Cross-party concern about regional rugby side’s future

Richard Youle Local Democracy Reporter

A notice of motion expressing concern about the future of the Ospreys as a regional rugby side has been robustly backed by Swansea councillors.

There were emotive pauses at the Guildhall as councillors said they feared the potential loss of the team would gravely undermine the grassroots game in Swansea and surrounding areas and cause economic harm.

The Welsh Rugby Union (WRU) wants to reduce the number of regional sides from four to three – one in the east, one in Cardiff and one in the west – and with the Ospreys owners, Y11 Sport & Media, in talks to buy Cardiff there is the prospect Swansea won’t host a professional men’s team beyond next season.

Council leader Rob Stewart reiterated at a meeting of full council that legal options could be explored to protect regional rugby in Wales’s second city and said the WRU’s statement that it had entered into a 60-day negotiating period with Y11 had come as a significant shock.

Ignoring the WRU statement, he said, would “be to facilitate one of, if not the greatest and most malicious deliberate acts of cultural vandalism ever seen in Wales”.

Cllr Stewart said a recent meeting between senior council, WRU and Ospreys representatives was “extremely tense” and included “a very frank exchange of views” on topics including the Ospreys and Swansea’s St Helen’s sports ground – the venue earmarked for the Ospreys with financial support from the local authority to redevelop it.

The Swansea Labour leader said the accuracy of a statement issued by the council following the meeting had been queried by the Ospreys chief executive, Lance Bradley, in a leaked email.

Although the two parties issued a joint statement in the aftermath of this, Cllr Stewart said a letter has now been sent to Y11 and the WRU to say the council intends to place the full details of that meeting, bar certain confidential information, in the public domain at 4pm on Wednesday February 4.

He added that the council would host a meeting that evening for local rugby sides to express their concerns about the WRU’s three-club proposal. The WRU has said its proposals reflected a need to concentrate talent, improve competitiveness and ensure financial sustainability.

Cllr Stewart said the Ospreys have been the most successful of the four regions since the restructure in 2003 and the bedrock of Welsh men’s team successes since then. Welsh rugby “needs the Ospreys”, he said, just as Swansea does.

He urged the WRU to look towards the Irish Rugby Football Union which he said received far less income than its Welsh counterpart and had shelved a proposal to cut its four sides to three several year ago. The side under threat, Connacht, has thrived since and had its stadium redeveloped.

Cllr Stewart added: “However, if those at the top of the WRU are unable or unwilling to reconnect with the public the supporters the players the clubs then clearly the option to remove them at an EGM (extraordinary general meeting) exists.”

Opposition group leader, Liberal Democrat councillor Chris Holley, said losing the Ospreys would disenfranchise a population of nearly 500,000 people from regional rugby. He also said he would encourage the Ospreys to consider making use of the Swansea.com Stadium, which it left in 2024.

The club is currently playing at Bridgend’s Brewery Field – and in this week’s joint statement with the council both parties said they continued to work constructively to assess options to play at St Helen’s next season.

Cllr Lyndon Jones, leader of Swansea Conservatives, branded the WRU’s proposals “preposterous” and urged it to rethink them. He said he’d spoken to representatives of Bishopston-based South Gower RFC whose members said the loss of the Ospreys would badly impact the grassroots game. “I think that is the key message in every community,” he said.

Cllr Stuart Rice, of the Uplands Party, said the Ospreys did a lot of work in the community and that St Helen’s sporting history had to be protected.

Labour councillor and cabinet member Andrew Stevens said he’d played club rugby for the best part of 30 years and that the sport gave young people confidence and discipline and role models to look up to. Remove the regional team, he said, and you “weaken the entire ladder underneath it”.

Other councillors spoke before Cllr Stewart concluded by saying the only thing holding back £5 million-plus of investment in St Helen’s was the WRU. He added that he was due to meet Welsh Government ministers on January 30 and that a fair question would be whether the WRU should repay grants it received during the Covid pandemic from Cardiff Bay to keep the four regions alive.

The notice of motion was approved unanimously.

What the notice of motion said:

This council is extremely concerned about the WRU’s plan to cut regional rugby from four teams to three. It will have a significant impact on sport and wellbeing in the Swansea bay region and will negatively impact the economy of Swansea and South Wales.

We are especially concerned about the impacts the WRU plan has Ospreys’ future as a regional team, following the WRU confirmation that Y11 is negotiating to buy Cardiff Rugby from the WRU. The council is concerned that recent developments have deviated significantly from the WRU’s own approach from is neither fair nor transparent.

The WRU have claimed there is not enough money or talent in Wales to continue with four regions. They have never provided detailed evidence to support this statement. We believe there is sufficient resources within the WRU to fund four successful regions going forward. The WRU received more than £20 million more than the Irish Rugby Football Union, who have retained four regions and is achieving significant success at regional and national/ international level.

Given the significance of safeguarding the future of Welsh rugby acknowledging the impact on Swansea residents, future generations, wellbeing and the considerable concerns expressed by fans, players, clubs, and the wider public regarding the WRU’s current proposals, we urge the WRU to immediately reconsider its approach, withdraw its proposal to reduce the number of professional regional rugby teams in Wales from four to three.

This council resolves that we:

– Fully endorse and support the statements made by the leader and the council following the meeting with the WRU and Ospreys chief executives
– We fully support the council in taking any reasonable actions to ensure the future of the Ospreys as a regional professional side continue playing in Swansea. This includes any appropriate legal action to prevent the WRU from ending regional rugby in Swansea
– We support any efforts the council may wish to take to explore opportunities to encourage, promote and develop women’s rugby to be played in Swansea. but this must be in addition to the retention of the Ospreys as a regional rugby team based in Swansea
– We support the council in its commitment to redevelop St Helen’s to support the creation of an enhanced modern rugby venue to meet the aspirations of the Ospreys region to return to St Helen’s. This does not preclude the Ospreys negotiating use of the swansea.com stadium for individual games should then need to do so.
– We request the leader or the relevant officers write to the WRU, the Ospreys, Y11, World Rugby or any other relevant party to outline the council’s position and request assistance in taking whatever actions are necessary to protect regional rugby in Swansea, and the future success of rugby at all levels in Wales.