Councillors urge WRU to 'Save our Scarlets'

What does 400 full and part-time employees do all day?

Whilst I believe that the 4 current regions should remain, I think this motion is lacking on several fronts. To say that Parc y Scarlets has the best stadium facilities and infrastructure in Wales is hyperbole. I know many a Scarlets fan who regularly complain about PyS, and some who don't bother going because of parking, and other issues. The line about Ray Gravell and Phil Bennett playing for the Scarlets is clearly false. Those great players represented Llanelli RFC, which was a completely different entity to the Scarlets, who are a Regional side. Also, the claim about 400 employees seems to be stretching it. Swansea City FC, a much larger organisation with a grander budget and revenue flows, employ around 300. If the Scarlets employ 400 plus, and we know that they owe substantial sums of money to various bodies including Carmarthenshire Council, then they should look at drastically reducing their workforce. I hope that the Scarlets, and the other 3 regions, maintain their status, but can we please deal with facts rather than writing emotional fiction.

Scrap them. And the other three!!!

As much as I admire Martin as a brilliant journo', some of the information he's been given appears 'one eyed Llanelli' and needs a fact check. The stadium in Trostre *between Llanelli and Swansea) is not the Scarlets 'their stadium', but the property of Carmarthenshire County Council, the most central of the West Wales local authorities that is based in Carmarthen, It will remain as it's the only real option if we revert to the original provincial plan of one combined West Wales team. They may state that having one of our 4 pro franchises is 'cornerstone of Llanelli's economy, not surprising considering 25% of our pro rugby finance goes to an impoverished town barely 1% of our population. Which is why the team is unsustainable and flogged off to the 'House of Fantasy'. Llanelli RFC played from 1872 until 2023, when the Scarlets decided they should not continue. The Scarlets is not a world renowned team that Llanelli may have been in the last century, Scarlet is just a colour that the Llanelli club used to play in, but underperforming as a pro franchise and unsustainable financially. The 4,300 who have signed the petition sounds a similar number to their average attendance, leaving vast stands unoccupied. So even 90% of the population of Llanelli decide not to sign the petition or support the massive opportunity a pro franchise offers them. The original plan of a combined West Wales team should return, just call them the Scarlet Ospreys for continuation. Remember a previous author on here described how he walked out on the Scarlets to support a bigger Swansea team, so there should be no problem bringing all of West Wales together.

Another example of why the Scarlets would be a terrible choice to be one of two future regions. Rugbt will need the new regions to be welcoming to new supporters from outside Llanelli, especially to supporters of their neighbours and rivals Ospreys. The determination to keep Scarlets as a brand feels parochial and exclusive. (I'm sure we all remember the arrogance of Llanelli and Cardiff in 2003 who refused to merge with neihbours). In my opinion the WRU would be better to scrap all four team names and start afresh. There is a logic to one of the teams playing in Trostre, Llanelli. However the stadium should be stripped of Scarlets branding and mottos removed as a fresh start. Stadium naming rights sold to the highest bidder and create a new start. Yes you may lose some Scarlets supporters but you'll have a chance of gaining former Ospreys fans and other people.

Put Llanelli RFC into a two division Anglo-Welsh league. 8 Welsh Clubs, 20 English. Promotion/relegation from/to a Welsh prem via play-off & commercial lisence. Using clubs as regions has failed. Representative, centrally run regions fine in principle but I wouldn't trust the WRU to run a bath.

Nothing wrong with the local town council speaking up for the professional region that is the Scarlets but it needs to be made clear that the Llanelli rfc team that defeated the all blacks, won numerous Welsh cups and included greats like phil Bennett, delme Thomas and jj williams has got nothing to do with the region that is the Scarlets....the Scarlets pro region are a entirely different entity. And its highly disingenuous - if not downright misleading - of those town councillors to say otherwise.