Don't disagree but we are where we are. Ireland did it the right way by introducing central contracts across the board when the game went open. That ship has sailed though unfortunately.
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Did they do it right? It's certainly working at the moment but is that model sustainable after the Anglo league is created? I don't think so. It's not hard to imagine a scenario where once the tv cash goes to Anglo league the Irish franchises go broke. The Irish were fortunate that they had regions in place pre professionalism that people associated with. We didn't. the kiwis and staffers are having to let players go abroad and remain in national squad. The controlled economy will fail for Australia too. I can easily see sa break away from Sh and go north for cash. I think it's almost inevitable. I will admit I don't like the situation but I cannot pretend that I can't see the arguments on both sides. As usual we welsh are just going to see how it plays out and thank Christ rugby is the national sport
In professional era players are going to want to maximise earnings whilst they can. Especially in a game where careers can be shortened by injuries. Some idiot might call it prostitution but the idea of unions being able to bind their players and that franchises should only field players born within boundaries is ludicrous and smacks of someone who believes that rugby is in some perverse way a reflection of national character.
The problem is that players are free to play for the highest bidder just like every other business. Europe is a free market. Bourdieu pointed out that it's always possible imagine conspiracies dreamed up by power hungry greedy individuals rather than the inevitable outcome of hundreds of individual acts of self preservation.
I personally have always disliked the franchises disguised as regions cos they are difficult to associate with. For millennia Weve had a tribalism on a scale that few foreigners understand. Let's face it about 15 minutes up to kick off is wales at its most united. It's why events such as yesterday become national tragedy. I once spent the whole game next to someone who said nothing throughout the whole game but "neef neef".
The question for wales has been the same for decades right back to the rl days when we went through angst when players went up north in droves. How do we stop the exodus when we are one of the poorest areas of uk and the players if not playing elite sport would probably be on the dole or low skilled jobs. Why should we expect players to be driven by higher motives than the ones that we all follow?
We re all heading to the same system as football. What wru has to do is come up with a system that sees the best welsh players released for internationals. Central contracts are not going to work nor is picking players on loyalty. Public will soon be pissed off when we lose. FIFA manage this. It's not happening for France ATM and it's not going to happen with irb as it is. There. Said it
