Two become one...

Aren't people funny? During the festive period, and in a recession, on Wednesday the Liberty stadium will be full for the second time in 4 days. There was no hint of the Roger Lewis suggestion of knocking out one of the four regions at the time these tickets were sold. This may be the last time we see this game.

Sunday saw the mighty Man U take on the Swans in the Premier League. There was not an empty seat in the house. Early indications are that if there are any seats left to sell for the Ospreys v Scarlets they are few and far between. Fans who want to walk up on the day will be biting their nails, can forget sitting in groups, and will be behind the posts.

Which is great news for the RaboDirect Pro12, isn't it? The supposed drain of fans given the rise of Swansea and Cardiff in the football leagues hasn't materialised, yet?

20,000 people only turn out to watch the Ospreys at home once every two years on Boxing Day against the Scarlets and if Leicester are in town in the Heineken Cup.

Why should this match be the exception to the low attendances seen as a rule as far as the Welsh regions are concerned? Especially now. What is the psychology of it?

Well, the result will carry league points, but the fans couldn't care less about that to be frank. This is tribalism at it's most basic.

Despite claims of an 'Ospreylia', there is no neat and tidy border between these 'Regions'. Even the River Lougher is no longer a clear indicator of where an individual's loyalties may lie; not that there would be many Scarlets to the east of it, but there are now plenty of Ospreys to the west.

The setting up of the Regions was traumatic, but the edge many people believed that Llanelli (the most successful team in Wales) had in maintaining stand alone status was swiftly wiped out by the Liberty Stadium and the resurgence that fuelled in Swansea City FC.

Llanelli's answer was severely hamstrung by poor public relations management leading to a tortuous planning application for the redevelopment of Stradey, alienating a large section of the small town from which the Scarlets fans are drawn. Parc Y Scarlets was hugely subsidised by Carmarthenshire County Council. When they finally sorted it out the planning application for Stradey, the property bubble had burst.

In the meantime, dual season tickets for Football and Rugby in the Liberty, a new Stadium with family friendly facilities, and fantastic marketing, saw children in the traditional Scarlets strongholds such as the Gwendraeth Valley in Ospreys shirts.

It also helped that the Ospreys had the strongest team in Wales; although they have never managed to take Llanelli's old mantle as bankers for a Heineken Cup quarter final at least.

And there you have it. It is as ancient a tale as those in Kipling's Jungle Book. The law of the jungle is what gives this game it's fascination for the fans. The wise but weakened old dog can still teach the testosterone fuelled young whippersnapper the odd trick. The respective packs want to be there to see it.

There are other reasons of course, it's a tradition and it fuels work, friendly and even inter family rivalries. Crucially, there will be an atmosphere as the other side will bring plenty of fans. Those fans may now also face the spectre of an unification to make room for the Valleys or North Wales being the third region.

So, WRU and Pro12, the next time you are pondering how to improve attendance figures, think of the law of the jungle, think of the psychology of the thing. You must work out a way of tapping into that tribal instinct. If you get rid of another region without a total overhaul you will just alienate more Wales fans from Regional Rugby.

And just to add this in the mix:

http://www.planetrugby.com/story/0,25883,3551_8355160,00.html

If Lewis thought it would make an extra buck he's reduce us to 2 regions and sell them to the AP.

Everytime we reduce/minimise our resources we come a step closer to a prem style AP in where we all support english based teams and the cream of our talent is taken before the age of 12.

Betyween the PRL and Roger Lewis the club game in Wales is on the edge of a cliff just waiting to be pushed off!!!

thebluesmancometh wrote:If Lewis thought it would make an extra buck he's reduce us to 2 regions and sell them to the AP.

Everytime we reduce/minimise our resources we come a step closer to a prem style AP in where we all support english based teams and the cream of our talent is taken before the age of 12.

Betyween the PRL and Roger Lewis the club game in Wales is on the edge of a cliff just waiting to be pushed off!!!

For a while I believed your mock outrage, and didn't think you deserved your award Blues. Then I read this reply.

Article's about Welsh regions and stuff, please don't drag any English body into your infernal bickering - Roger Lewis is all your problem though. We'll even try and keep our under 12's child-rugby-prodigy catchers on this side of the bridge.

Merry Christmas!

http://v2journal.com/two-become-one.html