Carmelo Colasanto MS, Member of the Senedd for Sir Gaerfyrddin, has told the Senedd that the Welsh Rugby Union’s (WRU’s) plan to cut professional rugby from four clubs to three is not a level playing field, and warned that losing the Scarlets would be “the final nail in the coffin” for Llanelli town centre.
Speaking in today’s debate (Wednesday 7 October), Mr Colasanto said the WRU had promised a fair and transparent tender for the three licences. Instead, it has named Cardiff Rugby and the Dragons as preferred licence holders because they are “the incumbents”, leaving the Scarlets and the Ospreys, also incumbents, to fight over one.
“Two licences have effectively been earmarked and one is contested. That is not a level playing field. It is a play-off for the west.”
The capital licence is earmarked for Cardiff Rugby, a club the WRU itself owns.
“We have the wrong people, in the wrong place, at the wrong time: a board that promised a fair and transparent tender, then earmarked two of the three licences before it began. A board that owns one of the clubs it is licensing, and will sit in judgement on the others.”
The WRU says the £20 million a year available for professional clubs cannot stretch to four, yet the Group turned over £106.1 million in its last published accounts. Mr Colasanto called on the WRU to publish the funding gap.
Carmarthenshire County Council has lent the Scarlets money and owns the freehold of Parc y Scarlets.
“Carmarthenshire taxpayers are entitled to know what happens to that loan and that ground if the Scarlets lose their professional licence.
“If the Scarlets were to close, it would be the final nail in the coffin for Llanelli town centre. Every home game brings thousands of people into Llanelli to fill the pubs, cafés and restaurants. Take the Scarlets away, and that trade does not move somewhere else in Llanelli. It simply disappears.”
