Wales international warns fans will walk away from Welsh rugby unless something is done now

Ben James
·2-min read
Owen Watkin looks dejected after the Ospreys' heavy defeat to Leinster -Credit:Huw Evans Agency
Owen Watkin looks dejected after the Ospreys' heavy defeat to Leinster -Credit:Huw Evans Agency


Former Wales centre Tom Shanklin has called on the Welsh Rugby Union to show some vision or risk turning more fans away from the game in this country.

All four Welsh sides lost in the United Rugby Championship on the weekend. According to statistician Russ Petty, it's the fifth time that all four had lost in the same round of fixtures and the first time they'd all lost by 10 or more points.

If ever a weekend summed up the challenges Welsh rugby is facing, with budgets going down to £4.5m next year, it was this one.

And with it now seeming likely that no Welsh teams will qualify for the Champions Cup next year after the Ospreys' play-off hopes took a hit with heavy back-to-back defeats against the Bulls and Leinster, Shanklin has warned that fans could soon walk away.

The WRU are due to publish their new strategy for the game next month, with a series of meetings between powerbrokers currently taking place. All options are on the table, including reducing the number of teams from four, with finances so tight.

“It is important we have a vision of how and why it’s going to get better and how long that is going to take,” Shanklin told BBC Wales’ Scrum V.

“At the moment you look at the year Welsh rugby has had, we are not challenging for anything.

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“There needs to be something changed and some positive news come out as to where we are going.

“We can’t compete with the top five or six sides. Until something changes we are going to be constantly be in the bottom half of the table.

“I can’t see us improving next year, in fact I think it will be worse, because you are losing so many players.

“Unless something drastic happens where we have higher budgets, more money to spend on players and keep them, we are going to be even worse than last year.

“We have to be careful at the moment otherwise we are going to have fans turning away from watching rugby and they are going to be finding another sport.

“We need teams to be in quarter-finals and semi-finals and in the latter stages of Europe because at the moment we are way off.”

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