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Pontypool RFC 'not good enough' for new league - court hears

RELEGATION-THREATENED Pontypool RFC were simply "not good enough" to make the cut for the new Premiership, lawyers for the Welsh Rugby Union told the High Court.

The club is fighting a courtroom battle to overturn the WRU's decision to axe it from the top league in a major restructuring of the game.

Lawyers for the club say the decision is wrong and an "abuse of power."

But the WRU says the club's challenges to the decisions are "misconceived" and should be rejected.

"This is still about sport," said WRU barrister, Adam Lewis QC. "It is still about the best teams, not the teams with the best roof over a bit of terracing."

The aim of the reforms was to create a quality Premiership, underpinning the regional clubs and national team. Selection was based on a "meritocracy" table, based on prior performance on the pitch.

Pontypool was ranked 13th out of the 14 existing top league clubs.

"There is no unfairness," he continued. "It came 13th out of 14. That is the reason it won't be in the Premiership. It was not good enough on the pitch."

Pontypool's barrister, Ian Rogers, said the Union broke its own rules on how the new-look Premiership would be made up.

The league was supposed to include ten clubs, but that was extended to 12 after pressure from regional clubs, Ospreys and Scarlets, he said.

But Mr Lewis said the move to include Bridgend and Carmarthen, taking the league to 12 teams, was a "legitimate" decision for the Union to make.

Concerns had been expressed about the regional balance of the league, with Ospreys and Scarlets both worried about the reduction of teams in their areas.

Mr Lewis denied the inclusion of the two clubs was a form of "impermissible cherry-picking", since Bridgend and Carmarthen had been the next best performing teams in the meritocracy table.

He said Pontypool was trying to "force" its way into the reformed Premiership for the imminent 2012-13 season, but its complaints were "regrettable and misconceived".

Proceeding


Comments (16)

26/06/12

Tall Pruner says...

wow that's great.....the union are saying its not about ground criteria its about playing performance......wel
l why bring an A or B licence in.....promotion and relegation that's all it needed, still as amateur as ever. Proves once and for all bully boy tactics, our league we can do what we like.....nice one

26/06/12

no1poolerfan says...

And to think we finished level on points with Newport last season!! It showed how much we improved last season. So it did not matter that we did not finish above them - we would still not have been "good enough"

26/06/12

Tak523SC says...

Once again, the WRU are grasping at straws. It is showing (from the little that we're hearing) they just want Pontypool out of the league. I re-iterate what I said....WRU are behaving disgracefully. This is personal - it's obvious. However, even if Pontypool lose the case, they've done grass roots rugby proud by standing up to the WRU. They have stood for every small, money strapped club that loves rugby and not the £. No matter what, well done Pooler.

26/06/12

tegandsyd says...

how many other clubs have a history like pooler 4 or 5, this game is stooped in history and pooler as contibuted in every decade, I remember talking to some allblacks in the eighties one of the first clubs they named was pooler, they are known all over the rugby world and the wru will have egg on it,s face if they get rid of 1 of EAST wales giants.

26/06/12

Newport Dave says...

tegandsyd,
I have a soft spot for Pontypool but this court case is nothing to do with history.
Even if they'd gone unbeaten through the 50's, 60's and 70's it still has nothing to do with the modern game.
Those days are gone and they will never be a big club again (the premier division is simply third tier rugby at best and nothing more).
You need to get over that "we are a big club" thing and stop living in the past. Pontypool, Newport, Cardiff etc will never have glory years again. It's a different world now.
Pontypool is certainly not an "East Wales Giant".

26/06/12

Newport Dave says...

Tak523SC wrote:
Once again, the WRU are grasping at straws. It is showing (from the little that we're hearing) they just want Pontypool out of the league. I re-iterate what I said....WRU are behaving disgracefully. This is personal - it's obvious. However, even if Pontypool lose the case, they've done grass roots rugby proud by standing up to the WRU. They have stood for every small, money strapped club that loves rugby and not the £. No matter what, well done Pooler.
I agree. It reflects badly on the Union and I fully expect that Pontypool will win this case and I will be more than happy if they do.

26/06/12

thereisnoregionalrugbyingwent says...

"This is still about sport," said WRU barrister, Adam Lewis QC. "It is still about the best teams, not the teams with the best roof over a bit of terracing."

Thats not what the WRU said to Beddau and Bonymaen a few years back !!!!

26/06/12

tegandsyd says...

I don,t want to get over the past, why should I give up some of the best years of my life, true it is a different game but you must have a base to build on, change does not always mean better,there is a lot more politics,rather than sport going on, remember moffit were all those changes for the good no, sorry but pooler is still No1 for me no matter where they play

27/06/12

Newport Dave says...

tegandsyd wrote:
I don,t want to get over the past, why should I give up some of the best years of my life, true it is a different game but you must have a base to build on, change does not always mean better,there is a lot more politics,rather than sport going on, remember moffit were all those changes for the good no, sorry but pooler is still No1 for me no matter where they play
That's fine, we all have our memories of better times with our clubs in years gone by, but they bare no relation to modern rugby.
I enjoy a look back with other Newport fans at good times, but I can see that those days have nothing to do with what is going on right now in Welsh rugby (on or off the field).
You are right though, Moffett made a monumental mess of the initial transition to regions. He must shoulder a lot of the blame, but he probably doesn't give a monkey's.

27/06/12

euclid says...

Didn't Pontypool finish above Bedwas and Ton Mawr and level with Newport (with the same number of wins plus an additional draw) this season? This even though they thought the league was going to be reduced to ten at the start of the season and they were relegated before they even started their campaign.

27/06/12

Poolaboy58 says...

"This is still about sport," said WRU barrister, Adam Lewis QC. Sport is about aspiration, bettering yourself, facing challenges, knowing that if you fail others will come along to take your place. Let the leagues operate with a promotion and relegation system and le the cream rise to the top. If Pooler are not good enough so be it and they will be confined to history or, if as I suspect, they will fight the challenge on the field as they always have done and remain a premier club representing East Wales with the rest!

28/06/12

euclid says...

If this is not about facilities why didn't the WRU just stipulate that the bottom two (or four) sides were relegated last season. Were they afraid that it might not be the clubs they wanted that were relegated? Following on from their logic that the bottom two sides are not good enough to play in the league the following season and considering that there is no promotion, will the league gradually diminish to zero?

28/06/12

CM1 says...

If it is not about facilities that's fine; there were two teams below Pontypool, so I assume that the club will not be relegated.

28/06/12

tegandsyd says...

how did a barrister get such an important fact wrong stating that pooler finished 13th out of 14 as he seen the tables or as he looked at another season

30/06/12

ebbwdragon says...

euclid wrote:
If this is not about facilities why didn't the WRU just stipulate that the bottom two (or four) sides were relegated last season. Were they afraid that it might not be the clubs they wanted that were relegated? Following on from their logic that the bottom two sides are not good enough to play in the league the following season and considering that there is no promotion, will the league gradually diminish to zero?
The WRU obviously decided who they wanted out before the season started, why pick 5 years results as their criteria ? why not 3 or 7 or even 10 ?

Mike

30/06/12

CM1 says...

Indeed, six years seems an incredibly strange number to pick, for it to be anything other than than a clear pre-selection of the teams the WRU wanted. Why not pick 30 years?! If they had wanted Pontypool in the set up, that could have been done, especially as we all know that the smaller teams tend to come and go eg Dunvant and Treorchy. What money Bedwas being a topic of discussion in 30 years time???

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