Rugby Australia to target top NRL talent

[T to the T]

Wales is a dogs breakfast both on and off the field, the national team can’t even fill thier stadium anymore on the back of 11 consecutive defeats. The upper bowl was nearly totally empty last week v Wallabies, that would have been unheard of a few years ago.

Couple amendments needed. For the Australia game, the upper bowl was a 3rd to half full in fairness. This is still dire for the WRU as they are missing out on £500k to £1m they really need, same for the Fiji and no doubt the South Africa matches. The stadium will more or less always be full for 6 Nations however this is more due to away fans picking up tickets which home fans would've snatched instantly.

That aside, the code is in crisis here and is in 20 years in the making. David Moffett (name may be familiar) wielding the axe on the domestic front, taking the old Welsh Premiership from 9 teams to 5, and then 4, in a new Celtic League. Fans, like myself, of clubs kicked out turned our bad/had far less interest in RU. That number was probably manageable when the national team were successful, and bandwagon jumpers were able to fill the gap and keep money going into the WRU's coffers but that isn't the case anymore.

The WRU is an archaic organisation in it's structure, blighted by cronyism and misogyny and wasn't fit for 1995 when RU went openly professional, let alone 2024. Funds are given to community clubs (who make up the Union) to the detriment of funding of the professional game, and consequently academies, which has weakened RU's playing talent here.

Welsh football/soccer being on the up has done what the Socceroos has done to the Wallabies and eroded the view that the RU national side were the primary international sporting representatives of the nation. Football is far more popular with the youth, RU is not getting all the cream of the crop anymore, and in a nation of only 3m population, the dearth in world class talent is becoming clear.

It's a perfect storm whereby unless the WRU reforms (and the clubs who comprise the union need to vote in national rather than self interest) then the necessary changes won't be made and Welsh RU will lurch from crisis to crisis.

A lot of this may ring familiar but it's a stop the NRL has already passed on it's journey, hence the expansion of the game and it's earning $$$ these days.

 

[taste2taste]

Couple amendments needed. For the Australia game, the upper bowl was a 3rd to half full in fairness. This is still dire for the WRU as they are missing out on £500k to £1m they really need, same for the Fiji and no doubt the South Africa matches. The stadium will more or less always be full for 6 Nations however this is more due to away fans picking up tickets which home fans would've snatched instantly.

That aside, the code is in crisis here and is in 20 years in the making. David Moffett (name may be familiar) wielding the axe on the domestic front, taking the old Welsh Premiership from 9 teams to 5, and then 4, in a new Celtic League. Fans, like myself, of clubs kicked out turned our bad/had far less interest in RU. That number was probably manageable when the national team were successful, and bandwagon jumpers were able to fill the gap and keep money going into the WRU's coffers but that isn't the case anymore.

The WRU is an archaic organisation in it's structure, blighted by cronyism and misogyny and wasn't fit for 1995 when RU went openly professional, let alone 2024. Funds are given to community clubs (who make up the Union) to the detriment of funding of the professional game, and consequently academies, which has weakened RU's playing talent here.

Welsh football/soccer being on the up has done what the Socceroos has done to the Wallabies and eroded the view that the RU national side were the primary international sporting representatives of the nation. Football is far more popular with the youth, RU is not getting all the cream of the crop anymore, and in a nation of only 3m population, the dearth in world class talent is becoming clear.

It's a perfect storm whereby unless the WRU reforms (and the clubs who comprise the union need to vote in national rather than self interest) then the necessary changes won't be made and Welsh RU will lurch from crisis to crisis.

A lot of this may ring familiar but it's a stop the NRL has already passed on it's journey, hence the expansion of the game and it's earning $$$ these days.

Thanks for posting, always good to hear from someone who lives on the ground rather than from someone who lives on the other side of the planet and read an article

Can you give some insight on league in Wales ? There’s been a few attempts from Super League that for various reasons have failed. Can you see the game ever becoming popular in Wales ?

 

[taste2taste]

Heres last weekends hybrid Union v League game played in Leeds last week to raise funds for MND

The game featured some retired legends from both codes and was played in good spirits.

The rules were heavily in leagues favour and as expected they game out on top.

 

[T to the T]

Thanks for posting, always good to hear from someone who lives on the ground rather than from someone who lives on the other side of the planet and read an article

Can you give some insight on league in Wales ? There’s been a few attempts from Super League that for various reasons have failed. Can you see the game ever becoming popular in Wales ?

League in Wales is what some Union players do after their season ends really. There are 10 or so senior RL teams playing seasons of 10 games or so. Union has over 300 clubs here (far too many for a nation of 3 million which is an issue in itself). There does seem to be a lot of work being done at the younger age groups though here which is a positive but still tiny compared to RU.

That's not to say a professional club wouldn't work but it just needs time, be in the right location and unwavering support from the governing body, it needs an NRL to perservere with however the RFL is nearly as inept as the WRU. I started following RL after my RU team was culled (may sound a familiar journey for those who turned their backs on the sport after the SL War), and Celtic Crusaders were set up. The problem though was whilst the Crusaders filled a rugby void in Bridgend, however the town has just a population of 40k. For any professional sporting team to succeed, it needed to be in Cardiff. Another Welsh side could get 5k-10k crowds (tidy by UK rugby standards of either code), there's minimal competition in the summer months apart from cricket (so no real competition).

The WRU are rumoured to be looking to cull 1 of their 4 clubs due to funding (Ireland manage to fund 4 successful sides with a lower overall turnover so highlights the dire financial mismanagement and amount of money directed to the community game rather than professional sides), so the opportunities for professional RU players would reduce again. We all know the skills between the codes are transferable and if there was a pathway to a professional career in RL in South Wales, I'm sure far more would give it go. The opportunity is there for RL again but the RFL are too useless to take advantage (same with Toronto).

 

[Mother Nature's Son]

League in Wales is what some Union players do after their season ends really. There are 10 or so senior RL teams playing seasons of 10 games or so. Union has over 300 clubs here (far too many for a nation of 3 million which is an issue in itself). There does seem to be a lot of work being done at the younger age groups though here which is a positive but still tiny compared to RU.

That's not to say a professional club wouldn't work but it just needs time, be in the right location and unwavering support from the governing body, it needs an NRL to perservere with however the RFL is nearly as inept as the WRU. I started following RL after my RU team was culled (may sound a familiar journey for those who turned their backs on the sport after the SL War), and Celtic Crusaders were set up. The problem though was whilst the Crusaders filled a rugby void in Bridgend, however the town has just a population of 40k. For any professional sporting team to succeed, it needed to be in Cardiff. Another Welsh side could get 5k-10k crowds (tidy by UK rugby standards of either code), there's minimal competition in the summer months apart from cricket (so no real competition).

The WRU are rumoured to be looking to cull 1 of their 4 clubs due to funding (Ireland manage to fund 4 successful sides with a lower overall turnover so highlights the dire financial mismanagement and amount of money directed to the community game rather than professional sides), so the opportunities for professional RU players would reduce again. We all know the skills between the codes are transferable and if there was a pathway to a professional career in RL in South Wales, I'm sure far more would give it go. The opportunity is there for RL again but the RFL are too useless to take advantage (same with Toronto).

Thanks for that mate, really interesting, I`ve bookmarked it for future reference.

 

[The Mad Hatter]

Am loving that Suallii is the instant RU poster boy.
Will make it more fun when his core values come to the fore and he has a pulpit for his views.

 

[titoelcolombiano]

"And another Kiwi scores for Ireland"

Famous words from the commentator in the RUWC SF. NZ v Ireland.

Union makes me laugh with the global sport comments. International teams are still heavily propped up by PI players, Kiwis, Poms and South Africans.

Scotland, Japan and quite a few other top nations are absolute jokes for a "global" sport.

 

[T to the T]

Suaalii has broken his wrist against Scotland