Jul 9 2004

Delme Parfitt, South Wales Echo

FORMER Celtic Warriors chief Leighton Samuel today branded Welsh rugby's regional shake-up a sham.

In a fierce assault, the man who has pumped millions into the game in the last five years, poured scorn on the concept of Bridgend coming under the umbrella of the Ospreys.

Asked what he thought of the remaining four regions and those left running the game at the top level he rapped: "I've nothing but contempt for the lot of them!"

And Samuel claimed:

There will be no more than ONE competitive Ospreys match at the Brewery Field next season in what is nothing more than "a token gesture"

Nobody from the Ospreys has even approached him about playing in Bridgend

The Brewery Field will become an expensive "white elephant"

Bridgend's best players have been poached by Neath having been told that's their only route to regional rugby

He will press on with a legal battle against the Welsh Rugby Union over the saga of Celtic Warriors' demise

He's glad he is no longer involved with Welsh rugby administration at regional level.

"How can we be anything other than cynical about all this re-organisation?" stormed Samuel, who still controls the purse strings at Welsh Premiership club Bridgend and is the landlord of the Brewery Field.

"When our coach here at Bridgend, Chris Stephens, gathered the team together and told them they would from now on be under the Ospreys umbrella they all just laughed.

"That's the level of indifference to it all.

"We will have to start from scratch here, some of our good young players have left for Neath because they were told if they didn't they would have no chance of playing regional rugby."

But Neath strenuously denied that claim today as the first bust-up of the new dawn blew up.

"The only player Neath have recruited from Bridgend over the summer is Andrew Bishop," said a Gnoll spokesman.

"Andrew came because he considered Neath the best place to develop his rugby at a time when there was a huge amount of uncertainty in the Warriors area."

Yet Samuel was in no mood to predict the future carve-up of Welsh rugby's regional geography would be anything like the brave new world others foresee.

And he stressed that supporters in Bridgend will soon learn that they have been misled.

"Nobody from the Ospreys has contacted us about playing at the Brewery Field," he said.

"In reality we will probably get one competitive game and may be one friendly at the most.

"The Brewery Field will become a complete white elephant.

"Swansea and Neath are already protective of having their share of Ospreys games so their fans are not going to come to Bridgend.

"And when the White Rock Stadium is ready the season after that is obviously going to become the headquarters.

"So there will be no top level rugby brought to fans in the Bridgend area."

The plight for the young players is equally grim, predicts the ex-Warriors chief, who insisted that he will have his day in court with the union over the break-up of the old Pontypridd-Bridgend region.

"If you have Neath and Swansea already, what chance is there for players from here to force their way in?" he asked.

"At Bridgend we are having to start from scratch and next year my company Decor Frame will pump £120,000 into the club.

"But we will plough on - and I am not prepared to let my quarrel with the union over the break up of the Warriors slip away.

"In fact I am taking legal action and will be serving papers in the next three weeks."

Samuel claimed the deal to sell the Warriors to the WRU was null and void because union money was late arriving in his account.

The WRU have always insisted they owned the entity 100 per cent.