Welsh clubs facing bleak future in regional revolution

There has been nothing radical about Welsh rugby for decades, apart from the national union's ability to dream up brilliant new ways of making sows' ears from silk purses, but revolutionary times are finally here.

Plans to establish four new teams, franchised on a regional basis, as the top tier of the domestic game will go before an emergency general meeting of the Welsh Rugby Union on 23 February, and if the go-ahead is given, the Llanellis, Cardiffs, Swanseas and Pontypridds will be reduced to semi-professional league status.

David Moffett, the new chief executive of the WRU and probably the sharpest negotiator ever to dip his toe in the choppy waters of rugby west of the Severn, pushed through his blueprint at a gathering of the 27-man general committee yesterday after the nine Premiership clubs failed to produce any alternative proposal.

"The clubs were given ample time to come up with something," Moffett said. "We have been told unequivocally that there is no prospect of their reaching an agreement."

Moffett seemed in little doubt that the 239 EGM delegates, the vast majority of them representing village and district teams, would support the regional franchise option. Quite how the big-time clubs react to being drummed out of the top flight of European rugby and driven headlong into competitive oblivion is another question entirely.

Moffett agreed that litigation was a possibility. "I guess it's my biggest fear," he admitted. "It would be damaging to the union's finances, and those of the clubs."

Under the Moffett plan, the 130 best players in Wales will be distributed among the four teams under an American-style draft system. Precious few foreigners would be granted a full-time professional contract – "It's a bit grim for them, I would say," the chief executive acknowledged, unapologetically – while the likes of John Connolly, the respected Australian currently in charge at Swansea, would not be considered for one of the coaching jobs.

The cleverness of Moffett's scheme is in the franchise element. He could have proposed four provincial teams, run and funded wholly by the WRU. But the union is up to its neck in debt, and will struggle to afford even the £2m per club it is offering. By allowing the likes of Llanelli and Cardiff – or rather, their principal investors – to apply for a franchise and, if successful, employ players on contracts held jointly with the union, he has offered his chief opponents a role in the brave new world.

Broadly speaking, there will be a new team in each of four areas covering the whole of South Wales: east, central, west and south-west. The teams will have their own management structures, marketing departments and support staff. All will play in the Heineken Cup, or whatever the élite European tournament calls itself next season. Tender documents will go out within a week, following discussions with the Premiership clubs.

"I think the committee should be commended for taking a very hard decision," Moffett said. "If it had been easy, this would have been sorted five years ago. People can still put roadblocks in the way, but we can talk about obstacles until the cows come home. It won't put Welsh rugby where it needs to be."

And he ended on a fighting note. Asked whether the English and French clubs would agree to Welsh regional sides playing Heineken Cup rugby, Moffett replied: "It would be very dangerous for clubs from other countries to say to us: 'You have reached a democratic decision, but we don't like it.' In the end, this is about what is best for Wales."