Perhaps...Just Perhaps...The Lack Of Top Tier Free-to Air Welsh Rugby Might Be A Good Thing

Hello there. Hope you're feeling well today.

I am writing this, after all these months, in Wales. My mother is with me but next week I'll take her back to Essex and can leave her with a clear conscience. For whilst she's not a hundred percent she is well enough to look after herself. Barring an unexpected disaster Essex Exile has now finished.

One thing I discovered by accident when my mother was discharged from hospital but too ill to look after herself was that Welsh club rugby (shown on BBC Two Wales) was in fact available in Essex on the red button. So I had the very odd but almost comfort blanket feeling of watching it from far away.

This however is soon to be a thing of memories. Because the BBC have lost the rights to show Welsh club rugby (from the Pro14 competition) to pay TV operator Premier Sports.

It's not clear whether free-to-air top tier Welsh club rugby will be unavailable from next season. Premier Sports also own the FreeSports channel and negotiations with S4C are still ongoing. But for the moment let's assume that free to air coverage will be at the very least curtailed.

I've chatted before (whilst I'm not an expert on rugby) that I'm not a fan of the current structure of top tier Welsh Club rugby. Believing that it's greatest failure was that an assumption that because a place might be in a region's catchment area fans would automatically come to it (the South Wales Valleys and Cardiff Blues come to mind). The crowds, with or without free to air coverage have been I would argue consequentially pitiful compared to what would have been expected.

Taking away free to air matches would mean that the Pro 14 league will slowly fade away for most people. Out of sight out of mind. It will I'd predict in Wales anyway whither and die.

And for those of you who would trumpet the Pro 14 "product". I would point out that it's not just BBC Wales who've lost the rights. So have SKY. Don't you think if they really cared they would have battled tooth and nail to have kept it?

But perhaps....perhaps...it might be a good thing. S4C already and probably so will BBC Wales shows Welsh rugby games in the lower tiers. With clubs that are more connected with their community. With the focus on these clubs. Perhaps their crowds will increase. Perhaps more people will ignore the top tier and instead come together to support their local team.

Perhaps therefore there will be, all be it by accident, a return to the old values of Welsh club rugby.

Perhaps.

Until the next time.