A New Dawn

By Paul French
August 20 2004

A New Dawn

By Paul French
Date: 20/8/2004

April 1st 2003 was a day that heralded a supposed new dawn for Welsh rugby when WRU chief executive David Moffett confirmed that finally agreement had been reached by Premiership clubs to form five regional entities after months of intense negotiations.

Cardiff and Llanelli had successfully managed to maintain their stand alone status after both threatened legal action, however three brand new merged entities were formed with Neath and Swansea, Pontypridd and Bridgend along with Newport and Ebbw Vale joining forces.

Within weeks though it was fairly obvious that old habits were to die particularly hard, with infighting starting to break out in Gwent with Newport very much at odds with Ebbw Vale. Black and Ambers owner Tony Brown decided to walk away after the name Gwent Dragons was agreed upon, ignoring calls to include Newport in the regions title. By the first week of the season the clubs' name was hastily added.

Similar cracks began to appear in the Bridgend-Pontypridd region, after overcoming original identity problems, chief executive Gareth Thomas quit amidst financial worries. Thomas a keen supporter of the regional concept was largely blamed for taking Pontypridd into a marriage of un-equals, as shortly afterwards the valleys' club fell into administration. Bridgend owner Leighton Samuel made up the newly named Celtic Warriors financial short fall, before gifting Pontypridd's 50% share to the WRU a move which was to play a significant part of their eventual downfall.

Neath-Swansea Ospreys on the other hand enjoyed a fairly peaceful formation, although some eyebrows were raised with their choice of an all back home shirt and continued use of a Maltese cross in their logo.

Without their world cup stars the regions struggled to attract decent gates, the acceptable gate figure projected by David Moffett of eight-thousand never looked in danger of being breached. Notably Celtic Warriors attendances were barely touching two thousand, in mid October controversially Leighton Samuel acted by switching all games to the Brewery field - citing hospitality at Bridgend was essential to their future.

Newport Gwent Dragons overcame another major stumbling block, having been placed into administration, Tony Brown returned to the fray, influencing a largely Newport influenced outfit with the exception of two WRU officials including chairman David Pickering.

The festive season brought a welcome increase in gates, with six thousand supporters watching the Warriors take apart Cardiff Blues at the Arms Park. Most impressively a near sell out crowd witnessed the Ospreys put up a brave fight at Stradey Park.

Further encouraging signs followed on the Heineken cups return, Celtic Warriors took advantage of a shock win at Zurich Premiership giants London Wasps, to attract ten thousand in the return leg five days later and seven thousand a week afterwards against Perpignan.

Unfortunately such joy was to be short lived, as another merger involving Cardiff was mooted leading to another outcry. Such strong opposition saw an end to any possible move. At the time many believed it to be more of a publicity stunt than anything significant, in light of either sides poor crowds so far.

With an on form team Newport Gwent Dragons were attracting  healthy gates of five thousand, the same could not be said for the Ospreys who struggled to gel as a team and despite a settled environment could not muster decent gates, nor could the Warriors when their European adventure ended.

The battle for Heineken cup places produced an exciting end to the season, with Cardiff Blues and Neath-Swansea Ospreys locked in an end of season battle.

However shortly after the seasons end it emerged as an irrelevancy following the shock news that Leighton Samuel had been bought out and the Celtic Warriors faced a sorry end.

The way in which David Moffett managed to acquire Samuels' share for the union left a very bitter taste with supporters of the Valley region. It emerged that other regions had used part of their funding to buy out Samuel, what exactly happened in the meeting afterwards remains unclear to this day - but Warriors fans, officials and players were left extremely feeling bitter.

For the second season running ERC officials were extremely lenient, allowing Wales to maintain their promised fourth spot up until next season - allowing Cardiff Blues a back door entrance to Europe's premier competition having originally missed out.

Subsequently all feeder clubs in Warrior territory were split accordingly between the Ospreys and Blues. Pontypridd were eloped by the Blues region and Bridgend into the Ospreys'. Niether Premiership clubs' grounds were likely to see top class rugby action again.

The players also had to look for new employment, after strong encouragement to remain in Wales, most did. However not all were lucky enough to be offered new deals, with the likes of Richard Parks heading to England.

It is widely widely acknowledged that Welsh rugby realistically has only one more chance to get it right or face the death of professional rugby in our borders.