I was sent a link to this Article by our friend and fellow blogger, TonyM… it’s long, but read it!

WALES’ four regions are ready to welcome official talks with English and French club bosses about revolutionary plans to reform the world rugby calendar.

Bath owner Bruce Craig is proposing a radical overhaul of the season structure to bring the two hemispheres in line regards their domestic and international games.

walesonline.co.uk

His suggestions would mean summer rugby at domestic level in Wales and Test matches being played in one block between December and March.

Other rugby, such as the Heineken Cup, would be played between April and November under the plan, with a World Cup held every two years.

Craig argues the new-look calendar would give continuity and enable players to be available for club and country.

There are reports talks have already taken place between the elite clubs in England and France, although the Cardiff-based Blues firmly deny suggestions they have also been involved.

Regional Rugby Wales chairman Stuart Gallacher, the man who would do any negotiations on behalf of the our Welsh teams, said his organisation had not been approached in any official capacity.

But he admitted the regions would be willing to be involved in future discussions.

“We are prepared to sit down with anyone to discuss the advantages of the game for the regions, Wales and the world game,” said Gallacher.

“Regional Rugby Wales have had no official dialogue with anyone surrounding the global game or changing the structure of the season.

“We have not been involved in any official talks with any English clubs regarding these proposals.

“I did have a loose conversation on behalf of RRW three months ago with our colleagues in France.

“That is it and as far as we are concerned, that is where it stands at the moment.

“But we work closely with our colleagues in England and I would like to think we would be a player in any future decisions.”

But Gallacher admitted the type of change wanted by Craig was unlikely.

“I am not saying we can’t change it or we don’t need to change it,” he said.

“But it is a massive issue that needs to take in a much wider group of people than just us. There are huge obstacles to overcome.

“I am not saying that can’t be achieved.

“But whether we can sit down with everyone to discuss this would be a huge task.

“It is not just about the domestic game because it is a global issue.

“We have to be involved in talks with our colleagues right across the world.

“It is a very complex problem and the stakeholders in our game need to be consulted.

“It is a global game and to marry the two hemispheres would be a huge job, although I am not saying it is impossible.”

And Gallacher was non-committal about the regions playing throughout the summer.

“Summer rugby would need an in-depth analysis and it is difficult to comment on that at the moment without looking at the whole picture,” continued Gallacher.

“I don’t know whether it is viable at the moment or not because it has not been tried yet.

“You would be in opposition with other sports like rugby league or cricket.

“You also have to take into accounts the commercial reality, broadcasting and sponsorship contracts because these are major players in our game.

“For example, you would have to move the European Cup and Heineken put a massive amount of money for that tournament to be played when it is.

“That would just be one of the issues.”

But Gallacher admitted the season structure needed to be addressed with the top Welsh stars unavailable for their regions for concerted periods of the season.

“We understand the frustrations of the people involved in the club and regional game,” said the former Scarlets chairman.

“And also people who are investing lots of their personal money in the game over a period of time. It is not the ideal business model.

“The structured season does not suit the professional game as it stands at the moment with international rugby in the autumn, through the Six Nations window and in the summer.

“In a World Cup year which we have just experienced it is highlighted even more.

“It is very difficult when a lot of the top players are playing as much international rugby as they are domestically.

“Coaches get frustrated they don’t see their top players and supporters are frustrated because they don’t see the top stars playing for the region.

“But that is where we are at the moment and the structure we have got.”

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REVOLUTION is in the air across Europe with French and English clubs ready to lead calls for a fundamental redrawing of the global rugby calendar. Bath owner Bruce Craig has led talks on separating club and international fixtures to end conflicts over player availability which he claims would benefit all sides.

ANDY HOWELL addresses the key questions of a radical blueprint that, if adopted, would transform the elite game in Wales

Q: Why has this issue blown up?

BECAUSE Bruce Craig, the multi-millionaire who became the owner of English club Bath in April last year, has gone public with a radical plan for a redrawing of the global rugby union calendar. Craig says he is not looking for “confrontation” but describes the current fragmented nature of the worldwide rugby calendar as “unacceptable.”

Q: Who, or what, is the driving force?

THE blueprint has allegedly been drawn up by a combination of English and French clubs. Craig, a French speaker who lives in France, is acting as a conduit between them.

Reports suggest that informal talks have taken place and that there is a groundswell of support for action among European clubs.

Q: What are the main points of the action plan?

ALL of professional rugby’s club and regional tournaments in the northern and southern hemispheres, such as the RaboDirect Pro12, Heineken Cup, Aviva Premiership, French Top 14 and Super 15, the plan argues, should take place between April and November each year.

All internationals would then be played from December to March, including the Six Nations Championship, the Four Nations (formerly the Tri-Nations), Lions tours and every other Test match such as those arranged in June.

It’s also proposed that a World Clubs Championship could take place every two years.

Q: When would it start?

2016 had been mooted by Craig, so even if his plan sees the light of day, it would be some way off yet.

Q: What are the positives of a revamp of the season structure?

THE international and club seasons would be separated, meaning the clubs would have their Test stars available for their campaigns and squabbling over player availability could be avoided.

Media focus would solely be on the clubs with none of their fixtures being undermined by competing with internationals, such as the Six Nations, November Tests and the World Cup.

Tournaments such as the Heineken Cup could be run in one block, as has been the case with the crack southern hemisphere Super 15 tournament featuring franchises from Australia, New Zealand and South Africa, rather than being fragmented which prevents momentum building among teams and supporters.

Q: What are the negatives?

A 12-month global season is being proposed, yet there’s no a provision for rest periods which would place an impossible demand on top players.

It would also erode the power of rugby’s institutions: the International Rugby Board, WRU, Rugby Football Union and so on.

Mid-summer temperatures in France, Italy, Australia, South Africa, even New Zealand, would also need to be considered.

Much can be achieved with modern technology these days and there is a football World Cup due to take place in Qatar, but still, player health needs to be taken into account in terms of the danger of heat exhaustion.

Q: How would this overhaul affect Welsh rugby?

Good question. It would be a massive fillip for the regions because they’d have their top players available for every fixture, but it would be impossible and impracticable for the community game below it to switch to summer rugby because many teams share their grounds with cricket clubs.

Having all of Wales’ internationals in a short window might have an adverse effect on the size of crowds because of the cost implications.

It would also likely limit the number of Tests Warren Gatland’s team could play per year, and with the national team our game’s primary cash-cow, that would have a negative effect on finances.

Q: How would the WRU greet it?

FOR them to support it would be like turkeys voting for Christmas. There’s no way Wales’ governing body, the IRB or any other union would be prepared to give up its power to the clubs.

All those institutions would justifiably argue there wouldn’t be professional rugby as we know it today, with its ever increasing wages, if there was a reduction in the number of internationals currently being played.

Q: What about the regions?

THE situation here is grim at present, with substantial debt at the Blues and Scarlets, generally poor attendances and sheer apathy from the public.

So they’d probably see almost anything as an improvement.

In England, club rugby runs up huge losses, as Saracens chairman Nigel Wray acknowledged last weekend, while benefactors prop up some clubs in France. Clubs have gone to the wall in France when the money has run out.

There’s sounder financial management and stability in countries where there are centrally-funded contracts, such as New Zealand, Australia, South Africa and Ireland.

Q: Would summer rugby be a boost?

YOU would have thought so. It has certainly given rugby league’s Super League added appeal.

There’s an argument that firmer pitches and warmer weather would take some of the attrition out of our game and raise the entertainment value.

That, together with the chance to sit and watch a match in the sunshine, might help get a few more through the turnstiles.

Q: Would it prevent a player drain of Welsh stars to clubs in other countries?

PROBABLY not. Market forces dictate and, at present, France is the big draw with the exchange rate meaning players are much better off if they are paid in euros than pound sterling.

When sterling was weak, French stars were signing for English clubs in their droves.

Union is currently the in-vogue plaything for sugar daddies in France, just as certain clubs in football’s Premiership are for ego-driven and cash-laden foreigners.

They are willing to splash the cash to plunder the rugby world’s player resources.

Wales’ regions or the WRU can’t compete with the French.

The only way to pressure players into not leaving Wales is to properly enforce ‘Gatland’s Law’ and not pick Welshmen playing in other countries.

Some, particularly the younger element, might think twice because players are well rewarded by the WRU for playing for Wales.

Q: Who else would oppose it?

PROBABLY the television companies who bankroll the game by paying huge fees, primarily to broadcast internationals.

You can’t see New Zealand, South Africa and, probably Australia, embracing it either because the proposal for players to play club rugby anywhere in the world for 36 weeks would decimate union in those countries.

The only thing which has kept players at home in New Zealand and Australia is national coaches not picking them if they play outside the country.

New Zealanders and Australians usually only move abroad as they seek to pick up a lucrative pension pot towards the end of their careers, or if they have given up on appearing for the All Blacks, Wallabies or South Africa.

ERC, the organisers of Europe’s Heineken and Amlin Challenge Cups, would also be against it because officials don’t want their tournaments to be run in one block.

They claim stakeholders and sponsors prefer it to take place every few weeks and are adamant they are sticking to their current format, which is based on football’s Champions League.

Q: What are the chances of this coming to fruition?

EXTREMELY slim because there are too many vested interests and the IRB held a conference a couple of years ago that established a global season.

The unions hold the nap hand because Test rugby provides the funds to pay for the professional club game.

The only chance would be if television moguls backed the pipedream and cowed the unions into accepting it.

Q: What’s the most likely future?

THAT we’ll carry on as we are, with proposals like these surfacing every few years. I suggest we reconvene in 2013!