Posted by It’s April 2025 and Cardiff Rugby have ended up under Welsh Rugby Union ownership, the PRA25 deal is on the table for the three other professional clubs, and there’s confusion about what the future holds for the Blue & Blacks.
It’s April 2026 and Cardiff Rugby continue to be under Welsh Rugby Union ownership, the PRA25 deal is on the table for two of the other professional clubs after Dragons have signed it, and there’s confusion about what the future holds for the Blue & Blacks.
12 months of optimal plans, consultation, slightly different plans, a bidding process for Cardiff, a preferred bidder, an exclusivity window, legal challenges, a WRU EGM, the departure of the PRB Chair, the planned departure of the WRU Chair, an extension of the exclusivity window and then the collapse of the Y11 deal to buy the Blue & Blacks.
Ultimately we’re back to almost exactly where we were a year ago in Welsh rugby, and assuming that the Ospreys and Scarlets do finally make the decision they should have made last summer and sign PRA25, it’s a position we’ll be in for the next two years at least. Don’t be fooled by politician spin that anyone is safe until “into the 2030s” – the 2028 break clause looms large.
From a Cardiff perspective there was good news in the aftermath of Wednesday’s announcement that Ospreys owner Y11 Sport & Media Limited’s bid to buy the capital club had collapsed/mutually come to an end with the WRU/they had withdrawn. Delete as applicable depending on who you believe or what brand of tin foil hat you’re wearing.
Either way the Blue & Blacks avoided being owned by a shady South-East Asian based private equity firm who are essentially mute and faceless when it comes to regular supporter communication and only seem interested in how much money their investments can make rather than growing or progressing the clubs they have an interest in.
While Ospreys supporters were rightly relieved about the news that came out regarding some more stability for their future, the lack of criticism aimed at Y11 for putting them through so much uncertainty was stark. A Supporters Club statement bizarrely failed to mention them or Lance Bradley, and some even claim that it was their plan all along to secure Ospreys future. Each to their own, I guess.
This is about looking ahead for Cardiff though, and while avoiding Y11 is a definite positive it comes at the cost of remaining under WRU ownership for the foreseeable future. “Until it makes commercial and strategic sense” in the words of the Union in their statement, a statement that purported to provide clarity for Cardiff but left supporters with more questions than answers.
Question 1 – Why were Y11 the preferred bidder and what placed them ahead of the consortium headed up by Martyn Ryan?
There is of course the conspiracy approach that the WRU took an easy road to cutting a team by accepting the Y11 bid and that resulting in Ospreys being closed down, but on the other hand the Y11 bid may well have been the best largely due to being propped up by a multi-billion pound private equity firm.
Either way an explanation of the decision and why a bid from the consortium which involved Cardiff Rugby people, rugby people and some well-publicised exciting plans was overlooked would be a welcome start in rebuilding trust between the Arms Park faithful and the WRU-led club management.
Question 2 – Why are the consortium not being re-engaged and the club being taken off the market?
This is the particularly grey area in the clarity offered by the WRU. In a recent interview with WalesOnline, Martyn Ryan confirmed that the consortium he is fronting is “preparing to get involved again if something cropped up”, with CityAM reporting that they had engaged Rothschilds bankers to explore the reopening of the bidding process.
There is absolutely zero explanation around why Cardiff have been taken off the market by the WRU though. There is a bidder that would be extremely popular with supporters and remove the liability of a professional club from the Union’s books yet WRU CEO Abi Tierney believes “it is in the best interests of Welsh rugby for Cardiff Rugby to remain under WRU ownership for now”. Odd.
Question 3 – What does the “commercial and strategic sense” required to revisit the decision to keep Cardiff under WRU ownership look like?
This is the million dollar question for me at the moment. We know that the Union have committed to keeping a side in the capital and that to have a team playing at the Arms Park it would have to be Cardiff Rugby Club, so while nothing is certain in this world there is a level of confidence that the club isn’t going anywhere.
So therefore the WRU seem to be committing to acting as our benefactor for at least two years. They have previously said there is no desire to run the club at any lesser budget than the others and devalue their asset, learning their lesson from the disastrous spell as Dragons owners, so it’s a fairly major financial outlay on their behalf.
Do they think that in 2028 there may be an opportunity to buy into the English Premiership, increasing the value of Cardiff Rugby and attracting the scale of investment we’re seeing in the likes of Bath, Exeter, Northampton and Newcastle? If that was the case I doubt there would be many complaints from Blue & Black supporters. I’d sell a family member for that.
Or is is purely a WRU play for the central control that they have long since craved? The start of a move towards the two-team model, both under Union ownership with the Dragons given notice on the PRA and a new team formed in the west to replace the Ospreys and Scarlets. How to lose supporters and alienate people, by the Welsh Rugby Union.
What we need at the Arms Park is some communication from the management. Understandably the Independent Chair Scott Waddington and Managing Director Jamie Muir have not been able to hold any supporter events as of yet due to the ongoing negotiations between the WRU and Y11.
Now there is an element of stability though they, along with Abi Tierney, should be fronting up and answering supporter questions so we can understand what the next few years looks like for Cardiff. The best way of achieving something at the Arms Park is by taking the supporters on the journey, as we’ve seen over the last three years.
On the field it’s an incredibly exciting time for the Blue & Blacks, and indeed the future looks so bright from a rugby perspective as the pathway goes from success to success, but that needs to be matched by the ownership and the direction of the club off the field.
Cardiff Rugby Life 