Rugby Chat

For me the ideal future outcome would be a natural accession from Champ to Prem and restore the notion of being promoted after a hard fought season to ply your trade at the top table. It seems unlikley that this will happen in the near future or even at all. The Prem currently has 50% English born players as recent regualr starters for their Prem teams but up to 70% 'English qualified players'. It looks like the Prem want to "invite" English clubs rather than Welsh clubs to the party, which seems to at least keep open the option of the Champ being then next rung down at some point. However, if the franchise model prevails, would a Welsh contingent help "British Rugby" as a whole?? This may seem a Prem rather than Champ post but I am very much vested in the Champ and this affects the development of the Champ as a league.

The Welsh regions can’t afford to buy their way in to the Premiership and they wouldn’t bring much on the field in any event.

No foreign clubs in the English pyramid!

If we want rugby to grow in England or Wales, to ensure its survival as a sport but also to improve the grass roots clubs resources and revenue, then we have to look at rugby in a global context and have a desire to grow the game everywhere. My reaosning for this is that to grow the game, by defualt means bringing "outsiders" into the sport and their prime access to rugby will be the International games. Hence we need other national teams to be in on the missions so to speak.

It also needs rugby to be accessible at Schools, Universities as well as clubs. Universities and Clubs are pretty good but Schools probably lack the resources as rugby is a harder sport to set-up and teach. You are not going to see kids in the park throuwing down jumpers and playing rugby in the same way that 6 kids can play football for instance. The Prem has some amazing matches and is of a high standard but it is behind a paywall and so we need the 6N and the newer Blaze TV matches to grant some exposure to internationals and national leagues/champ respectively.

If the Prem brought in Welsh teams would that dilute the interest for the English fans or add spice? I'm not sure. Would it provide exposure to a wider audience? I doubt it because Welsh clubs are often shown on S4c ruby channel and now they would need dispensation to show prem games so there is a chance of more closed out games. I would prefer the Prem develops English talent but also has a pathway from the Champ so that it is an eglish league as it used to be. My fear is that it becomes like the IPL or 100 for cricket, which does have some benefit in some ways but on the whole is probably missing the mark. We have Anglo-Welsh matches already so I dont think the prem bringing in Welsh clubs will benefit English rugby or Welsh rugby in the long run beyond any initial novelty 'bounce'.

I can't imagine Welsh clubs bringing anything to the party bearing in mind their current financial troubles. The only way it might be possible were if all four Welsh regions were to combine into a single franchise and then compete in the Prem but I can't imagine that going down well in Wales!