I’M lucky to have a job that allows me to travel to cover Newport Gwent Dragons, although my win-loss ratio may suggest otherwise.

That means I have to be careful to not be too critical when looking out at the stands in Galway, Dublin, Edinburgh or Cork to see almost exclusively home colours; in the Guinness Pro12 it takes a lot of commitment, and money, to go on the road with your team.

But one only has to think back to that brilliant afternoon in Gloucester in April when the Dragons fans took over the Shed in the quarter-final of the European Rugby Challenge Cup to realise the difference that a sizeable away contingent can make.

It was the same on Boxing Day at the Arms Park the season before last when the Dragons ended a long losing streak against Cardiff Blues in the capital.

Which is why hopefully the establishment of the Dragons Official Supporters' Club can, amongst other things, help increase the number of fans that attend games away from Rodney Parade.

Once again I have to be careful not to come across as hoity-toity as I am not giving up my own time or digging into my own pockets to travel away, but one of my frustrations has often been the small contingent that heads west for derbies.

While the Scarlets travel east in numbers, loudly backing their team with Sospan Fach and what not, the same isn’t often the case for the fixtures in Llanelli.

Fingers crossed one of the roles of the DOSC will be to mobilise the masses and make it even easier to get to Parc y Scarlets and the Liberty Stadium, especially as both games are on Saturdays in October.

The Worcester Euro clash is another fixture where it would be nice for the Dragons to be backed in numbers and I hope that the supporters’ club can help with subsidised travel and coaches because at the moment fans are missing out.

Sure, the Dragons traditionally suffer from travel sickness but there really is nothing like an away day, seeing new sights, watching the game from a different spot and mixing with home supporters on their own turf.

The establishment of the DOSC can fill a void that has been there since the link with the Dragged Up forum (yes, I lurk occasionally) dropped off.

By all accounts former captain Tom Willis had a marvellous time joining enthusiastic supporters on a bus to an away game on one occasion while then coach Paul Turner and ex-chief executive Gethin Jenkins were among those to address some of the fans’ issues in interviews.

For whatever reason things were allowed to slide but the formation of an official supporters group should enable regional chiefs to engage with punters and improve the experience at Rodney Parade on matchdays as much as they can (over to you for the really important part, Kingsley) while it also has the potential to spread the word.

When walking the streets of Pau last December there were posters everywhere with Conrad Smith on them while even a brand as big as McDonalds was promoting the arrival of the legendary All Black.

Newport is a city on the up and with money tight at Rodney Parade, a bit of supporter-led action can help with publicity by linking with local businesses. Every little helps.

And while supping a post-match Guinness behind the stand in Galway last Septmber, I was next to a wall of the Connacht Clan supporters’ group that featured donations from plenty of clubs, notably the Ospreys, but nothing from the Dragons.

The littlest gift to a rival side, reciprocated in the Rodney Parade fixture, can be a big gesture and put the men from Rodney Parade on the map.

The DOSC will be independent and it’s now up to supporters to make it work. Hopefully you can grasp this opportunity because it has the potential to make a real difference at Rodney Parade.

South Wales Argus:

THERE’S a Twitter account called OCD Nightmares featuring pictures of paving patterns that are out of sync, wonky tiling, annoyingly stacked supermarket shelves. Perhaps they can feature the Principality Premiership fixture list.

We sometimes have an obsession with the symmetrical when it’s a fact of life that occasionally left is bigger than right, bits and bobs hang lower on one side.

In sport some embrace things not being equal and make it work. In the NFL, conference rivals play each other home and away then play fixtures with other franchises, ensuring that every team plays an even 8-8 split. Crucially everybody knows where they stand before the start of the season.

That won’t be the case in the Premiership this season and frankly confusion reigns about the introduction of a split in the table 15 fixtures into 22-game campaign.

The previous regime at the Welsh Rugby Union enjoyed calling the Premiership the “jewel in the crown” but the sad fact is that it has been the victim of constant experimentation over the years.

There have been 16 teams, then 17 teams in 2004/5, back to 16, down to 14, culled to 12, now back to 16. There has been straight relegation, play-offs for promotion and relegation, demotion and now ring-fencing.

Last season the Premiership clubs were guinea pigs for World Rugby’s law variations with the scoring system of six points for a try and two for penalties and drop goals being thrust upon squads just weeks before the start of a campaign that would be dominated by driving lineouts.

Now the Premiership clubs have agreed to the introduction of a split in the table, a split that I am yet to hear a good justification for.

As things stand, half of the teams will have the advantage of eight home fixtures and seven away games in which to secure a place in the top eight. Already it’s skewed.

The WRU will then try to ensure as many teams have an even split of home/away but it’s inevitable that it won’t be possible for all 16, while some clubs could well face each other twice at the same venue.

Season tickets and sponsorship must be sold amid this uncertainty while there will be some nervous folk at Cross Keys, Bargoed and Newport, who are sweating on enjoying the financial boost provided by the visits of the large travelling contingents from both Ebbw Vale and Pontypridd.

And what happens if we endure yet another nightmare winter that causes postponements galore? At the start of 2016 Cross Keys and Newport were stuck on 12 games, Bedwas and Ponty had played 13 while everyone else was on 14.

The thinking is presumably that the split will add to the competitive nature of the Premiership at the top end in the run-in and there has been the rather bizarre suggestion from some quarters that the team that wins the bottom tier could go into the mix for the play-offs, something that would mean you could be better off finishing ninth than eighth. The governing body says that particular thought from clubs, who don't want dead rubbers in the bottom half, will not happen.

It’s all a bit of a mess and maybe it’s me being simple – very possible, granted – but could we just not get rid of the Foster’s Challenge Cup and play a nice symmetrical 30 fixtures?