The contrasting fortunes of the national men’s rugby and football teams have sparked yet another debate on which sport is the true national sport where the perceivably “failing” governing body is going wrong and where the “succeeding” governing body is going right.
You could make the case that the success of the men’s rugby team in previous Six Nations and Rugby World Cups have papered over the cracks in rugby below international level.
What’s more difficult to judge is whether recent performances are “chickens coming home to roost” for the WRU, or a transitional period between the Gatland-era “golden generation” and the next generation of players.
Sport is naturally cyclical. A few of the current golden generation of men’s footballers are moving closer to international retirement. Also, if it wasn’t for the Nations League providing more competitive international matches, Wales would probably struggle to get more than 11-12,000 people to turn up for friendlies to fill the gap between qualifying campaigns.
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The big fundamental difference between the two – which can’t be entirely overcome – is the relationship between the governing body and the professional elements (players, clubs and regional sides).
In football, club football is usually the breadwinner (major international tournaments aside) and that’s where players focus on in their careers. The FAW can keep ticket prices relatively low because the players make the majority of their money from their clubs and the FAW’s running costs are relatively limited (it’s not as if they have to cross-subsidise the likes of Swansea City or have pumped loads of cash into the Cymru Premier).
In rugby, due to the governing relationship between the WRU, regions and clubs, they’re all heavily dependent on the national men’s team filling the Principality Stadium and the WRU’s commercial deals. While being selected for the national team is undoubtedly an honour regardless of sport, it seems to carry greater significance in rugby because it’s also important career-wise due to central contracting/pay banding.
The issue, therefore, isn’t rugby ticket prices being higher as such; it’s the level they’re set at and whether it’s value for money compared to the product on the pitch.
Another point often raised is the political undertones. It’s hard to care about that even if there are observations to make. Rugby union is the sport of the Welsh establishment, but I’m not entirely convinced that means it’s somehow less “Welsh” than football.
Perhaps less outwardly nationalist – and rugby may be a bit quicker to doff their cap to a Windsor too – but the late Queen Elizabeth II was patron of the FAW even if apart from a few footnotes you wouldn’t even know that.
