Day two of the great Welsh rugby debate

Q: Does Wales breed inferior players compared with other nations thes days? If so, why? If not, what was wrong? Is there a drinking culture among Welsh rugby players? A:The only suggestion that Wales breeds inferior players is in your question.

At Under-16, Under-18, Under-19 and Under-21 levels, Welsh representative teams are able to match the very best teams in the world game.

The work that our 30 development officers are doing across Wales is bearing fruit and we are fighting back against those English clubs and schools seeking to lure our best teenagers over the Severn Bridge by offering scholarships at Llandovery and Christ College. Players and their clubs in Wales, as in so many other countries, are still coming to terms with the complete demands of the professional game, but all the support systems they require at international level are in place.

When you consider that Llanelli, having beaten Leicester and Bath in their last two games, have reached the semi-finals of the Heineken Cup for the second time, and that Pontypridd are in the last four of the Parker Pen Shield, perhaps things aren't all bad. Newport managed to do the double over the English Cup holders, Newcastle Falcons, and triumphed over the French champions Toulouse in the Heineken Cup and Neath beat Munster in the Celtic League. There are as many plus points as minuses and perhaps more people should look at the glass and see it half full, rather than half empty. As for a 'drink culture' among Welsh players, I have seen no evidence, or heard no alarming stories, to suggest that professional Welsh players act differently to their peers in other countries. Perhaps you could enlighten me, and your readers, with some names and specifics?

Q: New caretaker coach Steve Hansen has already said too many players in Wales are paid. Do you agree and what steps can be taken to cut this down considerably?

A: The WRU and the clubs are looking for ways not only to increase revenue, but also to reduce overheads.

When the game went 'open' in 1995, payment to players became legal. It will be virtually impossible to stop players being paid in the future, regardless of what level they are playing at, and even if we tried to reinforce the old amateur regulations, we would only see a return to the days of 'shamateurism'. What will dictate the how much players are paid, and how many receive a proper wage, will be market forces.

If the money isn't there, then the players can't be paid. The WRU's view is that there should only be a small tier of paid professionals in the Premier Division, and some semi-professionals in Division One, and that the rest of the players in Wales should aspire to join them. Money given to clubs is better spent on facilities, community schemes and junior sections, than paying unnecessary sums to recreational players.

The Union has the right to look through the accounts of all its member clubs and can, in certain cases, withhold payments to them if anything irregular is found. However, it is probably not neither practicable, nor legal, to insist clubs don't pay players and coaches.

Q: Why is it that the fixtures situation is so chaotic and clubs which are now businesses have to go two months without a home game?

A: As a Union, we recognise the difficulties facing our professional clubs and we are working with them to try to find the right solution for them. The policy on fixture planning is agreed by all the Unions and has a strict pecking order.

Rugby World Cup is at the top of the list, followed by the Six Nations Championship and international fixtures, then the European competitions, the Heineken Cup and the Shield and finally domestic tournaments.

The list is devised in such an order as much because of the economic benefits of the various competitions as the importance of international rugby over the club game. In Wales, the Joint Management Board, made up of representatives of the WRU and the Premier Division clubs, sits down to agree fixtures in the summer. These are agreed and then circulated.

There is a three-week window for international rugby in November and then 10 weeks, reducing to seven next season, for the five games in the Six Nations Championship between February and April.

It is international rugby that is the financial engine for the game as a whole and those games are of paramount importance. The club scene has changed dramatically over recent seasons. The withdrawal of both Cardiff and Swansea from the domestic league three years ago caused difficulties, there has been a development with the addition of two Scottish teams into our league and the expansion into the Celtic League and now six out of our nine Premier Division clubs want to do their own thing. The clubs need to be clear on how many matches they need to play to create the wealth they require to pay realistic wages, while

Q: Does it alarm you that the WRU failed to sell all the tickets for the France game? Is this a sign of waning interest and concern at ticket prices?

A: Sales for the game against France reached 70,000 and we had 58,000 for the Italian match. In the case of Italy, we had 10,000 more than filled Lansdowne Road in Dublin for the Lloyds TSB Six Nations clash between Ireland and Scotland and on a par with the crowd that saw France beat Italy at Stade de France on February 2.

This is the season in which we have three home fixtures in the Six Nations, although because of unique circumstances, due to the postponed game against Ireland, we will have played four championship matches at the Millennium Stadium between October and April.

The Italian game was the eighth international rugby occasion at the Millennium Stadium this season and with a crowd of 58,000 we broke through the 400,000 fans barrier in those games.

That gives us an average attendance of more than 50,000 per game, on a par with the best supported Premiership football clubs in the UK and hardly the sign of waning interest.

It also proves the incredible appetite there is for rugby in Wales and why it has always been considered our national sport.

There are no better fans in world rugby than in Wales. Our prices are cheaper than in France, England, Ireland and Scotland, our facilities are better than any other stadium in world rugby and we have the delights of a major European capital city literally at our doorstep. When Scotland play in Cardiff April 6, we expect to see a full house of 74,000. Many more Scottish fans are expected to travel than will arrive from Italy and the volume of away support always swells the crowd and helps the atmosphere.

Fans of sport in Wales have been rather spoilt since the Millennium Stadium came into being in 1999.

There have been no fewer than 16 major soccer occasions since then, including three Welsh soccer internationals and the Worthington Cup final this season, and the Italian match was the 29th international rugby occasion in only 33 months. Add to that six major pop concerts, the British Speedway Grand Prix, a Rugby League World Cup match and a host of other attractions at the Millennium Stadium and it is easy to see why the people of Wales have never had so much opportunity to watch world class sport. It is a case of the Millennium Stadium, completed in 1999 and built on the initiative of the Welsh Rugby Union with the backing of its 231 member clubs, doing what it set out to do - offering a rich and varied diet of top-class events to the people of Wales. How many other stadia in Europe have served more than three million customers in such a short space of time?

Q: Do you think it appropriate that one man should hold the positions of WRU chairman, WRU treasurer and Millennium Stadium chairman, Mr GriffithsA: All the internal audits, both financial and management, we have had at the Millennium Stadium plc have come down very strongly in favour of having joint chairman of the two companies that are the mainstays of the WRU Group.

I suppose, in effect, I am chairman of the Group. This is common practice in major companies and in that respect my roles are no different to those of the chairman of the management board of the RFU, Graeme Cattermole, who has Twickenham under his control as well as the workings of his Union.

Unlike other members of the Six Nations, we have a separate stadium company to run. This is because the Millennium Commission wanted

us, as part of the guarantee to secure their 46m grant, to form a new company, even though the Millennium Stadium is wholly owned by the WRU.

Nevertheless, you must regard the WRU and the Millennium Stadium as a single entity under the WRU Group banner and as all being part of the same business. The old Cardiff Arms Park was always run by the WRU, headed by its secretary and chairman, and it is only because of the Millennium Commissions request that we now have two separate companies operating under one banner, and one chairman.

And just look at what happens at the IRB, the world governing body of rugby. Our own Vernon Pugh is not only chairman of the IRB, but its acting chief executive and the chairman of Rugby World Cup Ltd.

He finds time to fulfil those roles despite being a barrister who practices from Grays Inn, London and who acts as a crown court recorder. He is also a director of our Dragons Trust.

I would not hold the three positions you refer to if I had not been voted onto them by the rugby clubs of Wales and their elected members on an annual basis. It's not me who appoints people to these posts, although I have obviously made myself available for them.

It's a tough task being chairman of both the WRU and the Millennium Stadium, but it has been a very necessary marriage, as our financial consultants have always conceded. You need an understanding of the core activity of any business and the Millennium Stadium is essentially the home of Welsh rugby.