Welsh Regions Struggle to Stay Afloat
Former Wales and Cardiff centre Tom Shanklin has raised concerns about the financial viability of the Welsh Rugby Union (WRU) to support four teams in the United Rugby Championship (URC).
The Welsh game has faced significant challenges in recent years, particularly on the financial front, which has been reflected in the performances of the regional teams. All four Welsh sides currently reside in the bottom half of the URC table, with Cardiff, Scarlets, and Dragons occupying the 13th, 14th, and 15th positions, respectively.
Even the Ospreys, who have enjoyed an improved campaign, are effectively out of the play-off positions, sitting in 11th place. With the budget being reduced from £5.2m to £4.5m, Shanklin believes the situation is unlikely to improve for the teams in the 2022/23 season, which he described as a “disaster.”
“We’ve got this new league set up called the EDC (Elite Domestic Competition) in Wales, which is sort of a development league, 10 teams are in there,” Shanklin explained on the URC Unloaded podcast. “I think we’d be better off with two teams in the URC and two teams in this EDC because four teams just isn’t working in Wales at the moment.”
Shanklin’s proposal is not the first alternative idea that has been put forward, with previous suggestions including merging two of the regions or losing one of them entirely. However, the former Wales star believes that the current WRU structure makes it unlikely that such drastic measures will be taken.
“The worst thing is, it’s going to get worse next year. It is. Because we’re losing more players, there’s less of a budget,” he added. “We can’t afford four teams, yet all four teams are shareholders, so no one’s forfeiting their team.”
As the Welsh rugby landscape continues to evolve, the search for a sustainable and competitive model remains a pressing challenge for the WRU and the regional teams.
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