Save regions by degrading Welsh Prem?

First topic message reminder :

I was thinking the WRU would make about the same as the IRFU, and both have about same outgoings in terms in stadium repayments etc etc.

The IRFU direct more of their resources into the provinces than the WRU the Regions.
The WRU direct more resources into the Welsh prem than the IRFU the Irish League.

Would people be happy if the WRU reduced funding to the Welsh Prem, and put the resources into the Regions?

If the WRU gave the same proportion of its resources to the regions, as the IRFU does the Provinces, plus adding in the Benfactors at some regions, you would end up with regions as well funded as any team in England, or at least be operating at around the English salary cap.

However for this gain the Welsh prem would lose out and become a poor league. The Irish League only gets crowds now of a couple of hundred, and the teams are a lot poorer (however the game more resembles the amatuer era for fans of this).
It has to be considered also that the Welsh prem doesn't produce the talent it used to, this has been taken over by regional acamadies.

So overall would Welsh fans, be happy if the WRU decided to increase funding to the regions, at the expense of the Welsh Prem?

Cardiff Dave wrote:

Welshmushroom wrote:

The Valleys are probably the heartland in terms of the game being played. But do they deserve a Region? No. Because most of your target group of fans actually play the game on a saturday for various local sides. So basically the support base just isnt there.

The games would all probably ko at 2-30pm which is the same throughout the country, so I don't understand your point.

My point is that the demographic pool of fans regions need to target are usually playing the game on a saturday followed by stints on their local clubhouses. I know plenty of players at club level who dont end up going watch regional rugby because of their playing commitments at club level. Also I wouldnt compare Wales to England. We have 3 million people here. They have 58 million and most places with Aviva Prem sides have massive population pools by comparison.

Let me put it this way.

Of the 3 million in Wales, 1 million are covered in mid and north wales. Which leaves our 4 regions with a possible 2 million people. Sounds great but there are other factors to consider.

Unemployment for example stands at 20%. Its safe to assume someone who is unemployed is probably not going to be an attendance statistic. So 400k off that leaves us with 1.6 million. Factor in the pensioners as well and your looking at around 1.3 million. Again sounds not to bad.

But if we consider that the Blues for example have the biggest population density at around 800k and given the above statistics 160K in unemployment and say 90k in pensioners that leaves them with a potential population pool of around 500k. Great for them. Not so great for the other 3 regions who are sharing the remaining 800k of people between them.

It gets even more complex once you consider the support Cardiff and Swansea have in football. Factor in the U16's with no income & student populations and again the numbers are greatly reduced. If you then factor in things like people playing the game at club level but staying at clubhouses or other commitments the figures drop further.

What I am essentially driving at is that a third of wales has no access to top flight rugby. Given that Wrexham for example are not even in top flight football, the potential fan base up there is massive and should never have been ignored in the first place.

Don't the Ospreys Co-own the Liberty?

Nope Technically the Council own it.

Swansea Stadium Management Company (SSMC) run the stadium and the current agreement in place is that both the Ospreys and the Jacks split the running costs. The understanding was that profits from SSMC would then go directly back to pay the 27 million building cost to the taxpayer.

But SSMC has not been turning a profit and the 2 teams involved have only covered the bare minimum. At some point though I would imagine the Council want their 27 million for the stadium back off the pair of them or at least a large part of it.

They are currently trying to get more out of the Footie side due to Prem status.

Welshmushroom wrote:

Cardiff Dave wrote:

Welshmushroom wrote:

The Valleys are probably the heartland in terms of the game being played. But do they deserve a Region? No. Because most of your target group of fans actually play the game on a saturday for various local sides. So basically the support base just isnt there.

The games would all probably ko at 2-30pm which is the same throughout the country, so I don't understand your point.

My point is that the demographic pool of fans regions need to target are usually playing the game on a saturday followed by stints on their local clubhouses. I know plenty of players at club level who dont end up going watch regional rugby because of their playing commitments at club level. Also I wouldnt compare Wales to England. We have 3 million people here. They have 58 million and most places with Aviva Prem sides have massive population pools by comparison.

Let me put it this way.

Of the 3 million in Wales, 1 million are covered in mid and north wales. Which leaves our 4 regions with a possible 2 million people. Sounds great but there are other factors to consider.

Unemployment for example stands at 20%. Its safe to assume someone who is unemployed is probably not going to be an attendance statistic. So 400k off that leaves us with 1.6 million. Factor in the pensioners as well and your looking at around 1.3 million. Again sounds not to bad.

But if we consider that the Blues for example have the biggest population density at around 800k and given the above statistics 160K in unemployment and say 90k in pensioners that leaves them with a potential population pool of around 500k. Great for them. Not so great for the other 3 regions who are sharing the remaining 800k of people between them.

It gets even more complex once you consider the support Cardiff and Swansea have in football. Factor in the U16's with no income & student populations and again the numbers are greatly reduced. If you then factor in things like people playing the game at club level but staying at clubhouses or other commitments the figures drop further.

What I am essentially driving at is that a third of wales has no access to top flight rugby. Given that Wrexham for example are not even in top flight football, the potential fan base up there is massive and should never have been ignored in the first place.

You've gone off at a bit of a tangent.

Yeah your right there

Not quite sure how I actually answered you there.

Looks like its been a long day......