which would in effect mean only one of Ospreys and Scarlets surviving, whether by means of a merger or a take-over. All this is complicated by the situation concerning Cardiff, with various parties potentially interested in buying the club.
The second tier of Welsh rugby, the semi-professional Super Rygbi Cymru, has called for more investment in their own league and also in women’s rugby and the academy structure. With just three full-time clubs, players from the SRC would find it harder to step up to the higher level. Talk of investment is easy, but actually finding the funds is something else. Rugby generally is struggling financially, with even the English game losing £43m last year.
Elsewhere in rugby union there has been a proposed breakaway global competition called Rugby 360 (R360). It is fronted by Mike Tindall, a former England international married to one of the king’s nieces. The idea would be for there to be a number of teams or franchises – eight for men, four for women – who would play in major cities around the world, with matches scheduled to fit in with international and other commitments. R360 claim to have agreements with nearly two hundred men players and have made offers to some players in the recent Women’s World Cup.
But they may have problems putting all this into practice. Most national unions have ruled that anyone who signs up for R360 would be barred from playing international games. Their statement said, ‘The R360 model, as outlined publicly, rather appears designed to generate profits and return them to a very small elite.’ Sounds just like an ordinary capitalist business, then.
PB