"I saw the cloud, though I did not foresee the storm"- Welsh rugby fixture chaos

Is Summer Rugby the answer?

Postponed fixtures look likely to be common place once again this weekend, and with the rearranged matches in the Swalec Leagues already topping 400, it all begs the question: would summer rugby be the answer to our fixture headaches?

As we head into the forced break for the Six Nations, a number of teams are facing a very busy April period, including Pill Harriers in Two East who have completed only nine of their 22 scheduled fixtures so far this season.

The weather has been particularly inconvenient thus far with the heavy rain before Christmas washing away weekends of rugby, while the break for the Autumn Internationals left some teams without a match for over a month.

Why can’t league matches be played on International Days? 

The reason the WRU give is that referees will want to go to the Welsh matches themselves and so there would be a shortage of available referees for a full fixture list.

However, in England, they still manage to schedule league fixtures on International Days and surely this would ease some of the fixture congestion? It's possible I am being too cynical but I can’t help thinking the reason the WRU would not want league fixtures on International Days (timed so the local game would finish and the teams could go back to the clubhouse to watch the Wales match) is that it might impact on their attendances at the national stadium.

The WRU’s money spinning saw 4 Autumn series games held, ending in disaster both on and off the pitch; none of the matches were a complete sell out, while Wales suffered a whitewash of defeats.

So with the WRU resolute on its position of not scheduling a full league program on International Days, and with the Welsh weather being its usual unpredictable self, would summer rugby be a feasible option?

One of the main problems I can see is that some Council pitches host both rugby and cricket teams, and by either extending the season or bringing it forward to August, this could pose significant problems especially for the sportsmen who pick up the willow come May time.

With change and reform as alien to the WRU as cheap ticket prices, their continued outlook for Welsh rugby seems to be a dry spell during the 6 nations, with an intense convergence of zonal fixtures scheduled to arrive by mid-March through to April. Meantime, the cyclone of postponed fixtures rages on.