Thursday 11 September 2014

Welsh rugby: Andy Howell asks can regions follow Leinster by competing with ...

New sponsor, new TV broadcaster, new Europe. new buzz… but the same old issue of attendances not meeting the barometer set by David Moffett fully 11 years ago.


The first weekend of the Guinness Pro12 saw some scintillating rugby, a glut of dazzling tries and fearsome forward play. Pretty much to a person, the pundits were lavish in their plaudits.


Yet despite the hype, which was fully justified given the action on the field of play, one issue still needs to be resolved. How do the Welsh regions get the public to vote with their feet by attracting them through the turnstiles?


When the Blues, Ospreys, Scarlets and Dragons were first formed in the summer of 2003, then Welsh Rugby Union chief executive Moffett gave them the target of attracting an average home gate of 8,000.


David Moffett set some attainable targets for the regions


 


Last season, only the Blues met that figure, averaging 8,212. The Ospreys, Wales’ most successful region, dipped below it for the second campaign in a row, the Scarlets crashed, while the Dragons have never been remotely close.


Ironically, they actually bucked the falling attendances trend by recording their highest average gate of 6,201 during 2013-14… but that was still way off Moffett’s mantra.


Lyn Jones’ men meet the Ospreys in the first regional derby match of the season, but will even that domestic dust-up break the 8,000 barrier?


Poor crowds to kick off the season


It’s early days in the new Guinness Pro12, but let’s just say the regions will be hoping the opening weekend doesn’t become a sign of the times with regards to home crowds.


The Scarlets were involved in a 32-32 thriller with Ulster last Saturday and will have been hoping for more than the 6,531 who turned up in Llanelli.





 


When you consider it was a throwback to the good old days, an old-fashioned Saturday afternoon kick-off, with no terrestrial TV coverage and two genuinely-decent sides on show, you do have to ask what more do people want?


The Ospreys, who have won the league a record four times and have thus been successful on the pitch, thumped Treviso at the Liberty Stadium on Friday night, but their gate was only 6,213.


They have lost their Galacticos and there aren’t so many star turns for the public to follow at the Ospreys, but the hierarchy there will know there is plenty of work to do in order to re-engage with the public and, as an absolute minimum, meet Moffett’s stated target.


The Blues host Glasgow this weekend in what is potentially a rip-roarer. But what will the crowd be for that one?


The money-men will certainly be watching with interest and hoping, as the season progresses, there is an upturn in interest.


So why are the Welsh regions struggling to attract the numbers? Well, there are a host of reasons.


Watch: Our men discuss crowds in Focus on Rugby







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The bitter political row between the regions and the WRU, and the exodus of Wales stars like Jamie Roberts, George North, James Hook, Dan Lydiate and Luke Charteris to clubs in France and England, has clearly had an impact.


The credibility of the Celtic League, with teams putting out so many second-string players, has up to now been called into question. Yet this is a tournament which has provided the bulk of Six Nations and European success in recent times, not to mention Lions XV dominance.


Some rugby fans, still unhappy at the manner in which Moffett ended the age-old club game here, simply will not buy into regional rugby. Can they be won over? What work do the regions still need to do in order to achieve that?


Cardiff City and Swansea City success


Then we have the unprecedented recent success of Cardiff City and Swansea City, each reaching the Premier League and thus attracting many of the floating voters.


If you’ve got a choice of Ospreys v Connacht or Swansea versus Manchester United, which one are you going to choose?





 


Yet rugby is our national sport, not football. Just look at what happens every time Warren Gatland’s Wales play.


While the regional game has struggled in Wales, it’s absolutely flying in Ireland, with their big three provinces of Leinster, Munster and Ulster thriving.


This is a startling fact, but Munster and Ulster each drew in more fans than the Scarlets and Dragons combined last season.


Here’s another startling fact. Leinster’s average gate of 21,081 was only 43 lower than that of the Ospreys, Scarlets and Dragons combined.


With the WRU having reached agreement with the regions, and a new buzz surrounding this season, it’s a watershed moment in Welsh rugby.


Qualification for Europe will be more competitive, with Wales, Ireland, Italy and Scotland each being guaranteed just one automatic place. Surely that means full-on matches, fireworks… and bigger crowds.


THE GATES… REGION BY REGION



 


CARDIFF BLUES


The Blues hold the best average home attendance of the regional era, 15,108, when they reached the semi-final of Europe’s Heineken Cup in 2008-09.


That figure includes matches staged against Gloucester and Toulouse at the Millennium Stadium, but not the 40,000-plus who attended the semi-final with Leicester, because it was classed as a “neutral” venue.


That year, David Young’s men ran amok against Gloucester in the Anglo-Welsh Cup final at English rugby’s Twickenham headquarters and beat Jonny Wilkinson’s star-studded Toulon to lift Europe’s second-tier Amlin Challenge Cup the following campaign.


But relocating to Cardiff City Stadium backfired and they moved back to the Arms Park on a permanent basis two years ago.


Crowds rose during Phil Davies’ first season as coach, their average gate going up from 7,261 in 2011-12 to 8,397 the following season before dipping to 8,212 last term – still more than the 2002-03 season when Cardiff, as a club side, drew a 7,000 average home attendance.


Last season’s drop came on the back of poor results, with the lack of success costing Davies his job before the end of the campaign.


With former New Zealand hooker Mark Hammett, who was coach of the Wellington-based Hurricanes Super 15 team, now in charge and a glut of high-quality signings, which include Adam Jones and the Waikato-based Chiefs star Gareth Anscombe, much is expected of the Blues this time around.


DRAGONS


Since finishing a surprise third in the first league campaign of 2003-04, under the astute guidance of Mike Ruddock, and fourth the following season, they have done next to nothing since reaching the semi-final of the Amlin Challenge Cup seven years ago.


The Dragons never got to the knockout stage of the Heineken Cup and next term are again in Europe’s new second-tier tournament – the Blues joining them under the restructure which has taken place – for a fifth campaign since coming into existence.


Nevertheless, they have bucked the trend over the last two seasons, with their average gate having broken the 6,000 barrier for the first time as it has gone up to 6,201 in all competitions – Europe, Pro12 and Anglo-Welsh.


That figure is higher than the 6,120 average claimed by Newport during the final season of professional club rugby in 2002-03.


Having the maverick, but respected, Lyn Jones, who has been Wales’ most successful coach of the regional era with three trophies during his time at the Ospreys, and Kingsley Jones at the helm has helped them enormously, despite results dropping off as last season went on.


The signings of former Wales and Lions full-back Lee Byrne, Ian Gough, Aled Brew, Stormers Super 15 prop Brok Harris and a glut of others, has increased Dragons’ strength in depth.


With a new state of the art training base at Ystrad Mynach and having played a friendly against English champions Northampton Saints at Ebbw Vale, there’s a sense they are finally ready to embrace all of Gwent.


There could be a surge of goodwill towards them at the start of the campaign and, if results follow, attendances could climb further from the 5,288 the Dragons managed in the first season under Ruddock’s tenure.



 


OSPREYS


They have been Wales’ most successful region, lifting the Pro12 title a record four times, demolishing Leicester at Twickenham when the Anglo-Welsh Cup was contested by full-strength teams and providing the core of the Wales team which has won three Grand Slams and reached a World Cup semi-final.


Their best average gate was 10,227 in 2008-09, coming on the back of a league title, a European quarter-final and boasting some of the world’s most well-known rugby faces, with Shane Williams, Justin Marshall, Jerry Collins, James Hook, Gavin Henson, Ryan Jones, Adam Jones and Tommy Bowe among those who have been on their books.


The Ospreys had an average gate of 8,910 during the 2012-13 campaign, coming on the back of a magnificent Pro12 final triumph over then Heineken kings Leinster in Dublin, and an extraordinary value-for-money season-ticket deal.


But they have since failed to qualify for the league play-offs or the knock-out stage in Europe and their average gate dipped last season to 7,706.


More big-name departures have occurred, with Adam Jones having joined the Blues, Richard Hibbard leaving for Gloucester, and Ryan Jones and Matthew Morgan going to Bristol, raising concerns about their competitiveness.


That said, their average is better than the combined Neath (4,594) and Swansea (2,775) figures in the final year of club rugby.


SCARLETS


The Scarlets won the inaugural Celtic League in 2003-04, were the first region to reach an Anglo-Welsh final, losing at London Wasps, and the first to post an average gate in excess of 9,000.


They were Wales’ best-supported team in 2011-12, with an average of 9,655.


But they dropped to 7,772 in 2012-13 despite being the only team from Wales to reach the Pro12 play-offs.


On the back of what was a successful campaign, you would have expected their attendances to have either gone up or held firm last season, but they fell to 7,217.


They lacked consistency on the pitch, with two blistering matches against English big guns Harlequins in Europe being overshadowed by a number of mediocre performances.


It’s hoped the arrival of New Zealander Wayne Pivac, who has coached Fiji, as successor to Ireland-bound Simon Easterby might have a positive effect.


ANDY HOWELL’S CONCLUSION


There’s a new broom sweeping Welsh rugby, with the Blues and Scarlets having new head coaches in Kiwis Hammett and Pivac and new fitness regimes in place across the board.


That’s likely to result in a more exciting and faster Super 15 style of rugby because you can’t hide from the fact there’s been some dour, conservative, unambitious and uninspiring fare from Welsh representatives in the Pro12.


Hopefully, the shoots of recovery will grow this season with the next step for the WRU and the regions being a concerted effort to bring the Welsh exiles home.


When you look back at past attendances in Wales, and the flourishing of the Irish, the thing that is glaringly obvious is that big crowds come on the back of on-field success.


That’s why Leinster’s average home gate in competitions rose to 20,782 in 2012-13 and 21,081 last season.


Their figure of 28,137 in Europe last term is higher than a number of Premier League football sides, including Swansea City.


Moffett’s 8,000 benchmark for our regions is way below that.



 


Can the four reach the target this season? Discuss Andy’s findings with us on Facebook


Article source: http://www.espnscrum.com/2015-rugby-world-cup/rugby/story/232977.html


Welsh rugby: Andy Howell asks can regions follow Leinster by competing with ...

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