'Delusional' league plan could see Wales become 'permanent second tier' rugby nation

Plans by the Welsh Rugby Union (WRU) to create a new elite league below regional rugby for eight teams have been labelled as “delusional” and could have damaging financial implications, Pontypridd RFC have claimed.

Mark Rhydderch-Roberts, an executive board member of Pontypridd RFC, says that Welsh rugby cannot “shrink to greatness” while ignoring the clubs, their members, stakeholders and basic commercial realities.

He also claims that the WRU has been labouring under a “catastrophically damaging misapprehension” that the professional game can exist in a “bubble almost completely disconnected operationally and culturally” from the semi-professional and community game, as well as schools and universities.

The union has set out initial plans for a new league for eight teams from the 2024-25 season. If taken forward, it would be made up of four clubs drawn within the pathways of the four regions, a guaranteed place for Rygbi Gogledd Cymru (RGC), with the remaining three places from other clubs in the existing semi-professional Premiership. The league is currently made up of 12 teams, but is being increased to 14 from next season. Last year, the Premiership clubs unanimously rejected plans from the WRU to reduce the number to nine.

Speaking on behalf of the Sardis Road Premiership club, Rhydderch-Roberts, whose career in investment banking saw him holding executive roles with the likes of Swiss Re, USB Warburg, Schroders, and Societe Generale, said that financially, the WRU had publicly stated that they were currently unable to sustain four regions.

He added that they had also indicated that they could not sustain the semi-pro Welsh Premiership and had effectively withdrawn financial support and any semblance of leadership and structure. Therefore, it is “genuinely delusional to propose a new league at a time when the regional game appears to be in disarray at virtually every level and the game’s finances in unsustainable disarray.”

“The endless tinkering by the WRU over many years and the uncertainty that causes with the Welsh Premiership is destroying the spectator base, minimising sponsor interest, and weakening the roots of rugby in its core heartlands. It would be also difficult to see why any club benefactor or sponsor in the Welsh Premiership would wish to continue to provide financial support given the likely impact of these proposals,” he said.

Rhydderch-Roberts also said that any new proposals for a new elite league brought forward by the governing body would be consulted upon with members of the Sardis Road club. However, he added that it was “highly unlikely that Pontypridd RFC would ever vote to sanction the creation of the proposed elite league or participate in such a league. This would be to protect our commercial solvency and independence. It is also worth noting that the Welsh Premiership unanimously voted down just under a year ago a similar WRU proposal to reduce the league to nine clubs from the existing 12.”

“Any proposed league that sat between fully pro and semi-pro would, we strongly believe, be the death knell for the traditional heritage clubs that, unlike the Welsh regions, are deeply embedded in their communities and maintain the key connection with participants, spectators and members,” he added.

“We firmly believe that 14 is the optimum number of teams a league can sustain commercially, which would provide sufficient home games in terms of spectator interest and the commercial reinforcement of traditional tribal and team loyalties. We have no intention of jeopardising 150 years of proud independence and history. As directors, we have a fiduciary duty to ensure that our club remains solvent and financially viable.

“The WRU have consistently propagated a default strategy of managed decline allied to minimal investment and believe that somehow, despite all evidence to the contrary, Welsh rugby can shrink to greatness while ignoring the clubs, their members, stakeholders and basic commercial realities. This default strategy, in the complete absence of leadership, vision and any other coherent plans from the WRU board to develop the game, has led us to the desperate situation that Welsh rugby currently finds itself in. The proposal to create a new elite league above the Welsh Premiership is the strategy of a rudderless and institutionally incompetent organisation.”

He added: “This is not a new phenomenon and has been evident for over 20 years, compounded by a refusal to ever admit hugely damaging structural mistakes have been made.

“It is clear that for the last 20 years or so the WRU have been labouring under the catastrophically damaging misapprehension that somehow, the professional game can exist in a bubble almost completely disconnected operationally and culturally from the semi pro game, the community game, and schools and universities.

“Recent WRU figures on male adult participation are sobering in the extreme. The WRU have indicated verbally that their best estimate of adult male participants at all levels in Wales who play week in, week out for a recognised team/club is 6,750 individuals. I think in England a similar figure would be around 200,000 regular adult male players.

“This underlines one clear and salient truth, the game in Wales is at a tipping point. This is not the usual cyclical crisis we have seen many times over the years; it is certainly not just financial, although finances are critical; this crisis is structural and could be terminal. Wales is at high risk of becoming a second tier rugby nation permanently, with our best young players leaving, in a European version of the South Sea Islands experience with their richer neighbours.

“We also risk losing Welsh rugby’s social and cultural position in our nation. While we fully support the ongoing development of women’s rugby, it is the core men’s game which funds the WRU. If that is destroyed or severely compromised, no money will be available to develop anything. At the moment, the core men’s game is existentially threatened.

“Pontypridd will continue to fight, along with our like minded colleagues in the Welsh Premiership, for a vision of Welsh rugby that harnesses the latent power of our clubs and people, respects our history and communities, provides a product that is financially viable and engaging to our stakeholders.”