London Welsh and Magners League for Brentford?
For non-rugby fans, the Magners League (previously Celtic League) is the professional rugby competition for teams in Ireland, Scotland and Wales.The English equivalent is the Guinness Premiership which is somewhat over-hyped by Sky. The Magners League boasts the current European Champions in Munster and most of the Magners Leagues teams would be capable of beating any of the Guinness Premiership clubs.There is certainly a shortage of professional rugby union in a city the size of London. Last season there were no professional rugby union teams within the M25 and this season there is only one - Harlequins.From the perspective of an Irish exile in London, it would be brilliant to have Ulster, Munster and the other Irish provinces playing just down the road and I feel with the large Celtic exile population in London, they would get pretty big crowds - certainly bigger than Brentford :)I'm not sure how likely this is, however, Exiles have regional plan Aug 22 2006 Staff Reporter, Western Mail LONDON WELSH have put forward a radical plan to bring Magners League rugby to a whole new audience - the capital of England. And they say it is no pipe-dream but a serious proposal that has already been put to Welsh Rugby Union bosses. In the same way that London Irish have drawn on a wealth of support from the Emerald Isle by playing in England, so the vast numbers of Welsh people living in London could become fans of a regional team there. "We've already spoken to the Welsh Rugby Union and we believe there are people within the union who support the idea," revealed London Welsh president and chairman Kelvyn Bryon. "We've produced the likes of Colin Charvis and Tom Shanklin through our mini and youth systems into senior rugby, but we've been left in limbo by Welsh rugby." London Welsh are trying to punch their weight in English National League One, just a step away from the Guinness Premiership. And the Exiles plan to move away from their Old Deer Park home in Richmond to nearby Brentford FC's Griffin Park home should promotion or the major transformation to regional rugby arise. On the idea of having a Welsh region in London, Bryon said, "I don't think it is far-fetched at all. People say there's not enough players in Wales to support four regions, but I don't think that holds much water. "Brentford would be very interested in helping us if we did something like this - and the support would be there as the Welsh are the largest ethnic community in Berkshire. At present, Welshman Martin Jones is coaching the Exiles and he is assisted by Mark Langley, formerly of Penarth, ex-Maesteg Mark Walbyoff and former Newport centre Dai Fussell. And in the squad are the likes of ex-Neath centre James Storey and Owain Williams, nephew of JPR, who was at Leicester before going off to New Zealand. Jones said, "We have 55% of our squad of 40 who are Welsh-qualified and the average age is between 22 and 23." Peter Thomas, a consultant working with London Welsh on their future, said, "We would like to develop with the Welsh regions, take some of their development players on and get them exposed to a different type of rugby. "I think we need relationships first with the regions and make them aware of who we are and what we are doing again." http://icwales.icnetwork.co.uk/0500rugbyunion/0200news/tm_objectid=17600582%26method=full%26siteid=50082%26headline=exiles%2dhave%2dregional%2dplan-name_page.html
Michael Robinson ● 6859d5 Comments