Looking back, its been over a decade since the Rugby World Cup was hosted in Wales and since Wales got their first even win over South Africa. It was also the only time when Wales has topped its Pool in a Rugby World Cup and was a Quarter Finalists after missing out oat the previous two tournaments. Four historical moments which occured before restructuring occured in Welsh rugby.
Before the restructuring Wales had its own domestic championship with 9 teams. Today there is not one - not professionally at least.
Welsh rugby went under the knife. 9 teams were cut to five - Scarlets, Ospreys, Celtic Warriors, Cardiff and Dragons and the domestic championship dropped down the rankings. After one season the Warriors were cut too making it four teams. Teams were forced to merge. The original idea of merging what today is the Scarlets and Ospreys was the idea. Thankfully it never happened. These two sides tell an interesting story. Llanelli is not a big city at all. There are larger ones in the Scalets region. The Scarlets and Ospreys have done well by importing players cheaply from across Wales and internationally.
Looking at it, how many of the Ospreys stars are from the region.... Ryan Jones is from the Dragons region, Tommy Bowe is Irish, Jerry Collins is a Samoan Kiwi, etc. These two have grabbed the bull by the horns and have new stadiums and have really shown that the original idea was poor. Cardiff have not had great success but have a new stadium and are good in the ML but up and down in the Heineken Cup. The Dragons were always going to have a team - unlike Scarlets and Ospreys, but the Dragons have been the worst performing Welsh side and today clearly are behind.
Has the objective been achieved. Ala, does Wales have a better national side at the expense of a reduced domestic set up. Its open to debate. Looking at it, Wales have 2 Grand Slam 6 Nations ***les since the changes. Then again, Wales were at their best in RWC 2003 which was before the restructuring whilst RWC 2007 was a disaster and was after the changes. In the Heineken Cup progress has been made but no team has won or made the final. Possibly the Scarlets were better before the changes.... Welsh readers can certainly contribute more than I can.
Some questions:
1. Celtic Warriors. What exactly went wrong. They were competitive on the field. Why were they disbanded.
2. Are four teams enough. NZ has 5 in Super Rugby and more than double in its domestic championship.
3. Are teams looking after the interests of Welsh rugby. Ospreys have Hook and Biggar. The Dragons have vastly inferior players and Cardiff have a Scottish flyhalf. Hook is leaving for France....
4. North Wales. Ignored eternally or should a team be created overtime based in Wrexham. The original idean included a team based there.
5. Wales improving. Are Wales getting better based on the changes or not.
WARNING - Essay
First point, you missed that Wales in 1987 came third in the World Cup beating Australia in one hell of a third play off game. Paul Thorburn sinking a difficult conversion so that Wales beat Australia by one point.
It can be argued that since the regional system Neath is pretty much the only club that is still professional club outside of the 4 Regions, partly the reason why they always keep on winning the Welsh Premiership so easy each year. The reason for this is that the big money backers who did not support the Neath-Swansea merge, decided that they would fund Neath and make them the best team in the Welsh Premiership.
Im afraid that Llanelli is the biggest place in the Scarlets region, with a total population of over
46,000 people, Carmarthen is the next largest with
16,000 odd. As the regional set up began Llanelli, Swansea and Neath had pretty much strong sides and really did not want to emerge as the three of them were rivals and would find it difficult to play with each other because of the club's histories but also each believed it would not benefit Welsh rugby. At the time Llanelli president Ray Gravell labelled a merger between the Scarlets and bitter rivals Swansea as "unthinkable". It was something that simply could not happen.
Llanelli were major objectors along with Cardiff to the regional set up. Cardiff RFC and Llanelli RFC were opposed to this structure, stating that it "was not in the best interests of Welsh rugby".
Despite Llanelli's intention to pursue legal action against the Union if the plans went ahead (Llanelli claimed they were owed money but also the WRU claimed they were owed some £2.3m by Llanelli), an Extraordinary General Meeting of the WRU was scheduled for 23 February 2003. All 239 member clubs voted, and most voted in favour of a regional set up. Of course of the 1 April 2003 David Moffat announced that the regional system would go ahead. Both the Ospreys squad and the Scarlets squad were only assembled on the cheap and did well because the Llanelli squad and Neath + Swansea squad were strong so it meant that the regional squads would be strong, little or no imports were brought in.
When you say 'These two have grabbed the bull by the horns and have new stadiums and have really shown that the original idea was poor.' You do realise that the Liberty Stadium was initially built for Swansea Football Club, to which the Ospreys wanted a new home for its region and bought into the stadium, the stadium was not built for them. Cardiff was the same, the Cardiff City Stadium was built for Cardiff City FC to which the Blues bought into sharing it because the Arms Park was falling apart and repairing it in the long run would cost more money that it was worth. The Blues since the regional set up have made it to the Semi Finals of the HEC and won the Amlin Cup and also finished runners up on two occasions in the Magners League in 2006-07 and 2007-08. The Dragons were a regional set up facing a struggle with Newport itself known for not having the real money compared that to the likes of Neath, Swansea and Cardiff to compete with them. The Dragons have had to make do, and make do they do well as they have started producing some gems from discarded regional players, which have turned out for Wales. Yes they don't get the results but they get a lot of respect for not getting the help that the three other regions do get from the WRU. The original idea was the regional system was not a poor one, it's what lies beneath it is the problem.
Regarding the RWC in 2003 and 2007, stems for me down the the players that were selected and who was in charge at each respective WC. In 2003 Hansen was coaching Wales, with all the hard work he and Henry had done to set Wales up for this moment. The 2003 WC campaign for Wales was 4 years in the making, it was down to the hard work that Henry and Hanson had set ready for the future. Yes Henry had left a year earlier but he had put in motion some solid foundations, to which are quite evident in the Welsh rugby system now. Wales got respect in the 2003 World Cup because they played a good brand of rugby and gave sides games but also the selection of players were key, most who were selected were players who were on form for their clubs and not favourites and out of form players. In the 2007 World Cup it was a complete shambles from the outset. Ruddock was sacked under the most amazing circus act that the WRU have ever produced and the treatment of Ruddock under the WRU was nothing short of appalling. Gareth Jenkins was selected and was not the most popular choice, infact he was the only real option because no one really wanted the job because the way the WRU and the Welsh Media aka 'Western Mail' were such harsh treaters of the Welsh National Team Coach. When the 2007 campaign rolled round, Wales was a shambles, a disastrous 2007 6 Nations campaign, summer tour and World Cup Warm Up games and under the 'great leadership' of Gareth Jenkins Wales were doomed. He selected the most random bunch of players known to man but also selected players who were simply not up for the job. The immediate retirement of Martyn Williams after the Fiji game and reading his Autobiography it was clear to see that there was something wrong with Gareth Jenkins. His success with Llanelli was one thing but there was something that you just knew he was never going to be good enough for Wales. He was really given the job as coach in 2006 because he had been overlooked for years previously. At the end of the day 2007 was a dark point in Welsh rugby.
NOW to answer your 4 questions.
The Celtic Warriors. The financial problems at Pontypridd RFC led to the sale of their half of the Warriors to Bridgend RFC owner Leighton Samuel, which he in turn gave to the WRU, a move that would later condemn the club. Further problems occurred as Samuel made the decision to abandon Pontypridd's Sardis Road in favour of playing all Warriors games in Bridgend. This brought the club into conflict with a large proportion of its fan base and attendances fell.
Trouble followed in the Spring and early Summer of 2004 where Leighton Samuel repeatedly threatened and revoked threats of selling the club; one such instance went as far as Samuel accepting an offer from the WRU before changing his mind. This transaction was considered to be legally binding, and the Warriors became 100% owned by the WRU who decided to liquidate the club on 1 June 2004. Read it
HERE. Samuels claimed that the WRU had promised to keep the region going for a second season but reneged on the deal. He challenged the Union over this in a high court case which the Union settled just before it came to court.
With the demise of the club, players' contracts were effectively torn up as they were pushed around to fill positions in the other four regional sides. A number simply chose to turn their back on the Welsh game and moved to teams in England, France, Ireland and Italy. This left the ex-Warriors' fans feeling alienated from the professional game.
In the aftermath of the demise of the Warriors, a new rugby league club Celtic Crusaders was formed that play out of Brewery Field. They are funded by Leighton Samuel, who has claimed that they are the reincarnation of the Warriors franchise. Yet the Crusaders left, and Samuels once again left them in ruin. Samuels was the sole person to be blamed for the demise of the Warriors, anyone who disagrees is either a family relative of Samuels or im afraid to say has no clue on the matter.
Regarding are the 4 teams enough. Its a tough one. I think it is but the player pool needs to be looked at. Take for instance Tom Prydie, playing for Swansea is ok week in week out but he needs to be exposed at Regional Rugby, at the Ospreys he wont get in at 15 ahead of Byrne and Barry Davies. He ideally should have gone to the Dragons who are short on quality. Im a firm believer that the WRU should be able to step in and say look Ospreys he needs game time and we are going to take him on loan from you and place him on loan at the Dragons. Of course the simplicity of this is not that easy as there are legal matters and you can't really central contract Regional players, but they could do for Welsh international players, and place it into their National Contracts! Regarding Fly Halves situation you mention, Ospreys also have Mathew Morgan who looks a real prospect but his stature is where he will always be questioned. Biggar is over hyped and always will be. Until he is brought down to earth he will never develop that well. The Dragons have Jason Tovey, but his injury problems and sometimes he is questioned over his defensive abilities. Rhys Preistland at the Scarlets will be an able replacement for Jones but watch out for Steve Shingler who is no mug and has a promising future. The Blues have Parks as you mentioned but also Ceri Sweeney, who is Mr Hot and Cold. They have a promising fly half in Gareth Davies who has international experience with Welsh 7s, he again looks a good prospect but where is he going to get game time. 4 regions have brought competitiveness for places and for players to develop they got to fight their way up to play in a good regional competition. Ill come back to whats underneath after my next point.
North Wales has not been forgotten recently. RGC 1404 (formerly known as Rygbi Gogledd Cymru (Rugby North Wales
)) is a rugby union development team that were announced by the WRU in September 2008. Although an amateur representative side had existed in North Wales for over 50 years, Gogledd Cymru was established by the North Wales Rugby Council, in Feb 2007, in response to the WRU approved strategic plan for the development of rugby union in the region. The WRU are hoping that a North Wales side will be playing in the Welsh Premiership division by 2011-12. The WRU had initially said 2010-11 but the development of the RGC has been slow.
The major problem lie with the structures and planning put in place by Gogledd Cymru stimulated a unique rugby partnership with Conwy County Borough Council,the WRU and Rugby Canada. In August 2009 a series of major initiatives were announced aimed at the continued development of the game in North Wales . These included launching a North Wales Rugby Academy and an innovative plan to introduce Rugby Canada international players to the development region's representative team. So the side is just filled with Canadian International players with a smattering of North Wales rugby players.
The set up is getting better under
HERE, you can see some of the North Wales players currently playing for sides in England and in Wales. The talent is there, it just needs looking after. They need looking after by the WRU and learn from the mistakes that were made under the Celtic Warriors. It comes back to a point regarding players that need experience. When the Regional system was suggested it was always suggested that Wales would have a region up North that would be supplied with the youth and players who needed game time, of course this was rejected by clubs and members because they wanted their players to stay at their current clubs and not be farmed out to a mickey mouse region. For me if they were to be allowed into the Magners League then the 4 existing regions should look at giving clubs like RGC and the Dragons the likes of Prydie to develop and gain the vital experience and the exposure to a higher level of rugby to benefit Welsh rugby, but of course there will be the people there to say no can't do that, what are we getting from it and why should we send our own youth products out to other clubs when we spent time developing them. Really they should be quiet and let these players go on loan to gain the vital experience needed.
Another major competition that is starting to emerge in North Wales is Rugby League, the Crusaders are starting to tap the rugby market here for players. Again if the WRU does not go and sort this North Wales region out then there will be problems down the line. The youngsters will go and end up playing Rugby League instead of union, Im not against it I think the moving of the Crusaders up to North Wales was the best thing for League because there was an untapped rugby market there. But if there are good rugby players there look at Robin McBryde and George North as examples then yes there are players there and need to be looked at.
Going back to the Domestic Championship aka the Welsh Premiership. The standard is slowly improving. Over the years since the Regional split, it has been debated on how to improve the standard of it. The recent suggestion which was made by Sir Warren of Gatland was that an ITM system should be brought in and looked at. Another way suggested is a Super 8 system with the best 8 and the rest feeding into them. Another was a spilt of 16 / 18 and after a season it would be spilt into two leagues with promotion and relegation. Something needs to be done about it, the best solution is to make it into an ITM style competition. However a suggestion made by a mate was do the ITM style but getting the players from the regional systems to feed down into it, like what happens down South now, only problem I told him is that this simply would not work with the current structure and it would not change. It would involve changing the Magners League, Aviva Prem, Top 14, HEC etc ... something that could simply not really happen. But an ITM style competition is the way that will probably get the best and most competitive competition going for the Welsh game.
In conclusion Wales is improving, based on the regional system the quality of players coming through are better than what was there before, but it has taken years to notice the effects and I think it will be a few more years until the work that was set by Henry and Hanson will truly be seen in Wales.
Sorry about the essay / read but thats my explanation.
