By Zippy
October 25 2004

I take an honest look at the state of the game in Wales. Some will accuse me of being reactionary but this is how I see the game in Wales at the minute and it’s not pretty.

Dear Whoever is concerned,

 

For the first time in Heineken European Cup history the Welsh sides went a round of games without even one of them registering a win.

 

So the regions playing record reads P4 L4

 

It doesn’t make for happy reading, I’m sure you’ll agree.

 

David “Darth” Moffet was brought over to Wales for reason and one reason only, to sort out the finances of the WRU, to an extent he has succeeded in this area, even the most harsh accountant would say he has steadied the ship.

 

But at what cost?  What does professional rugby consist of in Wales?

 

We currently have just FOUR professional sides, that’s right Wales the land of sheep, valleys, song and rugby has just FOUR measly professional teams.

 

What are those teams? The Dragons, Blues, Scarlets and Ospreys does that mean anything to anybody outside the die hards? No it does not.

 

They would probably be better off reverting to their old club names that the English media still refer to them by.

 

This is Moffet’s vision for success, he not only needs bank balance success but on the field success if he is to keep his job.

 

So Moffet’s cost cutting led us to “Regionalism” and he sold out control of Welsh Rugby to the BBC, those used to going to watch rugby on a Saturday afternoon can forget about it, if you want to watch you will have to rush out of work and get straight to the game.

 

You may have all the best players in Wales shared out between just 4 clubs, what you don’t get by doing this is team spirit, what you don’t get is passion. What you do get is players going through the motions to earn their living, this is not a recipe for success.

 

The base is simply to small, there is not enough interest in the game any more less people watch pro rugby, there is no debate in the pubs across Wales, people have become sick and tired of change after change and simply do not watch rugby any more.

 

Many people gave up when the regional experiment started, many more gave up when the Warriors were culled.

 

These people were FANS of the Welsh game, their kids were the future.

 

What quality of competition are these regions playing in? A glorious European Super League? An Anglo-Welsh league?

No they play in a Celtic League with Irish and Scottish teams, it sounds ok on paper.

 

But the Celtic League is a joke. Irish don’t care, Scots don’t know what they are doing and the Welsh currently think following the USA brand is the way to go.

 

What about the semi-pro scene? There is lots of young talent to watch yes but in many cases there are more people on the pitch than there are in the crowd.

 

There used to be hundreds of junior clubs across Wales, there are now just 60.

 

Rugby in Wales will never die, what is quite possible is that it will revert to a sport in where people only care about the national side.

 

We can’t afford for that to happen.

 

Save Welsh Rugby

 

Zippy.

 

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