By Jonathan Bowen
It was announced over the weekend that the players from the Welsh National Team may take strike action and refuse to play against England in their upcoming six nations game in Cardiff next weekend. It is the nuclear option by players to force the Welsh Rugby Union to fix multiple issues the players see as being wrong with the Welsh rugby system. Negotiating a new pay deal is just one of the items on the players agenda that needs to be addressed urgently as well as working conditions and insurance.
The question being asked now is how did the Welsh Rugby Union allow things to get to this point? I asked a question on Twitter over the weekend: is there a disconnect in the trinity of the rugby community? The trinity of the rugby community is Club, Provincial, and International Rugby Teams. In my opinion Welsh rugby currently represents the extremes of the breakdown in that trinity. Let me explain how this happened and why Welsh rugby is in the mess it is currently in.
Now firstly, Welsh rugby is not the only rugby union in a mess now, they are just the ones at the extreme end of a deep-rooted problem throughout world rugby administrations. The problems started for Wales and let’s be honest, most of the world’s rugby unions, when the game in 1996 turned professional. The problem was that none of the unions were ready or in a position to change from being administrators of the game to commercial entities who could make money by selling their brands, aligning commercial partnerships to their teams, and maximizing the value of commercial TV rights.
Welsh rugby had a simple set up prior to 1996. The clubs were its provinces and Welsh clubs were some of the best rugby clubs in the world. Teams like Neath RFC, Bridgend RFC, Newport RFC, Pontypridd RFC, were world famous and had a history defeating international touring teams. When rugby turned professional a decision was made by Welsh rugby to bring in a provincial rugby system that would sit above these famous clubs and the fans of these clubs would then follow the provincial sides that their club were aligned to.
The Welsh provincial system worked for a time when the provinces were successful and they were breeding the next generation of Welsh internationals. Where things started to go wrong was in the alignment of clubs to provincial teams. When some Welsh clubs that had been sworn enemies for year were asked to support the same provincial side, the support for the game started to die as the world-famous Welsh clubs had lost their identities and supporters who no longer wanted to watch a lesser level of rugby turned away from their club and because multiple clubs were aligned to a provincial team supporters walked away from them as well.
The problem facing Welsh rugby was their lack of ambition to change its business model and adapt to the new world of sports administration. While the Welsh national team were winning on the pitch the cracks off the pitch in their administration were papered over. Once the current generation of Welsh rugby started to age and their success started to wean the problems off the pitch became clear for all to see.
The Welsh Rugby Union is in total mess now. Their funding is limited, there is talk of reducing the number of provincial sides from three to two, there is discussion about putting players on a pay to play contract. Even if the players demands are meet this week and the players’ strike is averted, The greater problems will still be there for Welsh rugby to face.
I have a feeling the Welsh or UK Government will need to step in at some point to assist the union in sorting out its financial crisis. I say this with a heavy heart whether it be the Welsh, Irish Scottish, or Australian Rugby Unions, none of these unions will survive in the commercial world without changing their business structure and rebuilding the bridges between club, provincial and international rugby teams to ensure that grass roots support sees how their club has a direct impact on its international team.
Munster Rugby had a huge win at home in Thomond Park over the weekend with a 58-3 victory over Ospreys in the latest round of the URC. In what was a dominant bonus point victory where Gavin Coombes scored three tries and no doubt caught the attention of the Irish coaching staff who will be looking to select a squad to line up against Italy weekend, it was the win Munster needed to keep their finals ambitions on track. In other Munster news it was announced that Malakai Fekitoa would finish up with the team at the end of the season. I am personally disappointed to see Fekitoa leave as I feel we are only just getting to see him play some decent rugby after struggling to adapt to Munster’s style of play early in the season. Munster also announced that ex New Zealand Maori and Chiefs midfielder Alex Nankivell would be signing on for next season.
In Irish Women’s Rugby then Combined Provinces XV notched up its third consecutive victory in a row defeating the Wales Development XV 19-0 at the Kingspan stadium in Belfast. That victory secured the title for the Irish side, however the team will be looking to ensure it goes undefeated during the tournament next week when it faces the Thistles XV. Winning this title means so much for the Irish women’s side as the entire Irish women’s rugby platform is being rebuilt after the disappointment of not qualifying for last year’s Rugby World Cup; A mistake the IRFU are working to ensure does not happen again.
The US MLR season kicked off over the weekend and our local New York Ironworkers side faced off away to Seattle Seawolves in a replay of last year’s championship game. New York looked like a side that needed a few more weeks of preseason under its belt as they lost the game, 25-11. Even though New York didn’t play with the same passion or skill that they did towards the end of last season, to me the positive from the game was that New York were not out of the game until very late and that if a few simple mistakes were rectified the result could have easily gone the other way. James Semple will build on the base that game provided for the team. New York’s next game is at home on Sunday at their new Mount Vernon Memorial Stadium against the Toronto Arrows, I hope you can get out to the stadium and support our team! It should be a great game. A big shout out to all the New York Ironworker fans who went out to Stout Bar for the watch party! Let’s keep the support for our team and the game growing.
One other bit of news I would like you to keep your support going for is that Orla Fowley is looking to raise money for the CARI Foundation and CRY Cardiac Risk in the Young and The Mid-Western Cancer Foundation in honor of Munster and Irish Rugby Legend Anthony Fowley. If you can spare a few dollars this is a very worthwhile cause to donate to. As part of the fundraiser Orla has cycled 3000km around Ireland and counting. She is looking to raise 40,000 euro for this very worthy cause. Any contribution you can make would be most grateful. Here is a link to the website where you can donate: www.idonate.ie/fundraiser/ORLASWILDWAYS.
If you want to keep up to date with all the latest rugby news you can find me on Instagram @jb052006 or and at twitter@Jonatha2590684 or email jonathan.joseph.bowen@gmail.com.