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Eddie Butler thinks Welsh rugby should divorce URC
Rugby pundit and commentator Eddie Butler has thrown the cat among the pigeons by suggesting that Welsh rugby might be best placed to walk away from the United Rugby Championship (URC).
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The Welsh regions have endured a season from hell both in Europe and domestically. Not one Welsh side finished in the top eight of the URC table, while wins in Europe were like hens’ teeth for all four sides.
Humiliating results haven’t been as rare, with Cardiff’s capitulation in Italy last month – they were walloped 69 – 21 by Benetton Treviso – seen as something of a bell-weather for just had bad things have got.
The national picture isn’t much healthier, with Wales finishing 5th in the Guinness Six Nations. A final loss to Italy in Cardiff rounded off a miserable Test campaign for Wales since lifting the trophy just one year previously. They now face the bleak prospect of a three Test tour of South Africa and the risk of a 3- 0 drubbing at the hands of the world champion Springboks.
Against this seeming decline, Gareth Bale’s Wales are flying high in the round ball game, qualifying for the FIFA World Cup earlier this week. Many are now – quite legitimately – asking has rugby become the nation’s second sport?
Now former Wales No.8 Butler has suggested in The Rugby Paper podcast an exit from the URC could be the drastic step Welsh rugby needs to turn around its fortunes.
“On the other hand, we’ve got two standalone regions – Llanelli, the Scarlets and Cardiff, formerly known as the Blues. They are still basically standalone clubs and they can’t cut it. What’s more, they can’t deliver a crowd and that’s the huge thing, if you don’t have a sense of theatre.
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“One of the reasons the Gallagher Premiership looks better is because it plays to full houses and you get that full sense of theatre and drama that goes with the full on sporting occasion. In Wales, wherever the television camera pans and whatever angle you try, you’re always conscious that there are rows and rows of empty seats, and it simply doesn’t help.
“So you’ve got to look for a new model. Then you come slap into the problem of ‘okay, if you bring down the regional system, what do you replace it with?’ And nobody is really clear.
“You could say that Cardiff and Llanelli are the standalone models and they’re not working. So what does work? I think we’re reaching the point now where Wales has to contemplate just leaving the URC.
“If South Africa is forced to go it alone, then it goes back to the Currie Cup. Well, Wales might have to contemplate just going back to being Welsh.”
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Butler – who frequently works for the URC – suggests regressing to the old Welsh club format and for professional players to potentially find clubs in the Gallagher Premiership or further afield.
“We’ve reached that point now where we’ve got to think smaller, export big. If our system isn’t good enough for fully fledged professionals then we have to be able to release them to go and ply their trade elsewhere.
“Then we just enjoy what Welsh rugby is for the time being. It’s vibrant, it’s inventive, it’s creative. We’re so mired in gloom at the moment that we’ve forgotten what it is to have fun. It’s so obvious at the moment that footballers are having fun and the Welsh [rugby] players are not playing with much of a smile on their face.”
His words sparked a lively debate, some agreeing with him and some vehemently disagreeing.
“Some in Welsh rugby seem obsessed with going backwards,” wrote Paul Williams. I think we should go back to 48 Welsh village teams. All chasing either a ball of cheese, or a stuffed sheep’s head, around the village green.”
Some in Welsh rugby seem obsessed with going backwards.
I think we should go back to 48 Welsh village teams.
All chasing either a ball of cheese, or a stuffed sheep's head, around the village green.
— Paul Williams (@thepaulwilliams) June 9, 2022
Cardiff Rugby Life wrote: “I didn’t have “Eddie Butler advocates an end to professional rugby in Wales” on my Thursday bingo card. At some point we should probably stop giving a platform to former players who are talking out of their arse. See Butler, Aled Brew and Andrew Coombs for starting examples.”
I didn’t have “Eddie Butler advocates an end to professional rugby in Wales” on my Thursday bingo card.
At some point we should probably stop giving a platform to former players who are talking out of their arse.
See Butler, Aled Brew and Andrew Coombs for starting examples.
— Cardiff Rugby Life (@CardiffRugbyWeb) June 9, 2022
Others praised Butler for at least trying to tackle a tricky problem for one of the world’s strongest playing nations.
Rugby analyst GJPowell wrote: “Eddie Butler at least confronts some of the core issues. The reality is that Welsh rugby, unlike other Tier 1 nations, is not in agreement over what it is and how it should be structured. Especially at the perpetually struggling lower (non-Test) tier of the professional game.”
Eddie Butler at least confronts some of the core issues.
The reality is that Welsh rugby, unlike other Tier 1 nations, is not in agreement over what it is and how it should be structured.
Especially at the perpetually struggling lower (non-Test) tier of the professional game. https://t.co/HEbq8JkaW7 pic.twitter.com/SBi3C2rF4R— GJPowell (@TheVietGwent) June 9, 2022
Butler is the only Welsh voice that has been critical of the URC, with former Wales captain Sam Warburton recently describing SA involvement in the league as creating a competition that appears like a ‘randomn mix of clubs’. “There’s no doubting their [SA teams] ability. Fantastic rugby nation. League just doesn’t make sense and looks a random mix and match of clubs.”
Hi Mark. I’ll give you an answer no problem. There’s no doubting their ability. Fantastic rugby nation. League just doesn’t make sense and looks a random mix and match of clubs.
— Sam Warburton (@samwarburton_) June 6, 2022
Unlike in Ireland and Scotland where their union-controlled sides have largely prospered since the league inception, Welsh sentiment towards the URC has always been more ambivalent. A future outside the URC looks extremely unlikely for the Welsh, but there’s no escaping the conclusion that something radical needs to be done for sport to flourish once more.
Comments on RugbyPass
After their 5/0 start, I had the Crusaders to finish Top 4 only…they lost the plot in Perth but will reload and back themselves vs 4th placed Rebels…
3 Go to commentsBoth nations missed a great opportunity to book a game that would have had a lot of interest from around the world. I understand these games can’t be organised in 5 minutes but they should have found a way to make it happen. I don’t think Wales are ducking anyone but it’s a bad look haha.
3 Go to commentsIt will be fascinating to see the effect that Jo Yapp has. If they can compete with Canada and give BFs a run for their money that will be progress
1 Go to commentsFollowing his dream and putting in the work. Go well young fella!
3 Go to commentsPerhaps filling Twickenham is one of Mitchell’s KPIs. I doubt whether both September matches will be at Twickenham on consecutive weekends. I would take the BF one to a large provincial stadium so as not to give them the advantage and experience of playing at Twickenham before a large crowd prior to the RWC.
2 Go to commentsvery unfortunate for Kitshoff, but big opportunity potentially for Nché to prove he is genuinely the best loosehead in the world, rather than just a specialist finisher. Presuming that if Kitshoff is out, it will also give Steenekamp a chance to come into the 23? Or are others likely to be ahead of him?
1 Go to commentsA long held question in popular culture asks if art imitates life or does the latter influence the former? Over this 6 nations I can ask the same question of the media influencing the thoughts of its audience or vice versa. Nobody wants to see cricket scores in rugby, as a spectacle it is not sustainable. With so many articles about England’s procession and lack of competition it feeds the epicaricacy of many looking for an opportunity to pounce. England are not the first team to dominate nor does it happen only in rugby, think Federer, Nadal, Red Bull or Mercedes, Manchester Utd, Australia in tests and World Cups. Instead of celebrating the achievements why find reasons to falsify it pointing towards larger playing pool, professional for a longer period or mitigate with the lack of growth in other nations. Can we not enjoy it while it is here and know that it won’t last for ever, others coveting what England have will soon take the crown, ask the aforementioned?
6 Go to commentsShame he won’t turn out for the Netherlands now they’re improving. U20s are Euro champs and in the U20 Trophy this year. The senior sides gets better every year too.
3 Go to commentsWill rugbypass tv be showing these games?
1 Go to commentsWell where do you start, the fact that England have a professional domestic league and Ireland’s is fully amatuer, that they have fully seperated professional squads at Fifteens and Sevens (7’s thinly disguised as GB), and Ireland have fully pro Sevens squad who loan some players back to the Semi-Professional Fifteens squad (moved from amateur for only a year or so) for a few games at 6N & RWC’s. The Women’s games is a shambles, and is at risk of killing itself by pushing for professionalism when the market isn’t really there to support it outside one or two countnries..
6 Go to commentsWayne Smith's input didn't have as much impact on the last final as Davison's red card for Thompson. England were 14 points up and flying when that happened.
6 Go to commentsBilly's been playing consistently well for 2 - 3 seasons now and deserves a look in at the top level. Ioane and ALB are still first choice but there needs to be injury cover and succession. His partnership with Jordie gives him first dibs you'd think. Go the Hurricanes.
3 Go to commentsIt’s not up to Wales to support Georgian Rugby. That’s up to International Rugby and Georgia. I sympathise with Georgia’s decent attempt to create this fixture. But for Wales the proposed match up is just a potential stick to beat them with and a potential big psychological blow that young Welsh team doesn’t need. (I’m Irish BTW.)
3 Go to commentsCale certainly looks great in space, but as you say, he has struggled in contact. At 23 years old, turning 24 this year, he should be close to full physical maturity and yet there exists a considerable gap in the power and physicality required for international rugby. Weight doesn’t automatically equate to power and physicality either. Can he go from a player who’s being physically dominated in Super rugby to physically dominating in international rugby in 1 or 2 years? That’s a big ask but he may end up being a late bloomer.
31 Go to commentsIf rugby wants to remain interesting in the AI era then it will need to work on changing the rules. AI will reduce the tactical advantage of smart game plans, will neutralize primary attacking weapons, and will move rugby from a being a game of inches to a game of millimetres. It will be about sheer athleticism and technique,about avoiding mistakes, and about referees. Many fans will find that boring. The answer is to add creative degrees of freedom to the game. The 50-22 is an example. But we can have fun inventing others, like the right to add more players for X minutes per game, or the equivalent of the 2-point conversion in American football, the ability to call a 12-player scrum, etc. Not saying these are great ideas, but making the point that the more of these alternatives you allow, the less AI will be able to lock down high-probability strategies. This is not because AI does not have the compute power, but because it has more choices and has less data, or less-specific data. That will take time and debate, but big, positive and immediate impact could be in the area of ref/TMO assistance. The technology is easily good enough today to detect forward passes, not-straight lineouts, offside at breakdown/scrum/lineout, obstruction, early/late tackles, and a lot of other things. WR should be ultra aggressive in doing this, as it will really help in an area in which the game is really struggling. In the long run there needs to be substantial creativity applied to the rules. Without that AI (along with all of the pro innovations) will turn rugby into a bash fest.
24 Go to commentsSouth Africa rarely play Ireland and France on these tours. Mostly, England, Scotland and Wales. I wonder why
2 Go to commentsIt was a let’s-see-what-you're-made-of type of a game. The Bulls do look good when the opposition allows them to, but Munster shut them down, and they could not find a way through. Jake should be very worried about their chances in the competition.
2 Go to commentsHats off to Fabian for a very impressive journey to date. Is it as ‘uniquely unlikely’ as Rugby Pass suggests, given Anton Segner’s journey at the Blues?
3 Go to commentsSad that this was not confirmed. When administrators talk about expanding the game they evidently don’t include pathways to the top tier of rugby for teams outside of the old boys club. Rugby deserves better, and certainly Georgia does.
3 Go to commentsLions might take him on if they move on Van Rooyen but I doubt he will want to go back, might consider it a step backwards for himself. Sharks would take him on but if Plumtree goes on to win the challenge cup they will keep him on. Also sharks showing some promising signs recently. Stormers and Bulls are stable and Springboks are already filled up. Quality coach though, interesting to see where he ends up
1 Go to comments