Celtic nations come together to resist changes to Heineken Cup

First topic message reminder :

http://www.espnscrum.com/heineken-cup-2011-12/rugby/story/166705.html

Martyn Thomas says Ireland, Wales and Scotland have formed a pact not to give in to the English and French demands. Furthermore he thinks the English and French are going to be forced to back down and he describes English and French rugby as "power crazy".

Premiership Rugby's hopes of forcing a re-vamp of the Heineken Cup have been dealt a blow by reports that resistance to the proposed changes is growing.

"The Celtic Unions have made a pact that this time they will not roll over in the face of any threats," he told The Rugby Paper. "If they keep their nerve when the going gets tough, the French and English clubs will be forced to back down.

"The Welsh, Irish and Scottish Union are determined not to give in. If the English and French clubs don't back down and walk away from the tournament, the Celts will say: 'That's a shame but if you don't want to play in the Heineken Cup as we know it and love it, tough'.

"It's all about brinkmanship. The top English and French clubs are power crazy. They are driven by a join belief that they are the people who command the most money from television for live coverage. That rather flies in the face of the fact that five of the last six teams represented in the last three finals did not come from England. Despite that, they have no regard for the revenue generated by Welsh, Irish and Scottish teams."

He continued: "Like most things in professional sport, this is about money and the English and French teams want more. They may dress it up in all sorts of ways but that's the reality. There will be some tough times ahead."

ScarletSpiderman wrote:If the majority of the nation follow the international rugby team then that makes it our national sport.

Agreed. But it's still untrue that everyone in Wales will watch the national side when they're on telly.

P.S. Yes, I know I'm a pedant.

I think (especially thinking back to my school days in the late 80s/90s) that club football has always been bigger than club rugby (and I went to school in 'rugby heartland' right next door to Stradey Park), where the majority of people had a English Prem team, or at least a football team, to support - and there was a lot less who supported Welsh club rugby.

But there is quite a rose tinted view that, say Cardiff RFC vs Newport RFC got more fans than the Blues vs Dragons currently gets - the figures (at least the ones I've been able to find) and my memory don't back this up.

I remember selling programmes at a Newport v Cardiff match on Boxing Day years ago, that was a sell-out; but then if they had the Dragons v Blues on Boxing Day, that would probably sell out too.

Yup I know what you mean - some of the games were massive, but then so are some of the regional games (like Scarlets vs Munster was a sell out, and so was Scarlets vs Ospreys) but then most games weren't anywhere near.

It will come though, the season ticket sales for our four regions so far speak for themselves. Every region are chest thumping about record sales, so something must be changing, perhaps now that the national side is competitive again means that the interest is trickling down and rugby is now cool again in Wales, that and the fact you can now make a decent living out of it and our best players are not switching to league, but that is another topic to talk about.

I haven't heard anything from the Dragons about season ticket sales.

Luckless Pedestrian wrote:I haven't heard anything from the Dragons about season ticket sales.

I have heard that they are up on this time last year and they are confident on shifting more.

or from the Scarlets but we have been increasing our avg attendance year on year, so hopefully once the new signings are announced (supposedly today, but I ain't heard anything yet) then they might announce a surge in season ticket sales.

I'll be getting a 1st flexi season ticket at some point before the end of the month - I just hope we don't have too many Friday night games that I can't get back from...

Thanks Dowlais!

Lord - Things are definately improving season upon season. IMO the regions have definately improved things. In Pembs we have never (to my knowledge) had a pro side. However being part of the Scarlets region has certainly improved the amount of interst in the local rag and radio.

Luckless Pedestrian wrote:

ScarletSpiderman wrote:If the majority of the nation follow the international rugby team then that makes it our national sport.

Agreed. But it's still untrue that everyone in Wales will watch the national side when they're on telly.

P.S. Yes, I know I'm a pedant.

Anyone who uses the word pendant sure as hell ain't being one