A normal rugby nation would probably be discussing the freshly announced squad for the upcoming Men’s Six Nations. A normal rugby nation would probably be debating who should stand in for their injured captain and best player. A normal rugby nation would probably also be asking why, for the 4th campaign in a row, the national men’s team still has a coaching ticket that is 50% part-timers. Not Wales, thought, Wales aren’t normal.
A normal rugby nation would probably be discussing the freshly announced squad for the upcoming Men’s Six Nations. A normal rugby nation would probably be debating who should stand in for their injured captain and best player. A normal rugby nation would probably also be asking why, for the 4th campaign in a row, the national men’s team still has a coaching ticket that is 50% part-timers. Not Wales, thought, Wales aren’t normal.
The Six Nations squad has its big calls, the void left by Jac Morgan is vast and the coaching situation is still a mess. However, less than 24 hours before the squad was announced, there broke a news story that has managed to dwarf even the Six Nations in the WhatsApp groups and on the rugby podcasts all over Wales: the scandalous actions of one group of regional owners and how the WRU are getting them to do their dirty work for them.
It was reported on Monday night (the official press release came at 7:35pm) that the WRU had reach a ‘unanimous’ consensus on who should be the preferred buyer for Cardiff Rugby, whom they had been forced to rescue last year after the capital region entered administration. It was soon reported (not that it was ever in doubt) that the preferred buyer was Y11, the current owners of the Ospreys. It is expected that if the sale goes through, the Ospreys will be wound up and Y11’s attention will fully transfer to Cardiff, thus achieving the WRU’s 2 goals of cutting a region and offloading Cardiff into private ownership.
The news has sparked outrage. Ospreys fans, naturally, are heart broken and despairing at an owner who has sold them down the river. The treatment of the Ospreys fans has been shameful and will likely damage people’s relationship with rugby permanently. Promises of updates, off-field development and improved fan experience have been broken time and time again. Limp excuses have been offered for infrastructure delays and on-field results. Loyal people who love their rugby team have been taken for mugs.
Cardiff fans are nearly just as angry, saying their club will now forever be tarred with the brush of being responsible for another region going out of existence. There are also significant concerns about the trustworthiness of Y11 as owners of a rugby team, given their dreadful mismanagement and ultimate betrayal of the Ospreys.
There has also been a notable outcry from the Welsh rugby media and pundits, but it is difficult not to be deeply cynical about this. These people knew what was coming and have had inside information on the machinations of Y11 and the WRU for years but have either said nothing or, in many case, have promoted their actions as the right thing to do. The gasping and pearly clutching from them now, at the 11th hour (Y-11th hour?), is quite frankly outrageous.
The culture that has enabled the Ospreys to sink to this low ebb does deserve its own inquest. 10 years ago, they were attracting around 9,000 fans a week to a state-of-the-art facility in Wales’ 2nd city, easily the country’s best rugby team and regularly challenging for the semi-finals of the league. Now, they are also-rans playing in front of 4,000 fans at an aged semi-pro ground 25 miles down the road. Where was the accountability, and where were the people who were supposed to hold the leadership to account? A serious conversation needed, but for another day…
Do not, however, think for one second this is the beginning of the end. Getting to this point has been horrific for Welsh rugby fans and has dragged on for years, but the real fighting is just about to start. Here are just some of the battles we are set to witness over the next 12 months:
Cardiff fans will almost certainly protest a Y11 takeover. This could take the form of boycotts, marches or in-ground demonstrations. Either way, it will be ugly and deeply uncomfortable for all those involved.
Players under contract at the Ospreys will be forced to find new homes. Whether they simply get ‘re-allocated’ to other regions by the WRU or they must find their own way is yet to be seen, but it won’t be straightforward.
The stakeholders of the renovation at St Helens – Swansea RFC, Swansea Cricket Club and Swansea City Council – will challenge the disruption to that project. On Tuesday, Swansea council member Rob Stewart confirmed they will challenge the Ospreys closure and are open to pursuing legal means, whilst Swansea MP Torsten Bell called the WRU “disgraceful”.
The WRU is still under contract to field 4 pro teams in the United Rugby Championship until 2028. If they fail to do this they will be in breach of contract and subject to financial penalties. They cannot drop to 3 teams until a replacement from outside Wales is found, which may end up incurring yet further costs to the Welsh game whilst certainly impacting income.
The WRU still needs to force through its plans to assume control of rugby operations at the 3 remaining regions. The two remaining independent teams – Scarlets and Dragons – have made it abundantly clear they have zero intention of agreeing to this.
An emergency general meeting is proposing a vote of no-confidence in WRU leadership, calling for resignations and an immediate stop to the proposed reforms. This will take place after the WRU leaders are grilled by politicians and representatives from the 4 regions in Westminster on Wednesday.
Even if Y11 and the WRU traverse all of the above successfully, there are no guarantees that things will start to look up. Wales already lost one region 20 years ago when Celtic Warriors went, and we already know that the WRU leadership originally wanted to cut the number of regions to 2, not 3. Plenty of people think cutting a region won’t solve anything and plenty more don’t trust Y11 to run Cardiff successfully. Conversely, if the Y11 takeover of Cardiff is somehow stopped, how can Ospreys fans ever trust their management again and where would that leave the sale of Cardiff?
In the meantime, Welsh rugby fans will continue to be put through the misery of rumours, paranoia, and in-fighting. The people are already voting with their feet; the Principality Stadium is set to have over 20,000 empty seats for each Six Nations game. A string of humiliating defeats for team Wales (which is what most expect to happen) could cause things to spiral even further. Not the beginning of the end, just the end of the beginning,