Think some people here are clueless about the problems facing Welsh domestic rugby at the minute, they seem to think that if they model themselves on the Irish or NZ domestic game all things will be happy but what they forget is currently the 4 welsh regions are competing against 2 Premiership football teams (something fans in NZ and Ireland would know nothing about)
Oh really?. You don't think the Irish have problems competing with the two GAA sports, Gaelic Football and Hurling? Aussie Rugby have THREE codes of football they are up against, and two of them, Rugby League and AFL, are clearly kicking Union's butt for popularity, participation, sponsorship and television coverage. South Africa have Football as a very big competitor although the racial divide lessens that to a certain extent.
Admittedly, we only have Rugby League in NZ as a serious competitor in field-ball sports at the adult level. However, at junior level, its a different story. There are nearly three times as many Junior Soccer players in NZ as there are as there are Junior Rugby Union players. Heaven help rugby here if Football NZ ever figure out a way to translate their Junior participation rates onto the Senior game.
However, only a fool would think that other ball sports are our only competitors. Rugby in NZ competes with a huge number of other sports, pastimes and entertainments. When I was still as school back in the 1960s and 70s, you pretty much had only two or three choices of sport in each season; Rugby Union, Soccer and Hockey in the winter, Cricket and Softball in the Summer (and girls had Netball as well). Schools simply did not cater for any other sports at any competitive level. Now they also cater for Rugby League, Basketball, Skiing, Snowboarding, Tennis, Equestrian, Cycling, Squash, Mountain Biking, Water Polo, Swimming, Volleyball, Rowing, Kayaking (Flat and Wild water), Golf, Badminton, Wrestling, Weightlifting, Track & Field and a host of other lesser sports. The followings of some of these sports might not be all that great, but the more choice people have as far as what they participate in, the fewer the numbers participating in each.
To think the Welsh regions should just put up and shut up is very arrogant and very condescending, why the hell shouldnt they try and join the EPL if they think it will help them, if the WRU wants to try and block them then perhaps they should remember what happened in Football when the WFA tried to stop welsh teams joining the then English league.
I hear and read a lot of rhetoric on this and other forums, about how the Welsh fans and Clubs were hard done by when regionalisation came in, and that the vast majority of them objected, but the facts tell a different story. Regionalisation was overwhelmingly supported by the 240 or so Welsh Clubs that existed at that time. Only seven opposed the move; and who are the Club stakeholders if not the fans. If the they really were opposed, why didn't they instruct their clubs accordingly?
