NO-ONE, with the possible exception of Brian Price, is saying it, so I am going to shout it loud and clear -- NEWPORT SHOULD BE A STAND ALONE CLUB in any future Welsh rugby structure.

Their history, tradition, standing and stature demands nothing less.

Llanelli seem to think they have a divine right to be left completely alone as hatchet man David Moffett wields his axe, while Pontypridd are making similar noises.

But Newport have got just as much right as Llanelli and more than Pontypridd to remain alone and represent East Wales.

And what is the attitude of Newport Supporters Club? While they are organising petitions at Stradey Park and Sardis Road their Rodney Parade counterparts appear to be doing nothing.

Instead of sorting their trips to Reading, Llanelli and Toulouse, I would suggest they get on with more urgent business.

Time is now desperately short with Moffett wanting a final answer tomorrow from the leading clubs or he will push his four provinces idea through, one of them preposterously in North Wales.

But it may not be too late and I would urge Newport supporters to get their act together and organise one mighty petition now.

The club is the best supported in Wales, so members ought to prove it and collect signatures by the thousand.

And while I have always been totally supportive of everything Tony Brown has done for Newport and have admired his exceptional generosity with the club, supporters and players, I cannot agree with his suggestion the club can be called Gwent Steelmen.

It is true there will be a Newport, Cardiff, Llanelli, etc, left under the Moffett plan. But it would be an insult to call them that, as I've said before, considering they will be semi-professional sides playing in an all-Welsh First Division with nowhere to go.

Tony Brown has been associated with Newport Rugby Club for the last 10 years, but the club is 128 years old and for much of that time has been respected the world over.

Newport have enjoyed four invincible seasons, they have beaten all three Southern Hemisphere super-powers - New Zealand, Australia and South Africa - they have provided eight members of a Wales team etc., etc.

The name of Newport is at the top end of the game representing Wales in Europe and must NOT be allowed to die. The title of Gwent Steelmen is NOT acceptable.

There are supporters who argue constantly about whether Jason Strange or Shane Howarth should be the current Newport outside-half and there are others who complain Newport have the wrong coaches.

They are all missing the point. None of that matters because if Moffett gets his way Newport RFC will cease to exist at any meaningful level.

Brown will say, rightly so, that it costs a fortune - his fortune - to run a successful Premier Division team.

So it's up to the WRU to provide the funds so that Welsh teams can stand alone and compete against their English and French counterparts.

The view that the WRU should sell the Millennium Stadium is gathering pace - that would provide the necessary funding.

Or Moffett's salary could be cut in half, which would still leave him with plenty of spare money to live off.

The residue and a decision not to appoint the two chief executives Moffett wants to serve with him could easily be used to preserve the traditions which we, or many of us, care about.

In case some of you are fed up about me banging this particular drum, let me quote you Llanelli's Gareth Jenkins, the Welshman who is widely respected as one of the best coaches in the world.

"Are we mad?" he asks. "Have we in Wales completely lost our grip on reality? Why the hell is Welsh rugby running down this black corridor into a dark hole?

"People outside this country must be shaking their heads and asking 'What the hell are they doing in Wales?'

"We need to keep as much identity as possible. There is nothing wrong with what we have, so why change?

"What's wrong is that we have been mismanaged and under-funded for five years."

The next comment from Jenkins I have deliberately quoted in capitals: "WELSH RUGBY WOULD LOSE EVERYTHING IT EVER MEANT TO ME IF IT WENT PROVINCIAL."

And to Moffett and Hansen, who constantly refer to the success of provinces in New Zealand, Jenkins says: "Their moves were driven entirely by creating a new product.

"Our circumstances are entirely different. They should respect those and maybe pay a little more attention to what we are saying and particularly about what our supporters are saying."

Anyone disagreeing with Jenkins' sentiments can't have the best interests of Welsh rugby at heart.

And it can't be right that all 239 WRU clubs have a vote over what happens at the top end of the game.

It's in the constitution, they say. All I can reply is the constitution is an ass.

And Welsh rugby will be an ass if it does away with its most famous clubs and brings in provincialism.