Private ownership vital for regions’ future says Jones

WELSH rugby has been told it is vital the Dragons are taken into private ownership if the game is to prosper.

Newport-based Dragons are currently owned by the Welsh Rugby Union although the region's chairman David Buttress is keen for that to change.

Huw Jones, who spent 15 years as chief executive of Sport Wales and worked alongside the WRU in that time, insists deep-rooted change is needed.

Jones believes the regions need more control of their own destiny and if the Dragons join Cardiff Blues, Ospreys and Scarlets in private ownership then a brighter future could be ahead.

“If all four teams in Wales become independent from the WRU then they would effectively become a body like Premiership Rugby Limited in England,” Jones told TRP.

“They can then set themselves up as a separate negotiating body. For that to happen, the professional rugby agreement needs to be separate from the WRU. The only way to get there is if the Dragons go into private ownership and David can raise the money needed.

“It's a very crucial time in terms of the financial situation in Welsh rugby and the relationship between the WRU and the regions. The WRU is the shareholder and represents the views of Wales and the regions on the PRO14. At the moment Dragons are a subsidiary of the WRU.

“When you get into a position where the regions were expecting £26m this year and receive nowhere near that despite releasing their players to Wales, it's not a great situation.

“They ended up receiving £3m and also have to pay back a £20m loan.

“You start to think there is some- thing wrong here. Why are they bearing all the risk with so little asset? The WRU could have changed that and said ‘We need to carry more of the risk'. They haven't done that. That isn't a relationship where everyone is in the same boat. That needs to fundamentally change.”

The PRO14, soon to expand to a PRO16, is a union-controlled competition with teams currently competing from Wales, Ireland, Scotland and Italy.

Jones believes his proposal for a PRL-style body in Wales is necessary to help the game grow amid huge financial challenges brought on by Covid-19.

“The loan has to be paid back over five years but for the first couple of years it's a lot of money and the regions will have to find £2m,” Jones said.

“If they've received £2.7m or close to £3m, they're barely servicing the loan and that's without the costs of player salaries and all the rest.

“The regions didn't have any involvement in the WRU's negotiation with the Welsh government. You'd have thought if they saw Welsh rugby as one entity, one or two of the regional representatives would have gone along. Of course, it wasn't presented like that. It was presented as a loss of money to the WRU and not the regions.”

Jones, who served nearly two decades at the heart of Welsh sporting governance, added: “You need a symbiotic relationship between the WRU and the regional game so they both benefit.

“You need a board which is both challenging and supportive if it's going to be successful. As Gareth Davies (former WRU chairman) recently said, the WRU board isn't interested in succession planning except its own. If all four regions are independent, they can then say ‘If you want our players, let's discuss the rate for that properly'.

“They could also determine the competition money coming to them and they could be proper shareholders in the competition they compete in which they're not at the moment.”

By STEFFAN THOMAS