Swansea Ospreys fans dismayed as club faces axe amid crisis in Welsh rugby

For Ian Gough, a lock forward who had been dropped by the Wales national rugby union team, signing with Swansea’s Ospreys in 2007 was life-changing: he credits his time at the club with resurrecting his international career.

“It was great fun playing for the Ospreys,” he said. “They did it the hard way, ground their way up, and the supporters embraced that identity and went with them on that journey to becoming a good side.

“Every Lions team ever has had an Ospreys player. No other team can boast that.”

The Ospreys, one of four professional teams in Wales since the structure of rugby in the country changed in 2003, are also the most successful, beloved by communities across Swansea, Neath and the lower Swansea valley. Yet amid dire finances and a long stint without success in Welsh rugby the club is facing the axe.

The Welsh Rugby Union (WRU) took over Cardiff RFC after it went into administration in April last year, and in October, the union announced it would cut the number of professional teams in Wales from four to three.

In January, the union announced it was in talks to sell Cardiff to the Ospreys’ owner, Y11 Sport and Media, making the Ospreys the most obvious team to cut.

Fans and dozens of former players, including household names such as Alun Wyn Jones and Shane Williams, have voiced outrage. Swansea council has emerged as the team’s fiercest champion, this week going to the Competition and Markets Authority over the proposed Cardiff takeover, as well as filing a high court injunction to halt the deal.

The council’s leader, Rob Stewart, said that any new structure for Welsh rugby should be “capable of sustaining development pathways for young people to become semi-professional and professional”.

“If [the WRU] are serious about doing that, why are they seeking to eliminate the most successful pathway and the most successful region in Wales? You would think you would focus your efforts on where you already have a flourishing vibrant rugby scene.

“They are completely ignoring the reality of where rugby is being played, and where the success is coming from at the moment, so how can we have confidence in their strategy?” he added.

Y-11 Sports and Media did not respond to a request for comment. A WRU spokesperson said: “The board has worked in good faith over the past two years to create a sustainable way forward for Welsh rugby, in light of the significant financial and performance challenges we all face.

“We appreciate that these are difficult and emotive issues for everyone involved, but our focus remains firmly on the long‑term health of the whole game in Wales and on continuing to try to work constructively with all stakeholders, including Swansea council.”

The council, as well as Ospreys fans, are hoping to garner enough support from Welsh clubs to trigger an emergency WRU board meeting and vote on the removal of its leadership.

The Ospreys drama is just one frontline in the crisis engulfing Welsh rugby. The bitter internal divisions are also playing out for the national team: after their loss against Scotland on Saturday they have only won two of their past 25 games. Last week Wales recorded their smallest ever crowd in Cardiff for a Six Nations match – just 57,744 people turned out for their chastening 54-12 defeat against France – more than 16,000 fewer than full capacity.

Grant Berni, of the Ospreys Supporters Club, said: “They say tickets aren’t selling because of the performance, but it’s because of frustration. There’s a big disconnect between the fans and the WRU.

“Lots of regional fans can’t face being there and giving the WRU money, even if it is supposed to come back to us eventually,” he said.

Welsh rugby’s legal and internal dramas are likely to rumble on for months yet. Stewart, of Swansea council, said he was hopeful that the WRU will change direction; he pointed to the Irish system, which in recent years has been more successful despite operating on £20m a year less than Welsh rugby, is a potential model.

Gough, who played for the Ospreys for five years, said that losing the Swansea side would be “devastating” for both the sport and Welsh culture. “The Ospreys is a fantastic place that produces a lot of great players. There has to be a club there, it’s as simple as that,” he said.