Former Wales captain Eddie Butler has divided opinion with his solution to Welsh rugby's problems this week.
Appearing on The Rugby Paper Podcast, Butler opined that the way forward should involve pulling Welsh teams out of the URC, scrapping the regions and returning to a traditional club structure in Wales. He also feels that the best players should be free to leave.
Effectively, what Butler describes is the cessation of professional rugby in Wales as we know it. Quite whether the game would ever come back from such moves is doubtful.
But the views of the Premier Sports broadcaster have certainly been polarising and provoked a visceral reaction from both sides as emotions in Welsh rugby as a whole run high. The game is at a real crossroads and a plan is yet to materialise from the Welsh Rugby Union or the Professional Rugby Board.
In any case, Butler's views have prompted 100s of comments from fans and readers across WalesOnline and here is a flavour.
Do you agree with Eddie Butler? Have your say in the comments below now
rconyard: "There is nothing wrong with the concept of the URC or for that matter the regions, and no amount rhetoric from rose tinted blowhards will change that.
"There are major issues with the implementation. There is little point going into the issues of training and coaching, but how about something simple, fixtures and following! Following Scarlets this season has been a nightmare, sometimes matches are back to back, sometimes it seems like a month goes by with nothing. There is no possibility of gaining regular support without regular matches."
playtowin: "Eddie's idea would mean more cooks to spoil the broth. The Premiership clubs all look out for themselves, which understandable I guess, but imagine if there were 12 clubs sticking their finger in the professional pie. It’s partly us the supporters' fault, the aged among us can’t get past their local team. I just hope we haven’t passed this parochial gene to our kids.
"We are Wales, and for the greater good we need to support all Welsh rugby before it’s too late."
DragonFire: "It’s a truly bonkers idea. Advocating killing pro rugby in Wales to have semi pro rugby.
"We’d have semi pro structures then for academies - WRU would have to fund the academies as there would be no pro teams to do that & the National teams fortunes would very likely nose dive. The players would all have to travel to play in fallow weeks & none would get rested throughout the season but flogged.
"This would very likely mean a serious reduction in finances for the WRU - both of which would mean less money for the community game, meaning many clubs would not survive."
Shiny: "Wales has a tiny economy compared to any of the other nations in the top 10 world rankings, barely one third of the next smallest, Scotland. For a fully professional game, you need big money sponsors - either corporates or multi-millionaire individuals. Too few of either are based in Wales.
"It's possible to make up for the cash shortfall with other things - a super-efficient bureaucracy, a bit of luck in recruitment, a good media strategy etc. But in the long run, we will always be disadvantaged compared to those rugby economies with more resources to draw on."
Danial81: "Surprised to hear Eddie saying this. It would cause irreparable damage and kill the game in Wales. Success breeds interest. We need to fund the regions to a competitive level. Higher standard of coaching and overseas players would be needed initially until we have the player pool to support 4 regions.
"But the same people that complain about the standard of the regions will be the same ones that complain about imports, well we can't have it all ways.
"To get kids playing at grassroots they need to be excited about the game. They need guys to cheer on week in week out."
Rhonddaboy74: "Having four regions doesn’t work for us. Two club/regional sides, call them what you like, with better/stronger squads have a chance of being more competitive in the URC and European competitions. We have to have some sort of success or to be challenging for league or cup honours to gain public interest, which at the moment is non-existent outside of the internationals."
Support for Eddie...
Mithian : "I never ever thought I would agree with anything from Eddie Butler but for once I do. I admit I didn't agree with regional rugby from day one but it's fairly clear it's now a disaster. Overpaid players and poor attendance only leads to financial ruin. Particularly when the account is controlled by the WRU.
"I challenge anyone to outline the benefits of being in the URC playing South African teams. Nearly all the matches, excluding the derbies, lack any passion, so the games don't attract spectators or a television audience. The time is right for the WRU to act but I seriously doubt they have a clue how to move forward."
Verns15: "I was thinking about this early this morning and, lo and behold, this article turns up! I actually think Ed has a decent point here, let the traditional sides resurrect, ditch the regions and let them sink or swim at a lower level. We simply cannot generate the income for the regions to survive, let the best players find their commercial level and go! They can come home to play for Wales when required."
