WRU AT IT AGAIN

Nice to know that the scarlets and the WRU were holding talks over players from the ospreys if they had been wound up over the tax issue.Why didn,t theWRU ask how much was owed or if any assistance was needed,what was stuart gallagher doing as he is there allegedly to represent the regions.Its time for the Ospreys to play a few dirty tricks themselves ie refuse release of players to wales ,apply to the Aviva league for membership.Its time the WRU were brought down a peg or two.Dai Pickering is from Briton Ferry in Neath what a JUDAS.

Thought this was a wind up, but then found a link.

http://www.thisissouthwales.co.uk/Ospreys-odds-WRU-claims/story-17723985-detail/story.html

Yeah much better they had made sure the players had nowhere to go but France if the Ospreys had been wound up, bliddy WRU eh

The WRU won't be happy until we're reduced to 3, and it seems the only safe region is the capitol, the rest had better tread carefully though, no assistance will come their way if they get into trouble!!

thespreys wrote:Nice to know that the scarlets and the WRU were holding talks over players from the ospreys if they had been wound up over the tax issue.Why didn,t theWRU ask how much was owed or if any assistance was needed,what was stuart gallagher doing as he is there allegedly to represent the regions.Its time for the Ospreys to play a few dirty tricks themselves ie refuse release of players to wales ,apply to the Aviva league for membership.Its time the WRU were brought down a peg or two.Dai Pickering is from Briton Ferry in Neath what a JUDAS.

But WRU already pay regions £1.5million per year each for player release.

The regions appear to need so much financial assistance from the WRU that they may aswell run the whole show themselves especially now that the benefactors are no longer willing to pump up any money themselves.

The role of the benefactor would appear to be to beg the WRU for money, spend it unwisely and then beg for more, and so it goes on and on.

This has to stop.

Scrumdown what are you talking about you numpty,this isn,t only about money but the Poopie that run the sport in this sad little one eyed country.

In all fairness Scrumdown, thats what the Dragons are attempting, and it isn't going well on the pitch!!

IMHO we need to see the WRU pay per player, or something of the similar. At least make funding conditional of performance in some way, but lets be honest the WRU is always going to have to fund the regions, and so they should!!!

thespreys wrote:Scrumdown what are you talking about you numpty,this isn,t only about money but the Poopie that run the sport in this sad little one eyed country.

Said the one eyed ospreys supporter.

CH4MPIONS,WHATS YOUR REGION SCRUMDOWN?

http://www.guardian.co.uk/sport/2012/dec/31/newport-gwent-dragons-ospreys

The other option is apparently to fund just 2 Regions in the HC.

All I got from that Bigtrev is Edwards bailing out of LI because they are leaking like the Titanic!!

Everything else is just speculation and rumour, all we know is Roger doesn't actually care about regional/club rugby and as long as he earns his bonus F**K rugby union!!

Think its fair to say the WRU want 4 regions and one of them is RGC1404, meaning 1 of the four existing regions will go, or be merged.

Also think its intresting that they are thinking of going for 2 H-cup teams and 2 Almin cup development teams, becuse the ERC talks are ongoing, so the WRU can't really say they will have 2/3 H-cup spots to give out, or if it will be one and the others are league based?

Also find it shocking that they were prepared to let Ospreys go under, the region that has done most to create itself as a region and the best performer out of all 4. IF Ospreys aren't safe no one is.

Looking at this from the outside, I think that the WRU would be right to push for North Wales to have a team, as the 4 current teams are very close together. What surprised me was the planning that Scarlets would just take Ospreys players if they went under, and then hope that Ospreys fans would then follow the Scarlets? surly even the WRU would have realised that this would have just lead to more disenfranchised fans.

I often wonder if the regions had picked up 6 H-cups instead of Ireland, would we see a reverse and the regions would be well supported, and the talk would be Irish fans have to get out and support their Province? I'm certain that Welsh attendances would be far higher if they did have 6 h-cups.

But thats if's and maybe's, what is the best solution to Welsh regional problem's?

A merger of Scarlets and Ospreys, both rebranded, and games split between Parc na Scarlets and the Liberity?

A merger of Blues and Dragons, games split between Cardiff and Newport with Ponty being brought in as well, complete rebrand.

Would any of it help, would fans get behind rebranded teams.
I can undersatnd why Ponty fans don't like Cardiff Blues, as it is owned and run by Cardiff RFC, I'd feel the same. But if they were owned by Cardiff/Newport/Ponty and WRU, with other clubs being involved in the running, Totally rebranded without links to any of the clubs in the region, Would it gain support from all sections, or alienate fans? Is it a risk worth taking?

Would anyone really support a team if it was deamed a development team? no one wants to turn up to see their team beaten most weeks, (Connacht suppport is growing as they are growing as a team and have hope of a brighter future, if there wasn't that would the support have grown like it has?) I think that the two development teams would quickly lose support, and become unviaable.

For me I think that WRU can't have 2 development teams, as I don't think they would have the support to stay viaable, RGC starting with less funding, but with a five year plan for funding to be increased equal to the other 3 would see support increase, as they would be building to improve each year. This means that I believe a Merger would be on the cards, and the funding split 3 ways instead of 4 ways untill RGC 1404 can be entered in the league, and then decreased as RCG's funding is increased. this would give the 3 regions increased funding for 5-10 years while RGC is bought up to speed, hopefully with more funding they can keep hold of star players and market themselves to have increased crowds and revenue.
Its a question of who to Merge?
Blues/Dragons or Scarlets/Ospreys?

Firstly, I don't think they should merge anyone. If they decide to go for a North Wales region then just get rid of the other one (even if it is the Dragons). A merger would need to create a brand new 'region' and we'd be back where we were 10 years ago. There'd be arguments, disenfrachised fans, etc.

Also, I don't think it's wise for any rugby union to officially nominate teams as development teams. No-one will want to stay there (that's the idea I guess), no-one will want to support them (as you say), there will be no competition for the 2 in the HC. It will just be awful. 4 regions that all have the potential to be as strong as each other - that's what we need. That costs money, so stump it up WRU.

Spot on Griff, again. The WRU can easily afford four competitive regions but that doesn't fit their agenda.

Some one brought up the WRU have no problems finding money for Mill Stad pitch, but won't increase regions funding, I wonder how much they have spent on the playing surface as, More than 25 pitches have been laid in the Millennium Stadium's 10-year history, that is going to cost a bit!

The latest one is designed to sort that out, it will save them having to keep going through that cycle and pay itself off in a short time (assuming it works)
the MS pitch was a screw up and a money pit, this should be the last of that. Freeing up cash to pay Roger Lewis' bonus or hire Rob Andrew as a consultant.

With regard to the regions vs national team funding though ...should they take the BOC model and part base it on performance and results? Previoulsy it was the national team covered in glory, but they havent won a game since the Os won the PRO 12

Its noticeable that the tone of comments and satisfaction with the balance between club and country has shifted dramatically since Wales went from champs to chumps. Lots of people were quite happy to see Welsh players going to France and freeing up regional spots for the next generation.

What is it that the O's do differently? They seem able to win the league on a regular basis and are doing pretty well in the HC given the group they pulled.
They were amongst the first to have their star players raided yet still remain competitive in a way the Blues have managed only once in recent years

thespreys wrote:Nice to know that the scarlets and the WRU were holding talks over players from the ospreys if they had been wound up over the tax issue.Why didn,t theWRU ask how much was owed or if any assistance was needed,what was stuart gallagher doing as he is there allegedly to represent the regions.Its time for the Ospreys to play a few dirty tricks themselves ie refuse release of players to wales ,apply to the Aviva league for membership.Its time the WRU were brought down a peg or two.Dai Pickering is from Briton Ferry in Neath what a JUDAS.

Yeah I guess it is probably as nice as the Ospreys and Blues carving up the Warriors.


Looking at it, I think the WRU have probably had talks with the regions about when the Scarlets were going to fold over the Stradey court case, and when the Blues looked like they could fold with lack of support/tax man etc. However at the moment with the talkof funding cuts etc, I think the Ospreys releasing this statement is more about saying "look everyone the WRU have tried to shat us, watch out or they will do it again" in order to reduce the odds of the Ospreys being folded/having funding cut under the WRUs new shake up for the regions.

They have been willing to spend out on players and chuck about 80% extra in on top of what the WRU spends on their academy. They are only now waking up to the futility of playing this game of the WRU's. As a comparison, the Directors at the Dragons are worth far more than the Directors at the O's, but they're not willing to put money into a broken system and subsidise Team Wales who are the overwhelming beneficiaries despite provide only a fraction of the costs. It's an issue hugely exacerbated by the WRU ownership of the region in Gwent. Hazell et al have had their fingers burned once, wonder how the O's Directors will react now they've had a taste.

I don't blame the WRU for starting a back-up plan, but surley they should have been in contact with Ospreys to see how bad it was, and if they could help before looking at plan B, help Scarlets get the best ospreys players, that should have been a worst case seniero, and last to be looked at.

But the fact the WRU didn't appear to willing to try and save Ospreys does indicate they only want 3 regions in south wales, I think they are underfunding them with the purpose that one will fold, or they will gain enough power over them to bring them under WRU control.