RugbyRebels

twitchy wrote:

Ooft, I remember all that. There was the rebel season where Cardiff and Swansea opted out of the Welsh league and played the English teams in "friendlies" that were worked into the league structure. Ironically, I'm fairly certain that the Welsh clubs declined that proposition because it would have left them with too few clubs and they didn't want to shrink their pro leagues down by that much. Funny when looking at it with the axe hanging over one of the regions to potentially leave them with just three in total.

I was never a big fan of the idea of an Anglo-Welsh league at the time, but I think in retrospect it would've been better for all concerned had it gone ahead. Keeping 5 Welsh super-clubs would've been better than the jarring transition to regions, especially if other clubs could've joined lower down the leagues, and joining in with the English crowds and English television deals would have left them much more financially viable. For England, it would've strengthened the number of viable clubs and made the second tier more competitive and viable (especially since I believe that proposal would've come with 2-up-2-down), rather than the proto-ringfenced closed shop that we have now.

Shame really.

Puja

Puja wrote: Ooft, I remember all that. There was the rebel season where Cardiff and Swansea opted out of the Welsh league and played the English teams in "friendlies" that were worked into the league structure.

Used to sit my kitchen, my student digs were a few doors down from the club house, and watch the Swansea games at St Helens - there were some great games!

Looking at it now it would have a good league and could meant a fully pro top 2 divisions rather than the mess that Welsh rugby and the championship.