Prem Rugby CEO Simon Massie-Taylor was questioned on the prospect of Welsh teams being allowed to join the English Prem
Prem Rugby CEO Simon Massie-Taylor is grilled by Austin Healey
Prem Rugby CEO Simon Massie-Taylor has poured cold water on suggestions Welsh clubs could join an expanded franchised Gallagher Prem during a live TV grilling from Austin Healey.
The Prem has scrapped relegation in favour of a franchise league to attract significant investors into the game such as Red Bull who recently bought Newcastle.
By the 2029/30 season the Prem wants to expand by at least two new teams. The change comes amid the backdrop of a strong desire from Welsh fans for the Welsh Rugby Union to somehow find a way out of the United Rugby Championship and into the English system. The belief is crowd numbers and interest in the Welsh regions would surge, with historic rivalries and more away fans at matches.
Indeed, the subject featured strongly in the WRU’s consultation on the state of the Welsh game going forward, with Welsh politicians urging bosses to find a way of making an Anglo-Welsh competition work.
Warburton recently said the WRU should be “like a rat up a drainpipe” to enter an Anglo-Welsh league if the opportunity were to arise in the future, describing the United Rugby Championship (URC) as “a league of misfits” that fans don’t feel passionately about.
Talks are known to have been held over the prospect in recent years, but the man in charge of the English competition appears to have delivered a major blow to hopes while being interviewed live on TNT Sports.
Massie-Taylor was asked directly about the prospect of Welsh teams joining by former England star Healey, who was alongside Wales legend Sam Warburton.
After the Prem boss had been evasive in his answer to a previous question, Healey put him on the spot, saying: “You didn’t answer the other question… are you going to answer this one? Are you going to let any Welsh teams in?”
Massie-Taylor awkwardly laughed at the directness of the question, adding: “I think we’ve got enough options in England. I think it is really important that aspirational clubs spend time in the Championship as well.
“They’ve got a tag line ‘the proving ground” and that’s a really important thing for us that we are developing our clubs through the whole system.”
Massie-Taylor insisted the Prem wanted to expand into new territories in England.
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“This is where the Champ comes in as well because it’s not just about the Prem it is about the Champ as well.
“What we want to do is fully optimise the various specific geographies around England. That’s not just for the Prem but the Champ as well.
“We want to get the right teams in that so everyone’s got access to professional rugby within their regions.
“There’s some obvious areas within the country which we think are underexploited.
“People have talked Yorkshire, people have talked about Birmingham and people have talked about the South East.
“I mean the South East alone has got over 20% of Prem fans actually but not an easy access to it with a club.
“There’s no pre-ordained blueprint we’ve got and we’ve got a lot of work to do to help develop those areas and those business plans for the league.”