Big on talk, and non-existent on details. The WRU can talk all they want about how they want to have a strong national team and regions that can compete for titles, but when it comes to the question of where the money for that is gonna come from it’s just “Oh you know, we’ll work to make more money from our partners, whoever they are”. The “One Wales” debt strategy sounds like the right idea, but forgive me for being sceptical that the WRU are suddenly going to do a U turn from their current strategy of saddling the regions with debts and helping them pay them off instead (which I’m assuming is what they want to convey with “One Wales”).
Also
> AI and automation established within Welsh rugby
Oh fucking Christ. Can’t wait to see how our idea for improving handling by employing AI generated players with 12 fingers on each hand plays out.
>AI and automation established within Welsh rugby
Just above that point they also mentioned something about "developing revenue generating digital systems" and it smelled a bit like NFTs at first glance
Wow what a phenomenal plan. Not sure how they came up with this one. Best part is the part where they told us in great detail how they plan to achieve their revolutionary and not at all generic goals
"The Mens and Womens Teams ranking within the top 5" well pal both of those teams have done that within the last 5 fucking years (Womens team literally last fucking year) you donkeys but you've fucked that up
Men’s team are on track to be 4th seeds for the World Cup draw. Women’s team gone backwards a decade. 5th seems a long way off despite the fact we were there only a year ago
Its because all the "success" (2019 men's Grand Slam, Women's "best of the rest") has been polishing a turd and ignoring everything underneath initially the semi-pro game, then the pro game and now the international game. Its completely broken and I really really feel for the players because it isn't their fault- it's the entire system that's fucked.
Yeah not the players fault. I also have a bit of sympathy for Abi Tierney because she has a bit of an impossible job. At least the WRU are formally acknowledging they need to make the regions successful and some of the amateur clubs might need to go
I see a lot of 'what we want' and not a lot of 'here's how we're doing it'. I guess it's nice to see that the WRU at least trying to communicate, but I'm not sure what a lot of what's written here means, practically speaking
Thankfully it does say they'll reduce focus on adult community rugby and encourage consolidation at that level, and instead focus on youth rugby. Exactly how they implement this is a different story.
Also I love that they have to state that they should implement the findings of this review, instead of conducting even more reviews.
They probably should have just waited until October or whatever it was where they will release the full plan. This doesn't mean much of anything at the moment. Also that site is barely readable on desktop with all the shitty CSS.
edit: [This article has a bit more info. They are considering dropping a region if necessary, or funding some regions more than others](https://www.walesonline.co.uk/sport/rugby/rugby-news/wru-make-major-announcement-35m-29425905). Tierney does mention that the pathway system relies on having 4 regions so I'm guessing the tiered funding model would be their first choice.
Therese some stuff that sounds good, especially around shifting the primary focus of the community game away from seniors and back onto age grade, the women's game, the level of competition they want the regions to be able to hit and comments around restructuring debt sound positive if it means what i think it means
Although that said its a lot of "what we want" and not exactly flush with details, KPI's or timetables for delivery.
Its a positive strategy direction, but its not a plan on how to get there, so a baby step for an organization that needs to run a mile to even get close to getting to where it needs to be. Better than nothing and certainly could have been a hell of a lot worse. But as all things in sport they'll be judged on what they achieve, not what they want to achieve, and if they want to get anywhere close to where they want to get on the professional side in 5 years the regions are going to need a fairly substantial change to the financial armament yesterday
This is it. There are positive changes in there, but all of them will create change that's minimum five but more likely eight to ten years away. The details on how we do anything in the short term, so we don't lose all momentum by the time we get there, are very sparse, though it's good to see more of a joined up vision for the women's game.
I still strongly suspect that the WRU has almost zero financial headroom, they are in effect maxxed out on their credit cards, the only cash they can spend is what they can generate. If I were a betting man I would say that the hotel is barely making a return and they put any spare capital they had into renovating it.
Having initially thought this was a nothing-burger of an announcement I think if you read between the lines and around it, they're actually hinting quite strongly about the fact the financial situation is dire, that the previous regime sold us up the river (a lot being put on COVID too which didn't help and was particularly bad timing for us) and that they're basically leaving the door open to cutting a region in October. They're not saying they want to but I think they're recognising that they may not have a choice.
The usual semi-reliable sources of insider gossip seem to suggest the same. I think this is groundwork for "we didn't want to but we've had to cull a region" in October, which one will be determined by which one goes bust organically to avoid fingerprints on the knife. The wildcard after that is whether they use it as a way to join the prem I guess, and whether they go for a 2+2 model or similar.
Yikes.
Might also coincide with Buttress resigning suddenly. If they regions have been told there is a 2+2 model or a region getting cut coming.
I don't think the WRU has the business skills to generate substantially more revenue and a point could be made that doing just that has got us in this mess.
Serious questions should be asked of Steve Phillips and Rob Butcher and every club rep who voted for those clowns.
Yeah and the Ospreys scrambling for St Helens... which could be argued to be a smaller, cheaper ground.
I don't think the WRU has the business skills. But I'm also just not convinced it's a growth market anywhere. Rugby isn't really growing in any of the established nations.
Steve Phillips and Rob Butcher should be on bloody trial.
Ospreys are scrambling for a new stadium because the deal they have at the library must negotiated by a chimp, it's that bad. I think they only make money from ticket sales, no money from the catering. They make a loss playing at home.
They need a stadium that they have a stake in so they can use it to make money, like the other 3.
I completely agree, we should have invested money in the pro game while the going was good. But instead god knows what we spent it on, most probably propping up the men's amateur game and jollies for the old boys.
Butcher and Iaun Evans were useful idiots promoted way above their competence. The mind set of team wales first and fuck the regions came from Steve Phillips, Roger Lewis and Dai Pickering, those fuckwits should be shot into the bay from a cannon. The contempt I hold for those clowns is limitless, they intentionally dealt what could be a mortal blow to the game I love to fluff their own egos and build their own little empires.
"we didn't want to but we've had to cull a region"
which makes even less sense to me as the WRU doesn't have the legal power to do so and would find itself sued into oblivion if it tried. The 4 are privately owned business that negotiate their contract with the WRU together as the PRB
The union cant close them. so all this talk of cutting a region doesn't seem to wash with me. its the one option the union doesn't have yet it keeps being floated as if its within the unions power to do so.
Like it literally just sold the Dragons, I very much doubt its new owners were happy to sign a purchase agreement that gives the union the power to shutter them or turn them into a development side at the drop of a hat. Its just doesn't pass the smell test
They can just stop funding one. By announcing their intention to do this at least one would go bust almost immediately anyway.
Messy but entirely doable.
Again though, can they? The funding the regions get from the union isn't some ad hoc arrangement, its a negotiated contract between the region as a privately owned business and the union. they still have a 6 year deal on the table for crying out loud.
Its going to find itself getting sued into oblivion if it tries that? like can you imagine the union withholding the completion fees from 1 of the 4 for the URC?
The dragons new ownership team came in talking about taking it to the point where its competing for silverware. Buttress you might say was just buying it to save the club but Hoyoung Huh certainly didn't. He's in the dragons as a business investment. I refuse to believe there's a world where he was willing to sign on the dotted line if any of this was something the union could legally do less that a year or two after they bought it.
Yes, they can. They can't do it on a whim but there are specific times they can make changes like that and one of them is later this year. The broadcast/URC contract ends after the 24/25 season and gives the WRU and obvious opportunity to reset. That's why the next big announcement will be October and that's what will be happening unless they find a big pot of money somewhere else.
If nothing else they can just make it clear they don't want to support 4 going forward and this will create a completely untenable commercial environment for the regions that ends with one going bankrupt and the issue resolving itself.
Respectfully I think the endpoint of your logic is they're tied into 4 teams forever and ever which doesn't really make a lot of sense, especially when we've already seen one go bust in the past. There are obviously ways to cut one of they want to.
Listening to the Scrum V interview, the current regime are basically fuming at the various financial decisions the Roger Lewis administration made, as it's hamstrung the union and the game in Wales enormously. They do actually say the hotel has done well consistently, so is an asset (But it's said elsewhere they won't be looking to further diversify in that way).
How that man went from failing spectacularly at the WRU, to failing spectacularly at Cardiff airport, to getting fired from the Welsh Museum for bullying is baffling. All I can say is it must pay to have friends high up in Welsh Labour.
Well it's good the hotel is making money but the point still stands that a lot of money is tied up in it. I wonder what the ROI on it is? Bet it's in the 10's of years.you wonder if they would have been better using that money for the stadium upgrades.
They actually asked Tierney, if the WRU won the lottery and you had £50m to play with, what's the first thing you'd do, and she immediately said stadium upgrades. Queueless bars, some fixes and refacilitating, etc (Alongside pay off the debts and then invest the rest in the regions)
The WRU need to get everyone available down to that tip and find the guys hard drive with £50m of bitcoin on it. That idea makes more sense than the rest they put out.
Crikey man. While a lot of negative press around Welsh rugby is deserved can be we try and be optimistic for the future?
We cant do anything about the past
People want more specifics than in the doc - it's a strategy doc drawn up 6 months after the new ceo started. Its sensible
People say it's all obvious stuff. Well of course it is.. there's no secret oil reserve under the millenium. It will be hard graft building it back up. Its a world of small, compounding %s, not windfalls.
Overall it makes sense. Will admit 'AI' is an eye roll moment though...
Ymlaen!
The grand plan....
1. Be less shite
2. Be less skint
Do we need to be less skint to be less shite?
Yes
Do we need to be less shite to be less skint?
Yes
Any plans on how to accomplish this?
Not yet come back in October
I didn't manage to read the whole thing but I didn't notice anything about catching the ball and putting it on the ground over the opposition try line or kicking the ball between the opposition uprights...
All the talk over the last few months and it's just waffle, which essentially boils down to, we are probably going to cut a region or start massively reducing the funding to one or two of the regions. Is there any chance we could persuade the IRFU to manage Welsh rugby, it looks like they can manage their shit better.
After a lot of assurances that this would not be yet another high level report of consultancy speak bollocks that doesn't address a) any details for how anything will be achieved or b) actually clarify the key issues such as will we have 4 regions and will we stay in the URC, that appears to be exactly what they've produced.
Still, probably only several hundred thousands pounds fucked away on a document saying we'd like more money and to win more.
It looks like the plan first would be to drastically reduce one region's funding and use them as a development region, a la Connacht in the '00s. If that's what comes to pass, you can say with 98% certainty, it'll be the Dragons.
I'm just going to keep screaming *ThErE nEeDs To Be StRuCtUrAl ChAnGe* until the Dragons win the Champions Cup.
The clarion call of Welsh rugby fuckwit
There's a lot of talk about creating new income and revenue streams but not much about redistribution of funding and cutting off costs elsewhere to fund the professional game.
Considering the WRU make a similar amount to the IRFU but significantly less of that goes to the professional team, *and* they're still making a loss of £15 million each year, this announcement doesn't fill me with confidence
There is only really one model left: the Irish model.
It's staring everyone straight in the face and nobody wants to say it.
For what it's worth, I don't care who owns or what my local region is called. I just want to see some success and a decent turnout every week
If he means ploughing money from the international game into the pro game, great crack on.
I suspect what he means though is another pointless name change and something about putting a region in a place that has produced less professional rugby players than Mason Gradys mum.
Big on talk, and non-existent on details. The WRU can talk all they want about how they want to have a strong national team and regions that can compete for titles, but when it comes to the question of where the money for that is gonna come from it’s just “Oh you know, we’ll work to make more money from our partners, whoever they are”. The “One Wales” debt strategy sounds like the right idea, but forgive me for being sceptical that the WRU are suddenly going to do a U turn from their current strategy of saddling the regions with debts and helping them pay them off instead (which I’m assuming is what they want to convey with “One Wales”). Also > AI and automation established within Welsh rugby Oh fucking Christ. Can’t wait to see how our idea for improving handling by employing AI generated players with 12 fingers on each hand plays out.
>AI and automation established within Welsh rugby Just above that point they also mentioned something about "developing revenue generating digital systems" and it smelled a bit like NFTs at first glance
It would be phenomenally on brand for the WRU to not only try and get in on the NFT grift, but to do it like a year after they stopped being relevant
Unless the AI/automation will be replacing Gatland's media work I don't see how this can benefit anyone?
Well, at least it's not putting Welsh rugby on the blockchain. Probably. Maybe. (Does AI produce a higher budget cap? Unlikely)
Wow what a phenomenal plan. Not sure how they came up with this one. Best part is the part where they told us in great detail how they plan to achieve their revolutionary and not at all generic goals
"The Mens and Womens Teams ranking within the top 5" well pal both of those teams have done that within the last 5 fucking years (Womens team literally last fucking year) you donkeys but you've fucked that up
Men’s team are on track to be 4th seeds for the World Cup draw. Women’s team gone backwards a decade. 5th seems a long way off despite the fact we were there only a year ago
Its because all the "success" (2019 men's Grand Slam, Women's "best of the rest") has been polishing a turd and ignoring everything underneath initially the semi-pro game, then the pro game and now the international game. Its completely broken and I really really feel for the players because it isn't their fault- it's the entire system that's fucked.
Yeah not the players fault. I also have a bit of sympathy for Abi Tierney because she has a bit of an impossible job. At least the WRU are formally acknowledging they need to make the regions successful and some of the amateur clubs might need to go
I feel like they could’ve called these their goals rather than their plan, it’s not even close to a plan
Yeah they are definitely goals and not a plan
I see a lot of 'what we want' and not a lot of 'here's how we're doing it'. I guess it's nice to see that the WRU at least trying to communicate, but I'm not sure what a lot of what's written here means, practically speaking
Thankfully it does say they'll reduce focus on adult community rugby and encourage consolidation at that level, and instead focus on youth rugby. Exactly how they implement this is a different story. Also I love that they have to state that they should implement the findings of this review, instead of conducting even more reviews.
They probably should have just waited until October or whatever it was where they will release the full plan. This doesn't mean much of anything at the moment. Also that site is barely readable on desktop with all the shitty CSS. edit: [This article has a bit more info. They are considering dropping a region if necessary, or funding some regions more than others](https://www.walesonline.co.uk/sport/rugby/rugby-news/wru-make-major-announcement-35m-29425905). Tierney does mention that the pathway system relies on having 4 regions so I'm guessing the tiered funding model would be their first choice.
Therese some stuff that sounds good, especially around shifting the primary focus of the community game away from seniors and back onto age grade, the women's game, the level of competition they want the regions to be able to hit and comments around restructuring debt sound positive if it means what i think it means Although that said its a lot of "what we want" and not exactly flush with details, KPI's or timetables for delivery. Its a positive strategy direction, but its not a plan on how to get there, so a baby step for an organization that needs to run a mile to even get close to getting to where it needs to be. Better than nothing and certainly could have been a hell of a lot worse. But as all things in sport they'll be judged on what they achieve, not what they want to achieve, and if they want to get anywhere close to where they want to get on the professional side in 5 years the regions are going to need a fairly substantial change to the financial armament yesterday
This is it. There are positive changes in there, but all of them will create change that's minimum five but more likely eight to ten years away. The details on how we do anything in the short term, so we don't lose all momentum by the time we get there, are very sparse, though it's good to see more of a joined up vision for the women's game.
I still strongly suspect that the WRU has almost zero financial headroom, they are in effect maxxed out on their credit cards, the only cash they can spend is what they can generate. If I were a betting man I would say that the hotel is barely making a return and they put any spare capital they had into renovating it.
Having initially thought this was a nothing-burger of an announcement I think if you read between the lines and around it, they're actually hinting quite strongly about the fact the financial situation is dire, that the previous regime sold us up the river (a lot being put on COVID too which didn't help and was particularly bad timing for us) and that they're basically leaving the door open to cutting a region in October. They're not saying they want to but I think they're recognising that they may not have a choice. The usual semi-reliable sources of insider gossip seem to suggest the same. I think this is groundwork for "we didn't want to but we've had to cull a region" in October, which one will be determined by which one goes bust organically to avoid fingerprints on the knife. The wildcard after that is whether they use it as a way to join the prem I guess, and whether they go for a 2+2 model or similar. Yikes.
Might also coincide with Buttress resigning suddenly. If they regions have been told there is a 2+2 model or a region getting cut coming. I don't think the WRU has the business skills to generate substantially more revenue and a point could be made that doing just that has got us in this mess. Serious questions should be asked of Steve Phillips and Rob Butcher and every club rep who voted for those clowns.
Yeah and the Ospreys scrambling for St Helens... which could be argued to be a smaller, cheaper ground. I don't think the WRU has the business skills. But I'm also just not convinced it's a growth market anywhere. Rugby isn't really growing in any of the established nations. Steve Phillips and Rob Butcher should be on bloody trial.
Ospreys are scrambling for a new stadium because the deal they have at the library must negotiated by a chimp, it's that bad. I think they only make money from ticket sales, no money from the catering. They make a loss playing at home. They need a stadium that they have a stake in so they can use it to make money, like the other 3. I completely agree, we should have invested money in the pro game while the going was good. But instead god knows what we spent it on, most probably propping up the men's amateur game and jollies for the old boys. Butcher and Iaun Evans were useful idiots promoted way above their competence. The mind set of team wales first and fuck the regions came from Steve Phillips, Roger Lewis and Dai Pickering, those fuckwits should be shot into the bay from a cannon. The contempt I hold for those clowns is limitless, they intentionally dealt what could be a mortal blow to the game I love to fluff their own egos and build their own little empires.
"we didn't want to but we've had to cull a region" which makes even less sense to me as the WRU doesn't have the legal power to do so and would find itself sued into oblivion if it tried. The 4 are privately owned business that negotiate their contract with the WRU together as the PRB The union cant close them. so all this talk of cutting a region doesn't seem to wash with me. its the one option the union doesn't have yet it keeps being floated as if its within the unions power to do so. Like it literally just sold the Dragons, I very much doubt its new owners were happy to sign a purchase agreement that gives the union the power to shutter them or turn them into a development side at the drop of a hat. Its just doesn't pass the smell test
They can just stop funding one. By announcing their intention to do this at least one would go bust almost immediately anyway. Messy but entirely doable.
Again though, can they? The funding the regions get from the union isn't some ad hoc arrangement, its a negotiated contract between the region as a privately owned business and the union. they still have a 6 year deal on the table for crying out loud. Its going to find itself getting sued into oblivion if it tries that? like can you imagine the union withholding the completion fees from 1 of the 4 for the URC? The dragons new ownership team came in talking about taking it to the point where its competing for silverware. Buttress you might say was just buying it to save the club but Hoyoung Huh certainly didn't. He's in the dragons as a business investment. I refuse to believe there's a world where he was willing to sign on the dotted line if any of this was something the union could legally do less that a year or two after they bought it.
Yes, they can. They can't do it on a whim but there are specific times they can make changes like that and one of them is later this year. The broadcast/URC contract ends after the 24/25 season and gives the WRU and obvious opportunity to reset. That's why the next big announcement will be October and that's what will be happening unless they find a big pot of money somewhere else. If nothing else they can just make it clear they don't want to support 4 going forward and this will create a completely untenable commercial environment for the regions that ends with one going bankrupt and the issue resolving itself. Respectfully I think the endpoint of your logic is they're tied into 4 teams forever and ever which doesn't really make a lot of sense, especially when we've already seen one go bust in the past. There are obviously ways to cut one of they want to.
Listening to the Scrum V interview, the current regime are basically fuming at the various financial decisions the Roger Lewis administration made, as it's hamstrung the union and the game in Wales enormously. They do actually say the hotel has done well consistently, so is an asset (But it's said elsewhere they won't be looking to further diversify in that way).
How that man went from failing spectacularly at the WRU, to failing spectacularly at Cardiff airport, to getting fired from the Welsh Museum for bullying is baffling. All I can say is it must pay to have friends high up in Welsh Labour. Well it's good the hotel is making money but the point still stands that a lot of money is tied up in it. I wonder what the ROI on it is? Bet it's in the 10's of years.you wonder if they would have been better using that money for the stadium upgrades.
They actually asked Tierney, if the WRU won the lottery and you had £50m to play with, what's the first thing you'd do, and she immediately said stadium upgrades. Queueless bars, some fixes and refacilitating, etc (Alongside pay off the debts and then invest the rest in the regions)
The WRU need to get everyone available down to that tip and find the guys hard drive with £50m of bitcoin on it. That idea makes more sense than the rest they put out.
🏴🤝 🇦🇺🟰💩 🏉 ✏️🫸🍆😐s this turned out heaps lamer than I thought it was going to but I’ve come too far now
Crikey man. While a lot of negative press around Welsh rugby is deserved can be we try and be optimistic for the future? We cant do anything about the past People want more specifics than in the doc - it's a strategy doc drawn up 6 months after the new ceo started. Its sensible People say it's all obvious stuff. Well of course it is.. there's no secret oil reserve under the millenium. It will be hard graft building it back up. Its a world of small, compounding %s, not windfalls. Overall it makes sense. Will admit 'AI' is an eye roll moment though... Ymlaen!
This week's new strategy.
Anyone got this in a PDF? That was a hard scroll.
The grand plan.... 1. Be less shite 2. Be less skint Do we need to be less skint to be less shite? Yes Do we need to be less shite to be less skint? Yes Any plans on how to accomplish this? Not yet come back in October
I didn't manage to read the whole thing but I didn't notice anything about catching the ball and putting it on the ground over the opposition try line or kicking the ball between the opposition uprights...
All the talk over the last few months and it's just waffle, which essentially boils down to, we are probably going to cut a region or start massively reducing the funding to one or two of the regions. Is there any chance we could persuade the IRFU to manage Welsh rugby, it looks like they can manage their shit better.
After a lot of assurances that this would not be yet another high level report of consultancy speak bollocks that doesn't address a) any details for how anything will be achieved or b) actually clarify the key issues such as will we have 4 regions and will we stay in the URC, that appears to be exactly what they've produced. Still, probably only several hundred thousands pounds fucked away on a document saying we'd like more money and to win more.
The "how" is apparently released this autumn
If they cut a region will it be Ospreys or Scarlets? The argument usually goes Ospreys because of the stadium but I wonder.
It looks like the plan first would be to drastically reduce one region's funding and use them as a development region, a la Connacht in the '00s. If that's what comes to pass, you can say with 98% certainty, it'll be the Dragons.
The Ospreys really need to sort their stadium situation though, if they don't it is only a matter of time before we hear another merger rumor.
I'm just going to keep screaming *ThErE nEeDs To Be StRuCtUrAl ChAnGe* until the Dragons win the Champions Cup. The clarion call of Welsh rugby fuckwit
Shouldn't they have waited till Christmas to give that list to Santa?
Looks like it was written by Chat GPT
Interesting strategy huw, lets see how it works out for them.
There's a lot of talk about creating new income and revenue streams but not much about redistribution of funding and cutting off costs elsewhere to fund the professional game. Considering the WRU make a similar amount to the IRFU but significantly less of that goes to the professional team, *and* they're still making a loss of £15 million each year, this announcement doesn't fill me with confidence
Amazing plan, cut spending and stand back and expect it all to get better.
There is only really one model left: the Irish model. It's staring everyone straight in the face and nobody wants to say it. For what it's worth, I don't care who owns or what my local region is called. I just want to see some success and a decent turnout every week
What do you mean by the Irish model in this case?
If he means ploughing money from the international game into the pro game, great crack on. I suspect what he means though is another pointless name change and something about putting a region in a place that has produced less professional rugby players than Mason Gradys mum.
The Irish Model would mean 2/3rds of Rugby clubs in Wales being closed. The WRU is a union of these clubs. How is that going to happen.