Just got myself a-thinking (a painful passtime) about Welsh rugby regionalism. No, this isn't going to be anything to do with a 5th region, or super-clubs etc. What I was thinking about is marketing.
Please note these are thoughts written almost as soon as they occurred to me, I have put very little thought into them and so are subject to vast change.
Now we all agree, I think, that the regions' marketing departments leave a lot to be desired. Even the Ospreys who many consider to be by far the best in this area miss a lot of opportunities as far as I am concerned.
But my question is... do the WRU do enough for the regions on the marketing side.
Some may argue that it is not the WRU's job, the regions are responsible for their own region - marketing and all.
But I think this is wrong. The WRU have a mandate to support rugby throughout Wales, and the premier competitions for them (outside of internationals) all involve the regions (though the same could be said for advertising the WP as well).
Surely the WRU can do a lot more to try get us excited about regionalism, marketing the league etc where-ever they can. For example internationals give a captive audience that are already interested in the rugby product, yet you never see anything done by the WRU at these events.
Similarly the Millennium Stadium hosts a lot of events, how much is the ML or just the regional concept pushed at these?
Do they have a 'rugby club' emailing list that people can sign to, giving international and regional news? they may do, but I don't know of it.
They don't advertise the ML/edf/WP in newspapers, TV or radio.
I'm not really sure how much responsibility they have but I honestly feel that should be doing something. We know that the ML has next to nothing in sponsorship and that a lot of people still aren't interested in the regional concept, but the WRU do nothing to try help. We're to small a country to not support each other and the WRU should by supporting their regions by promoting the ML/regional brand and product.
I reckon anyway
Nick (sometimes known as rugby Nick) is a devout follower of all things rugby, especially anything related to Welsh rugby. His thoughts and rants can be found on his Welsh Rugby blog.
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