{"id":69967,"date":"2022-12-19T12:29:16","date_gmt":"2022-12-19T12:29:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/cardiffjournalism.co.uk\/thecardiffian\/?p=69967"},"modified":"2022-12-19T12:29:19","modified_gmt":"2022-12-19T12:29:19","slug":"inside-the-crisis-facing-welsh-grassroots-rugby","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cardiffjournalism.co.uk\/thecardiffian\/2022\/12\/19\/inside-the-crisis-facing-welsh-grassroots-rugby\/","title":{"rendered":"Inside the crisis facing Welsh grassroots rugby"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<h4 class=\"wp-block-heading\">A shortage of players, a surfeit of clubs and league restructuring has led to tens of games being called off on a weekly basis<\/h4>\n\n\n\n<p>GRASSROOTS rugby in Wales is facing a crisis. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Fixtures across leagues up and down the country are being called off every weekend due to clubs being unable to raise a team.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>As of the first weekend of December, it was estimated that around 160 games had been called off just three months after this season began in early September. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Missed fixtures mean clubs lose money from bar takings in their clubhouses, adding to the financial hardship facing them because of the cost-of-living crisis.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-rich is-provider-twitter wp-block-embed-twitter\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"550\" data-dnt=\"true\"><p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">I work it out as 160 games called off at grass roots level in Wales already this season.<\/p>&mdash; Robert Rees (@Rreesrugby) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/Rreesrugby\/status\/1601166046341517312?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">December 9, 2022<\/a><\/blockquote><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script>\n<\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>There is no incentive for teams struggling for numbers to fulfil fixtures as the opposition side, who can field a team, don\u2019t receive the match points. This means that the game is rescheduled for later in the season, leading to possible fixture congestion.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Ex-Wales international Lee Jarvis is head coach of his local side, Rhydyfelin RFC. The club ply their trade in League 1 East Central. Jarvis\u2019 side have had five games cancelled already this season, playing just four league games.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cIt\u2019s been difficult,&#8221; said Jarvis, who won a Welsh Premiership title as Merthyr coach.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>&#8220;I\u2019ve been involved in rugby for a long time, and this is probably the most difficult season I\u2019ve ever had with the games being called off. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cWe\u2019ve had five league games called off this year, and we\u2019ve had a District Cup game called off as well. From January to May we have got to re-arrange 18 games, and that\u2019s with the Six Nations break in between.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cAt the moment it\u2019s so easy to call a game off because sides aren\u2019t getting points deducted from them and the side that doesn\u2019t want to call it off aren\u2019t getting any points from it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cIt\u2019s pointless deducting points from the team that doesn\u2019t want to play because there\u2019s no relegation so I would strongly urge the WRU to give the side that doesn\u2019t call it off the four or five points so that the game doesn\u2019t have to be re-arranged.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-rich is-provider-twitter wp-block-embed-twitter\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"550\" data-dnt=\"true\"><p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">In 26 years of rugby as a player \/ Coach \/ Supporter I have never known a season like this at Grassroots \ud83d\ude22 <br><br>80% is planning off the pitch this season with everything that&#39;s going on. <br><br>I&#39;m frustrated so got knows how the players feel like, no suprise is they walk away is it ?\ud83d\ude22<\/p>&mdash; \ud835\udc0b\ud835\udc1e\ud835\udc1e \ud835\udc09\ud835\udc1a\ud835\udc2b\ud835\udc2f\ud835\udc22\ud835\udc2c (@LeeJarvis10) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/LeeJarvis10\/status\/1601558256966848512?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">December 10, 2022<\/a><\/blockquote><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script>\n<\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>There are well over 200 WRU affiliated clubs in Wales, a country with a population of approximately 3.1 million people, which begs the question as to whether Wales has too many clubs for its player pool.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Huw Davies is secretary of Clwb Rygbi Cymry Caerdydd (CRCC), a club which attracts Welsh speakers from across Cardiff and beyond. CRCC have had no problems in fielding a team this season but have been affected by other sides not being able to raise a team.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cI do think there are too many clubs,\u201d said Davies.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cIt would be wrong for me to pick on a particular region, but I played rugby in Cardiff for 20 years and when you go the valleys for instance, you\u2019d play one club and the next club is about 50 yards down the road.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cIt\u2019s not a judgement because in the valley towns the rugby clubs are the hub of the town. They play an important role and if local clubs were to merge it could have a catastrophic effect on the community.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-gallery has-nested-images columns-default is-cropped wp-block-gallery-1 is-layout-flex wp-block-gallery-is-layout-flex\">\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img decoding=\"async\" width=\"776\" height=\"914\" loading=\"lazy\" data-id=\"70060\" src=\"https:\/\/cardiffjournalism.co.uk\/thecardiffian\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/9\/2022\/12\/CLUBS3.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-70060\" srcset=\"https:\/\/cardiffjournalism.co.uk\/thecardiffian\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/9\/2022\/12\/CLUBS3.jpg 776w, https:\/\/cardiffjournalism.co.uk\/thecardiffian\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/9\/2022\/12\/CLUBS3-255x300.jpg 255w, https:\/\/cardiffjournalism.co.uk\/thecardiffian\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/9\/2022\/12\/CLUBS3-770x907.jpg 770w, https:\/\/cardiffjournalism.co.uk\/thecardiffian\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/9\/2022\/12\/CLUBS3-293x345.jpg 293w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 776px) 100vw, 776px\" \/><noscript><img decoding=\"async\" width=\"776\" height=\"914\" data-id=\"70060\" src=\"https:\/\/cardiffjournalism.co.uk\/thecardiffian\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/9\/2022\/12\/CLUBS3.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-70060\" srcset=\"https:\/\/cardiffjournalism.co.uk\/thecardiffian\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/9\/2022\/12\/CLUBS3.jpg 776w, https:\/\/cardiffjournalism.co.uk\/thecardiffian\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/9\/2022\/12\/CLUBS3-255x300.jpg 255w, https:\/\/cardiffjournalism.co.uk\/thecardiffian\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/9\/2022\/12\/CLUBS3-770x907.jpg 770w, https:\/\/cardiffjournalism.co.uk\/thecardiffian\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/9\/2022\/12\/CLUBS3-293x345.jpg 293w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 776px) 100vw, 776px\" \/><\/noscript><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">A map to show the location of grassroots rugby clubs in Cardiff and surrounding areas: Credit &#8211; WRU<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>The pandemic played a part in teams losing players. Clubs went 18 months without stepping onto the field and inevitably some players gave up during this time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cIf you look at the classic dynamic of any first team, there\u2019ll be a smattering of younger players and smattering of older players,\u201d explained Davies<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cA lot of the older players who had two seasons off due to Covid may have given up and thought there\u2019s no point in restarting now.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cI\u2019m hoping the player shortage is a short to medium term problem post-Covid. In, say, three to five years hopefully the youth team players will come through and regenerate these clubs.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>A league restructure in recent seasons has also proved controversial. The aim of the restructure was to reduce travelling distances for clubs, but in some cases this has led to mismatches, with one-sided games between clubs who had previously been divisions apart now finding themselves in the same league.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Richard Dighton played for several grassroots clubs in the Cardiff area before other commitments meant he had to give up. He saw first-hand the damage the restructure did to some clubs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cI imagine my story is fairly typical,\u201d explained Dighton, who played prop for Cardiff Internationals and Old Penarthians RFC.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cI met a girl and found I didn\u2019t have as much time to commit to playing on the weekends. My missus then got pregnant and I packed it in as it wasn\u2019t fair on her for me to have most Saturdays busy for rugby.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cWhile I was playing they restructured the leagues so you played against local sides regardless of what level they were playing at previously.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cIt was so dangerous and it led to some absolute pastings, two clubs folded in that season alone.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-rich is-provider-twitter wp-block-embed-twitter\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"550\" data-dnt=\"true\"><p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Another game called off by our opponents \ud83e\udd26\ud83c\udffd\u200d\u2642\ufe0f<br><br>This means we haven\u2019t played a home league game this season! \ud83e\udd2c<br><br>Merry Christmas \ud83c\udf85\ud83c\udffc<a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/AllWalesSport?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">@AllWalesSport<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/K8JdBsCX5Q\">pic.twitter.com\/K8JdBsCX5Q<\/a><\/p>&mdash; Nantyglo RFC (@NantygloRugby) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/NantygloRugby\/status\/1601143395824848897?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">December 9, 2022<\/a><\/blockquote><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script>\n<\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>Martin Hole\u2019s Cardiff Saracens team play in League 5 East Central, one of the lowest leagues in the country. His side has benefited from the restructure, but this means that some teams aren\u2019t always willing to play them, which leads to games being cancelled.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cWe were quite lucky with the restructure &#8211; we\u2019ve been pretty decent in this league and had one of the longest winning streaks in the union,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cWe go into games knowing we could win by over 50 points, and you think that\u2019s maybe why the opposition don\u2019t want to turn up. Because who wants to do that?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cThere\u2019s a handful of teams in our league who know they are going to lose by 50 points when they play the top half teams in our league.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cEven though there was no promotion for a few seasons they should have done something just to keep it equal.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>With the grassroots structure in Wales having unbalanced leagues, too many clubs for its player base and battling the post-pandemic world, there are concerns over whether it can continue in its current guise.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img decoding=\"async\" width=\"768\" height=\"1024\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/cardiffjournalism.co.uk\/thecardiffian\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/9\/2022\/12\/thumbnail_IMG_6174-768x1024.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-69970\" srcset=\"https:\/\/cardiffjournalism.co.uk\/thecardiffian\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/9\/2022\/12\/thumbnail_IMG_6174-768x1024.jpg 768w, https:\/\/cardiffjournalism.co.uk\/thecardiffian\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/9\/2022\/12\/thumbnail_IMG_6174-225x300.jpg 225w, https:\/\/cardiffjournalism.co.uk\/thecardiffian\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/9\/2022\/12\/thumbnail_IMG_6174-770x1027.jpg 770w, https:\/\/cardiffjournalism.co.uk\/thecardiffian\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/9\/2022\/12\/thumbnail_IMG_6174-500x667.jpg 500w, https:\/\/cardiffjournalism.co.uk\/thecardiffian\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/9\/2022\/12\/thumbnail_IMG_6174-293x391.jpg 293w, https:\/\/cardiffjournalism.co.uk\/thecardiffian\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/9\/2022\/12\/thumbnail_IMG_6174.jpg 960w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 768px) 100vw, 768px\" \/><noscript><img decoding=\"async\" width=\"768\" height=\"1024\" src=\"https:\/\/cardiffjournalism.co.uk\/thecardiffian\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/9\/2022\/12\/thumbnail_IMG_6174-768x1024.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-69970\" srcset=\"https:\/\/cardiffjournalism.co.uk\/thecardiffian\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/9\/2022\/12\/thumbnail_IMG_6174-768x1024.jpg 768w, https:\/\/cardiffjournalism.co.uk\/thecardiffian\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/9\/2022\/12\/thumbnail_IMG_6174-225x300.jpg 225w, https:\/\/cardiffjournalism.co.uk\/thecardiffian\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/9\/2022\/12\/thumbnail_IMG_6174-770x1027.jpg 770w, https:\/\/cardiffjournalism.co.uk\/thecardiffian\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/9\/2022\/12\/thumbnail_IMG_6174-500x667.jpg 500w, https:\/\/cardiffjournalism.co.uk\/thecardiffian\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/9\/2022\/12\/thumbnail_IMG_6174-293x391.jpg 293w, https:\/\/cardiffjournalism.co.uk\/thecardiffian\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/9\/2022\/12\/thumbnail_IMG_6174.jpg 960w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 768px) 100vw, 768px\" \/><\/noscript><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">The pitches at Pontcanna Fields are likely to see their fair share of cancelled fixtures this season<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>Jeff Cruise has been involved in grassroots rugby for decades with his club Llandaff North and is worried for the game&#8217;s future.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cThere\u2019s a general apathy around rugby now,\u201d said Cruise, who coaches the club&#8217;s youth and senior teams. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cI call it the &#8216;PlayStation generation&#8217;. People just aren\u2019t as interested or committed as they used to be.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cThe grassroots game is massively in crisis, more than most people realise. When you\u2019ve got the likes of Rhiwbina looking to pool players with other sides from across Cardiff, when they\u2019re one of the premier clubs in Cardiff, you know grassroots is in big trouble.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cI genuinely think it\u2019s too late to fix grassroots rugby. There are too many clubs. You\u2019re looking at six teams in a two-mile radius of here. You add the football factor in as well, grassroots rugby is f**cked and that\u2019s my honest opinion.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>A shortage of players has led to some clubs struggling to raise a team, causing games to be called off on a weekly basis.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":900,"featured_media":70751,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[230,14,151,4],"tags":[1291,96,231,154,74,1030],"coauthors":[8096],"class_list":["post-69967","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-llandaff-north","category-longer-reads","category-rugby","category-sport","tag-cardiff-2","tag-grassroots","tag-llandaff-north","tag-rugby-2","tag-sport-2","tag-wru"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v25.2 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Inside the crisis facing Welsh grassroots rugby - The Cardiffian<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/cardiffjournalism.co.uk\/thecardiffian\/2022\/12\/19\/inside-the-crisis-facing-welsh-grassroots-rugby\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_GB\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Inside the crisis facing Welsh grassroots rugby - The Cardiffian\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"A shortage of players has led to some clubs struggling to raise a team, causing games to be called off on a weekly basis.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/cardiffjournalism.co.uk\/thecardiffian\/2022\/12\/19\/inside-the-crisis-facing-welsh-grassroots-rugby\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"The Cardiffian\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2022-12-19T12:29:16+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2022-12-19T12:29:19+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/cardiffjournalism.co.uk\/thecardiffian\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/9\/2022\/12\/Llandaff.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1024\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"768\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Adam Cleary\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Adam Cleary\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Estimated reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"6 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/cardiffjournalism.co.uk\/thecardiffian\/2022\/12\/19\/inside-the-crisis-facing-welsh-grassroots-rugby\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/cardiffjournalism.co.uk\/thecardiffian\/2022\/12\/19\/inside-the-crisis-facing-welsh-grassroots-rugby\/\",\"name\":\"Inside the crisis facing Welsh grassroots rugby - 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