What can the Plaid Cymru Government do to save Welsh Rugby?
Evan Wall
Last week I attempted to set up a petition in the Welsh parliament asking for the Welsh Government to intervene or hold talks with the WRU’s leaders concerning their proposals to reduce the number of Welsh regions from four to three.
The petition was rejected. The reason for the rejection, according to the Senedd’s Petitions Department, was that the WRU’s decision was an “operational matter” and the Welsh Government and Senedd did not possess the responsibility to intervene.
In my response (and attempt to alter and then resubmit the petition), I made the case that this was a matter for the Senedd and Welsh Government. First, the issue of sport is devolved to Wales, therefore the government’s representatives must surely have a right to challenge a decision that is being made completely against the interests and will of the nation.
Second, as this article will outline, the WRU does use public funds and, as a result, should to at least some degree be seen as answerable to the Welsh Government. In this context, we could argue that the Plaid Cymru Government – especially its minister for sport, Heledd Fychan – has a responsibility to at least question the WRU over its proposal and see the data on which this decision is based.
The WRU’s plans are not just “an operational matter” of a Welsh company as the Petitions Department claimed. Rather, what we are seeing is that the WRU’s two out-of-their-depth and inexperienced leaders are making a huge and irreversible decision about Wales’ national sport. It is a decision that will have an incredibly negative economic and social impact over the short and long term in one area of Wales.
The Plaid Cymru Government must become part of the discussions.
Even if the BBC’s journalists are quiet, opposition to the WRU’s plans has been widespread across Welsh rugby and it is difficult to see how much more the concern could’ve been voiced to the WRU’s leadership team. Cardiff – being owned by the WRU and knowing they are safe – naturally kept quiet. But across the board elsewhere there has been a deluge of opposition.
Across the last year alone, the Scarlets and Ospreys – traditional rivals – issued a joint statement criticising the “destabilising and debilitating uncertainty” created by the WRU’s direction. The Scarlets’ CEO Jon Daniels has claimed that he does not see the necessity in cutting down to three regions, while the Ospreys have publicly categorised it as “wrong” and argue that they support a vision of four regions.
Three Welsh rugby supporters’ clubs launched a petition opposing the reduction in professional teams. Fans staged protests at grounds across Wales. Swansea Council explored the possibility of legal action and an injunction to halt the WRU’s plans. GoCompare founder Hayley Parsons has called on Abi Tierney and Dave Reddin to resign. Squidge Rugby (Robbie Owen), Wales’ finest rugby analyst, has also used his platform to oppose the WRU’s plans with great passion – and it’s clear that his large following agree with his standpoint.
A petition on Change.org to stop the culling of a region received over 9,000 signatures. The Central Glamorgan Rugby Union secured enough support to secure an Extraordinary General Meeting (EGM) which essentially forced Richard Collier-Keywood to give up his highly paid one-day-a-week role within the WRU.
Then, in January 2026, the WRU leadership was forced to attend the House of Commons Welsh Affairs Committee to explain its proposals. Following this, the committee warned that there was “an immense disconnect between the WRU and fans” and concluded that “the scale of the opposition we heard from supporters’ groups shows that there is more to do when it comes to finding a sustainable solution.”
Yet, despite this tsunami of opposition, the WRU has confirmed it is going to carry on with its plan of reducing the number of regions to three. The WRU could not be more undemocratic and deluded as it proves itself unwilling to reconsider despite the sustained criticism from supporters, clubs, elected representatives and independent commentators.
Enough is enough. The Welsh Government must now intervene to help protect the future of Wales’ national sport. The people have repeatedly voiced their concerns, only to be ignored. If the WRU will not listen, then it is time for government to step in. This is why I unsuccessfully attempted to set up a petition which calls on the Welsh Government to intervene.
Moral responsibility
Beyond its moral responsibility, the Welsh Government also has a right and legitimate basis for becoming involved. Sport is devolved in Wales. Although it does not run individual governing bodies, Welsh Ministers oversee the policy framework for sport and have every right to question the strategic direction of organisations that receive substantial public support.
More importantly, the WRU uses public funds and there is a strong financial relationship between the WRU and Welsh Government. To quote from a Senedd Committee report from June 2023 concerning the Welsh Rugby Union:
“In the past financial year the WRU received £816,000 from Sport Wales, of which £644,000 is from the Welsh Government (the remainder being from the National Lottery).”
From the same report:
“In recent years the WRU has received some COVID funding directly from the Welsh Government (e.g. £5.4m from the Spectator Sports Survival Fund) and is currently repaying a £18 million loan from the Welsh Government (restructuring other loans the WRU had taken out during the pandemic), agreed in March 2022.”
With sport being devolved and public funding clearly being a major financial foundation of the WRU, there is a basis for the Welsh Government to challenge the proposals of Abi Tierney and Dave Reddin.
Self-destruction
For the fledgling Plaid Cymru Government, this is a prime opportunity to show the public the value of devolution as a mechanism to protect the nation’s interests. But, more importantly, it’s potentially one of the final opportunities to save Welsh rugby from further self-destruction. Discussions should be held between Heledd Fychan, Abi Tierney and Dave Reddin. The WRU should be pushed to share the full data on which it based its decision and should also have to demonstrate that its tender process and consultation were conducted without bias.
Given the national importance of professional rugby to Wales, and the wider public interest in the future of the game, I think the Welsh Government must look to explore all available options to retain four sustainable professional teams, to ensure that any future restructuring is carried out in the interest of Welsh rugby and that Abi Tierney and Dave Reddin are held to account.
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As a Pontypridd fan, I know all too well what it’s like for my team to be cast away into the abyss of semi-pro rugby. This will kill rugby in Swansea, Neath, Bridgend, Aberavon and the surrounding area. Without doubt the advent of regions has had a massively negative impact on rugby communities in Cymru. Ponty, not just the team, but the town and region itself has suffered greatly from the loss of professional rugby. Sadly, once it’s gone, there’s no way to recover from it. Those Ospreys fans, except for a very small minority, will turn away from watching… Read more »
If we in cymru were actually enthusiastic about rugby rather than fixated with our rugby team being an inviolate part of our identity we wouldn,t be in this mess.
Pontypridd supporters (and all others) should accept their club,s vital place in the hierarchy of welsh rugby as have the supporters of other teams with at least equally illustrious histories in the southern hemisphere.
Taranaki supporters may not like that they are no longer at the top table of NZ rugby but they have got on board with the super rugby programme
The Welsh Govt cannot pay off WRU debt as that would use up all sporting funds. Also, it is effectively a private body and any public funds they receive are tiny in comparison to the revenue they raise. However, I think their financial model needs questioning.
If the Welsh Government, or indeed any government gets involved in every decision of every non-public entity then it becomes nigh on Communist. They can create the conditions for sport and business to thrive, but they should not get involved in the running of those respective organisations.
Absolutely! The Senedd needs to understand this is part of a direct cultural attack on our national sport! An Executive with no Welsh rugby experience or involvement, has only money as its driver, sees the WRU purely & singly as a commercial operation & seems hell bent on destroying our national sport! A sport, in which, we have always punched well above our weight in. Senedd needs to step in as a matter of cultural urgency!
It is arguable that the WRU is in its present predicament due to earlier interventions by well-meaning politicians. It’s a professional sport where most of its Welsh participants gleefully embraced the right to receive payment but very few have showed any grasp of how to make money to fund their teams. Given that politicians don’t show much “form” in commercial and financial management either it is best they keep out of this mess.
The Welsh Government (WG) should change its line on DEI. This would have 2 immediate effects (1) would change who runs the WRU (can’t happen soon enough) and (2) relieve the WRU of an obligation to fund women’s rugby. Job done. If the WG want to fund women’s rugby as a political aim, the Senedd can vote to do so and then mandate the lanyard-wearing class to to fund women’s rugby. Openly.
Yeh they should know their place.
Washing our kit and giving birth to every male rugby player that,s ever been
I’ve given up watching the men’s game at our national stadium – fed up othe incessant to and fro of other ‘suporters’ to the bar and then, inevitably the toilets during the game. Last season I went to watch our women’s team and enjoyed the game much more: the to-and-fro was entirely absent and while the stadium wasn’t full, those watching were fully engaged.
I’m not a 100% fan of men’s pro rugby. I always enjoyed the amateur game, or semi-pro as I would describe the golden age. But this is a discussion about men’s pro rugby in 2026. You know, the rugby which can or may generate millions but is in a mess. Women’s rugby does not generate millions and cannot generate enough to pay for a pro women’s version. The argument is – should anyone support it and, if so, who? Traditionally, its governments who support amateur sport for the good of all. Like many, I am simply pointing out that it… Read more »
National sports teams are not businesses in the orthodox sense.
They are national institutions howevrr they are constituted.
Team GB is not run in a way thay all olympic sports team organisations have to make a profit or need no ‘subsidy’.
I always put our lack of success down to being a pauper relative to the rest of six nations. Bank of Ireland, Aviva, Allianz, RBS etc sponsor the wealthy other nations. But it turns out WRU has a bigger revenue than e.g IRFU. So where on earth is the money going? Half of WRU spending is on ‘overheads’ – has anyone worked out what that is?
I think the author needs to define more clearly what is meant by government “step in”. It is right that the data underpinning the proposal to cut a region should be published and scrutinised; but government can’t run the WRU.