Gyda llaw, i ail gynnau'r ddadl wreiddiol, wele isod llythyr y bu i mi ddanfon at David Moffet wythnos ar ol ei benodiad i'r swydd.
Mae'n ddrwg da fi ei fod e yn Sisneg yma, ond mae e rhy hir i fi gyfieithu ar gyfer y wefan hon.
Wy'n ffyddiog y bydd pawb yn cytuno a phopeth wy'n ddweud!
Dear Mr Moffett,
Firstly may I welcome you to Wales. I hope you enjoy your stay here and have a fruitful time.
May I congratulate you on the impact that you have already created during your first week in office. At last the nation, and those in power within rugby in Wales, are seriously discussing the future of our game, instead of trudging along and complaining without ever suggesting an alternative. This in itself is a huge step forward.
I would like to show my wholehearted support to your recommendation of setting up four provincial rugby sides in Wales, with one based in the north. This is most definitely the way forward.
Yes, Wales and her rugby clubs have a proud tradition, going back over a hundred years, and as a historian myself I can appreciate and value the importance of tradition and history. But tradition and history is only useful if one learns from them. There is no point in sticking with something just because its been there for x number of years. Club rugby served Wales well for a number of years. But, while I am against professionalism in any sport, the fact remains that Rugby Union is now a professional sport, and if we as a nation want to become competitive on the international and European stage once more, then we must embrace what is necessary to do so – in this case Regional Rugby. We must not cocoon ourselves in, that is what we’ve been doing for far too long and is why we are at where we are presently. We must not be afraid of learning and borrowing ideas from other countries. That, after all is how civilisation developed, by learning from one another – survival of the fittest and all that. The same applies to rugby.
It seems to me that these so called ‘big clubs’ only fear for themselves and are, at heart, down right selfish. I am a Llanelli supporter, and have been since a tender age having been brought up in Carmarthenshire. However, who are Llanelli or any other club to dictate to all the other rugby clubs in Wales, who have also got proud traditions, what their future should be. You only need to look at clubs like Newbridge. Newbridge has a proud rugby tradition, but because of circumstances, and professionalism, and the lack of a single benefactor (such as Tony Brown in nearby Newport) the club is struggling. If Llanelli, Newport, Pontypridd etc insist on their own way ahead, which is essentially looking after number one, eventually clubs such as Newbridge will simply go out of existence. What about their proud rugby tradition and heritage?
Yes Leighton Samuel, Tony Brown et al have invested a huge amount of money into their respective clubs. However if it was for ‘the benefit of the game’ as they claim then they shouldn’t mind if rugby goes provincial. However, if they expected to make some profit out of their investment (which is, after all, the purpose of ‘investing’) then who would benefit? Themselves, of course, which clearly is not ‘to the benefit’ of rugby.
Under a regional structure, the clubs would continue – and their tradition with them. All clubs then, within that district, would be able to supply the region with players, creating a more even game at club level, possibly resulting in greater loyalty to their town, because the financial incentive to move to a Premiership club would not be so strong – their ambition would be to join the provincial club with a view to play for Wales. Of course this ‘evening out’ would happen over a number of years. However the ‘big clubs’ do not want to lose status, power or money (these are the same bad traits that we find in ourselves). Once again, it boils down to the ‘me’ – looking after number one.
But what has angered me more than anything is the attitude towards your suggestion of setting up a regional club in the North by the ‘big clubs’. To my mind this is a modest suggestion, because ‘the north’ is not geographically a recognised region in itself, culturally or historically. However it would be a major boost for rugby in the area. Once again, if the people of the ‘big clubs’ had the benefit of the game at heart, and truly wanted to see rugby being developed, then why would they have such an opposition to a plan that would clearly raise the profile of rugby and increase the player base, and better the game of rugby in Wales. These people have a cheek in claiming on the one hand proudly that Rugby is the national game for Wales while denying a huge population of the country a chance to see first class rugby. It is the ‘National’ game for the M4 corridor, and that is how they want it to stay! There is a thirst in the North and Mid-Wales for rugby. When Llanelli went to Northampton for last seasons Heineken Cup Semis the amount of buses that went to support from the north was quite unbelievable. And the number of northerners that travel all the way down to Cardiff for an international is staggering. These fans deserve better than to be ridiculed by a bunch of self-preserving, blinkered Neanderthals of the Rugby ‘Premiership’ in Wales.
I am an ardent rugby supporter, but if we do not adopt North Wales into the plan, I would find it very difficult to show my support to the Welsh National Team when the Rugby Authorities in Wales will have made it explicitly clear that they could not give a damn about Wales as a Nation. If they don’t why should I give a damn about a rugby team which represents selfish, self interested Premier teams, which is what the Welsh rugby team would effectively be?
Simply, the arguments put forward by the ‘big clubs’ are selfish, and is quite clearly not to the benefit of rugby in Wales. Anything that is not beneficial for rugby therefore is bad for rugby, and we will keep on sliding town the international scale until we are a laughing stock. At the moment I believe that other nations are simply sympathetic, (as is suggested by foreign players in their articles in English based newspapers, or articles written in foreign Newspapers such as South Africa or Australia), but that will quickly turn to derision if they see that our own rugby clubs are ignoring what is quite blatantly a recipe for cure.
I implore on you therefore, as a Welshman who loves his rugby, to continue with your reorganisation of rugby in Wales come what may, and to ignore the selfish voices of the Premier Clubs. As you, more than anyone, know, you have hard work ahead, and at times you may feel like giving up, but I believe that the Welsh public support you (as is shown in our daily papers, and in the media and internet sites), and in ten years time we will see Welsh Rugby back on the top of the international stage once more – but the hard work and graft is to be done now.
I hope that I have made myself clear and that you have understood my arguments. Thank you for your time in reading this letter, and I wish you all the best.
Yours sincerely,