WRU chiefs must take responsibility

A two-year deal was signed last season that the regions - Newport Gwent Dragons, Neath-Swansea Ospreys and Celtic Warriors - would receive more money than the stand alone Llanelli Scarlets and Cardiff Blues.

The Warriors' sad demise has left more money in the pot, but now suddenly the Dragons are being asked, or told to be more accurate, to accept the same money as the Blues and Scarlets and a lot less than the Ospreys.

To say the reason is because the Dragons play out of one ground is a fatuous argument because where else other than the Arms Park do the Blues play?

And to argue that because the four regions are all getting the same money from next season renders the argument ridiculous is irrelevant because it's what's happening now that is important.

There is no doubt the goalposts have been moved and the Dragons have a legitimate case over the funding issue.

Not only that, but the WRU are now denying any responsibility at all for the situation, saying the funding issue is nothing to do with them, but is a matter entirely for the regions.

Odd that, when it's the Union who hand out the monthly pay cheque to the regions. If the ridiculous description WRU group chief executive David Moffett uses applies to anything it's not about all the regions receiving the same money from next season, it's about them denying all responsibility.

Having said all that, some people locally are getting hot under the collar again about the real reason for the stand-off between the Dragons and the WRU, believing the ultimate aim is to simply call the team playing out of Rodney Parade Newport Dragons, or in the case of some even more deluded cases to call it just Newport. None of that will happen, for what Dragons benefactor Tony Brown and chief executive Andy Marinos are trying to achieve is justice.

Clearly the Dragons are a region, they have even started an academy system and age group regional rugby is now up and running.

So in that case they should be paid as a region when they are incorporating the whole Gwent area, even if the senior side play out of one ground for logistical and corporate reasons.

It's not just the WRU who are operating a shifting sand policy here, but the Blues and Scarlets have clearly worked a flanker to ensure they get the same money as the Dragons who they feel are stand alone.

But existing in their current state the Dragons have satisfied the regional issue and with their name and headquarters have done likewise with Newport.

Newport is in the title, as it should be given the background and its pre-eminence, and the team plays entirely out of Rodney Parade save one pre-season friendly.

So it beggars belief that some are unhappy about the title even now when everyone should simply get behind the team which could be on the brink of blossoming again.

But before the fury of the fanatics descends upon me, of course the name Newport should be in the title, just as Neath and Swansea should be down the M4 because it's a case of identity.

The Scottish newspapers publishing the Celtic League table give the names as Newport-Gwent and Neath-Swansea, no mention of the word Dragons or Ospreys.

Why is that? Because no-one in Scotland, or anywhere else for that matter, would have a clue who the Dragons and the Ospreys are and crowds would probably be even worse than they are now because there would simply be no appeal.

But call them Newport-Gwent and Neath-Swansea and immediately there is a sense of identity, and people at least know where they come from.

Meanwhile, the present dispute can't last that long because the Dragons are not receiving any money from the WRU and there is a limit even to Tony Brown's generosity.

Marinos says the Dragons don't want hostility and they are seeking an amicable agreement so if there is no resolution the Dragons may have to sign the participation agreement.

But one thought persists. The money the WRU pay the regions comes mainly from their television contract, the Dragons-Leinster game on Friday is being televised live and the WRU are withholding payment to the Dragons.

So would the Dragons not be entirely within their rights to ban the cameras from Rodney Parade? Oops...... The Dragons controversy apart, the WRU agm was the most toothless and least atmospheric I've ever been to.

No sound, no fury, no dissent, how the meeting cried out for the razor wit and sarcasm of Morlais Thomas of Gowerton, absent because of illness, or the persistent haranguing of John Jones from Usk.

The hall was barely half full anyway which could be a sign of a lack of interest, of being beaten into submission or, dare I say it, that the WRU are on the right track and have support on some issues at least.