That article is 99% bollocks.

Ummm, the new teams won’t be in the prem, the old ones will.
The new teams will be staring from scratch and if the WRU doesn’t increase the funding they’ll have exactly the same problems that the existing regions are having.

Not Not’s got new owners, wonder if they will stay at the Jetski?

Meeting over! Nothing resolved 🙁
More talk needed on Anglo-Welsh.
Union same money on the table.

Probably turn into a bit of a soap opera!

Waiting for the Rabo bus? makes sense to me!

Same way Ospreys are not Neath or Swansea, you dont. But if the welsh jump ship irish domestic rugby is rubber ducked.

I think your glass is half full Dan.
Irish already play weaker teams in the Rabo,they also have a long embedded district/province set up that fans identify with eg; Landsdowne players aspire to play for Leinster and the province players all still id with their club. There isn’t as strong a comp this coming year as the English clubs are out, which if the Welsh join them,they would have to be as well,and then their would begin the Welsh domination of the Amlin,as none of them would qualify for European cup in the Premiership,esp under the way the English want it allocated. Oh hang on,unless 4 Welsh multi millionaires turned up and the French returned 75% of the national squad. So while I agree with A-A’s assertion about domestic rugby (for us as well) I think it would only be a stay of execution for the Welsh.

Cuddy? Peter Pies? Before it became apparent that the domestic competitions in Wales were shit and no fans were interested the welsh regions did have a fair wack of money. Given a fan base the backers may well return. They dont need all the team wales players to return to be competitive, they just need some modern day, MArty Holahs, Regan Kings, Terblanche, Filo Tiatia

why would anyone have put money in when it became apparent the fans didnt care?

Big games like Leicester in HC had about 16000 and the place was buzzing.

yep thats what I was trying to say, poor choice of words.

We both know nothing will change though, right?

We both know nothing will change though, right?[/quote

History says you are right but something has to give soon. Shirley it does. I am forever the optimist 😀

Big games like Leicester in HC had about 16000 and the place was buzzing.

Now that shows the problem. Leicester get 20000 to a crappy home game, and fill the stadium for every big team (24000). They make a profit, but not by a huge amount (OK, 2012 they didn’t but were paying for a new stand in the accounts to take it from 18k to 24k seats). To really stand on your own feet, you need the fanbase to keep the income rolling in.
That’s not to say I wouldn’t love the welsh to be in the AP, I used to love the old Tigers LLLLLLanelllllli matches, with that monster black forward and No8 (names are really escaping me today!) they had.

why must one of us be wrong? The rabo is shit and people dont want to watch it thats the reason a number of backers walked away from the regions. If the product is right the fans will return and maybe backers will too.. The teams still get decent crowds for the derbies but last year half of them didnt see the best players play just to suit team wales.

Quinnel and Madden?

Pigface,what exactly has he said? So far we have had claims that BT would fund the expansion of the EPL to fund the welsh teams,no answers as to who will play for them,WHY anybody would sign for them or any realization that they are All angel delight as well. Or do they just not try because they don’t enjoy the rabo? Also speculation that backers,during a recession are going to buy into a welsh club side which has a future that can best be termed as “fluid.” Welsh sides could not compete in the prem just now. If you expand the prem to include the welsh,even allowing for the English backlash,the welsh share would be less than the current salary cap. BThave already stated that their contract allows them to screen x amount of games a year and doesn’t have to be renegotiated depending on the size of the league;so again,how do they fund it,who plays for them and how do you convince the ambitious clubs in england to support them above their own ambitions?

Duckman, do you really believe the ospreys couldnt beat the likes of sale, newcastle or Worcester home and away?

Thats them. Utter animals, they never, ever failed to get over the gain line (normally a LONG way over!)

AA;based on this season with less experienced players,the only thing you would have to look forward to would more meaningful derby matches. Honestly,do you think you can sustain 3 teams in the prem. What happens to the teams that go down,more than one season in the championship equals a financial disaster and would cost what would be expected to be a source of international players experience. In fact dont you think relegation would put them into a worse hole than they are now? Can you really claim that patchwork teams dropped into the prem would beat anybody,oh and the squad that the ospreys have is 5 the in the rabo,how will they improve this?

Nothing will change anyway and the game will.whither and die

Look at it from the existing regions point of view; they were set up by the WRU. The WRU has failed (whichever way you look at it) to fund them adequately making them the poorest (in financial terms) teams in the RABO. The deal currently on the table is worse than their last deal.
What are they to do? The WRU wants them to die; should they just accept it and go away? The owners of the regions (Peter Thomas et al) must have invested money, is it right that the WRU expect them to just wave bye bye to that?
Staying in the RABO is simply not an option for them; they’d be bankrupt in short order, so they go looking for other opportunities. Not to try would be bad business. This is about survival.

The WRU formed them, but Blues aside they are privately owned clubs (much like those in the AP). Their players are theirs. Wales don’t have any central contracts at present.
All of your concerns apply to the proposed “new” welsh clubs more than they do to the existing ones whether thay join the AP or not.