Former chairman of semi-professional rugby club Cardiff RFC, Chris Norman, has called for a funding reset to ensure its survival with it becoming a standalone entity a potential option.
Mr Norman, who played for Cardiff RFC in the 1980s and runs his own mechanical and electrical engineering firm ISTL Engineering, said the current arrangement that sees the semi-professional side being operated through Cardiff Rugby (which is one of the four Welsh regions) was not sustainable with a £100,000 shortfall identified to run a competitive squad.
It comes as the WRU is looking to press ahead with plans for a new elite league between the Premiership and the regions. The Premiership clubs, where Llanelli RFC recently announced it could not afford to field a team in the league next season, currently receive £50,000 each from governing body the Welsh Rugby Union - although if a new elite league of eight is created that could increase to £110,000.
Mr Norman, who sits on Cardiff RFC’s rugby committee, said he and the club were sympathetic to the current financial plight facing the Welsh regions - against the backdrop of continued speculation on whether the number needs to be reduced, although both the Ospreys and Cardiff have distanced themselves from any potential merger, while the Dragons have reached a heads of terms agreement with the WRU to take the club back into private ownership.
Cardiff Rugby is one of four remaining Welsh professional regions set up in 2003. The Cardiff name and badge was maintained through semi-professional side Cardiff RFC, which is owned and funded by Cardiff Rugby and which plays in the Premiership. Both sides play their homes games at Cardiff Arms Park - which is owned by separate entity Cardiff Athletic Club (CAC).
On Cardiff RFC’s current relationship with Cardiff Rugby, Mr Norman described it as an “imbalanced” one with the funding it receives from the region now in danger of being cut. Mr Norman said: “We need £400,000 to fund a competitive semi-professional squad of 24 players alongside coaching and other rugby associated costs. We currently get around five players a season from the Cardiff Rugby’s academy, which is funded by the WRU at a cost of around £700,000 a year. We are currently looking at a £100,000 shortfall.
“We totally understand the financial difficulties facing the regions, but I would use the analogy that if they sneeze we caught a cold. However, the heritage of 148 years and the badge is all with Cardiff RFC. It has been an imbalanced relationship since regional rugby was set up in 2003."
He added: "There are positive discussions, including with the WRU, to ensure that Cardiff RFC can continue to be successful on the pitch, but also commercially sustainable off it. We remain hopeful that a deal can be done with Cardiff Rugby that avoids the need to create a new standalone business... we want to continue the good rugby relationship we have with them.”
Mr Norman said that Cardiff RFC is supportive of a proposed new elite league below the United Rugby Championship in which the four Welsh regions play.
He added: "We have a fantastic relationship with the other Premiership clubs, but appreciate that not all are currently in favour of the new structure. We have to think of what is in the best interests of Cardiff RFC and not apologise for being a city club with a proud history.”
He also said the current regional academy system is not working.
Mr Norman added: "You have 120 young players across four academies at a cost of £2.1m a year with more funding promised. However, many of these boys after three years are lost to the game, although some that are not signed by the regions stick at it by playing in the Premiership and for English sides.
“If I had apprentices in my company and lost them after significant investment, it wouldn’t make any commercial sense. So, we need to overhaul the current academies and in my view that should be a single academy, run centrally by the WRU. There might well be significantly less youngsters going into it than across the current four, but you would be developing the best of the best and players who are not lost to the game in Wales at the age of 18.”
Mr Norman is also a board member of Cardiff Arms Park Redevelopment Ltd, set up by CAC, which is looking at redeveloping the ground. While at a pre-planning stage, the aim is to see commercial developments around the ground, which would fund a new main stand at the site of the existing smaller north stand.
This could see apartments built and a hotel incorporated into a new stand with a new banqueting suite.
Mr Norman said:“The emerging plans are very promising for a development that would transform the Arms Park.”
Cardiff Rugby’s current lease with CAC expires in the spring of 2025 after a three year extension was agreed last year.
The current Cardiff Rugby lease with CAC has an annual rent of around £125,000, which is far exceeded by the ground’s car parking income its receives from the landlord. It also receives income from the WRU for the use of the ground needed for logistics and broadcasting of rugby internationals at the adjoining Principality Stadium, as well as the hosting of concerts.
Chief executive of Cardiff Rugby Richard Holland was asked to comment on its funding plans for Cardiff RFC.
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