I'd give CCS a go if spectators were allowed. It's only 12 miles drive with good parking . I would rather that than carry on at RP under current circumstances.

I see that Coventry are now playing at St Andrews.

If I went I'd have to wear garlic and burn my clothes when I got home and bath in bleach

Jonesy3 wrote:

wattsville_boy wrote:

George Street-Bridge wrote:I see the Ospreys hosted the Dragons at Bridgend last night with the Swans home to Middlesbrough in the afternoon. Good surface with the Welsh Premier suspended. Obviously the Ospreys embrace the regional concept more than the Dragons do.

Don't the Ospreys play one match at Bridgend a season? It might not necessarily be a full-blown Pro14 match, it might be a pre-season friendly.

The Dragons could easily switch their three remaining matches in March to Ystrad Mynach (their training base) or any of the clubs in the region as any of them would be Covid-secure environments.

Ospreys have played 3 or 4 Pro14 matches at different grounds around their region this season. They make a bit of a fuss about being committed to taking matches around the region.

I don't think moving matches can be done that easily. Pretty sure the next couple of Dragons home matches are TV games & Ystrad Mynach certainly doesn't have facilities for that. Plus you need all the equipment, ISDN lines etc, for the media that Glyn mentioned in a previous post.

None of the next 3 Dragons home fixtures clash with home matches for Cardiff Blues.

Amberexile wrote:

Jonesy3 wrote:

wattsville_boy wrote:

George Street-Bridge wrote:I see the Ospreys hosted the Dragons at Bridgend last night with the Swans home to Middlesbrough in the afternoon. Good surface with the Welsh Premier suspended. Obviously the Ospreys embrace the regional concept more than the Dragons do.

Don't the Ospreys play one match at Bridgend a season? It might not necessarily be a full-blown Pro14 match, it might be a pre-season friendly.

The Dragons could easily switch their three remaining matches in March to Ystrad Mynach (their training base) or any of the clubs in the region as any of them would be Covid-secure environments.

Ospreys have played 3 or 4 Pro14 matches at different grounds around their region this season. They make a bit of a fuss about being committed to taking matches around the region.

I don't think moving matches can be done that easily. Pretty sure the next couple of Dragons home matches are TV games & Ystrad Mynach certainly doesn't have facilities for that. Plus you need all the equipment, ISDN lines etc, for the media that Glyn mentioned in a previous post.

None of the next 3 Dragons home fixtures clash with home matches for Cardiff Blues.

I doubt the Dragons could afford to pay for the use of the plastic pitch at Cardiff Arms Park.

Amberexile wrote:

Jonesy3 wrote:

wattsville_boy wrote:

George Street-Bridge wrote:I see the Ospreys hosted the Dragons at Bridgend last night with the Swans home to Middlesbrough in the afternoon. Good surface with the Welsh Premier suspended. Obviously the Ospreys embrace the regional concept more than the Dragons do.

Don't the Ospreys play one match at Bridgend a season? It might not necessarily be a full-blown Pro14 match, it might be a pre-season friendly.

The Dragons could easily switch their three remaining matches in March to Ystrad Mynach (their training base) or any of the clubs in the region as any of them would be Covid-secure environments.

Ospreys have played 3 or 4 Pro14 matches at different grounds around their region this season. They make a bit of a fuss about being committed to taking matches around the region.

I don't think moving matches can be done that easily. Pretty sure the next couple of Dragons home matches are TV games & Ystrad Mynach certainly doesn't have facilities for that. Plus you need all the equipment, ISDN lines etc, for the media that Glyn mentioned in a previous post.

None of the next 3 Dragons home fixtures clash with home matches for Cardiff Blues.

Good point. If the Dragons could help out the Blues earlier in the season, then why not repay the favour?

UPTHEPORT wrote:If I went I'd have to wear garlic and burn my clothes when I got home and bath in bleach

Jim,

We all know you have to do that anyway.

Will be great to play on a slick surface but as it's only 2 matches in Cardiff i fear it could be demoralising for the players when they have to play back at Rodders.

Jonesy3 wrote:

PortandSud wrote:If the restrictions were lifted, how many would boycott the Cardiff trips ?

If restrictions were lifted, we wouldn't be playing there.

where would we be playing ?

Coventry are reportedly going back to the Ricoh next season after two years in Birmingham. If NRFC were to leave Rodney Parade we'd be in good company sharing with one rugby team - also Bristol City, Brentford, Swansea, plus RL at Wigan, Hull, Doncaster, Rochdale.

George Street-Bridge wrote:Coventry are reportedly going back to the Ricoh next season after two years in Birmingham. If NRFC were to leave Rodney Parade we'd be in good company sharing with one rugby team - also Bristol City, Brentford, Swansea, plus RL at Wigan, Hull, Doncaster, Rochdale.

Wasps play at the Ricoh don't they? Also plenty of other football league grounds currently being shared with other clubs - Walsall, Crawley, Reading ... all with WSL teams.

I'm drawing a distinction between the demands rugby and football make on a pitch. OK union is much worse, but RL's summer season must mean pitches don't get a breather.

PortandSud wrote:

Jonesy3 wrote:

PortandSud wrote:If the restrictions were lifted, how many would boycott the Cardiff trips ?

If restrictions were lifted, we wouldn't be playing there.

where would we be playing ?

Rodney Parade. There's no way the EFL would have agreed to the switch in a normal season.

Leaving aside the temporary fix, this move emphasises firstly that we have a problem and secondly successive boards of directors have failed to address it.

I'm sure some will argue that the WRU intend to lay a new playing surface in the summer. But that doesn't eradicate the two pay issues.

The first being that our playing conditions are outside of our control.

And secondly that we will continue to pay for something that we will never own.

After 33 years of boards of directors at Newport County have failed to address this problem, we can all clearly see that the problem is not going to go away. It will continue to hurt us and one day it will kill us.

I agree it is a difficult problem to solve. I agree it can't be solved overnight. But solve it we must. Every other town the size of Newport managed it.

Bit surprised by this news. The Dragons reportedly looking to move up to 3 games to the Millennium, returning to RP by Apr 7. As per SWA

https://www.southwalesargus.co.uk/sport ... y-stadium/

Confirmed this morning that Dragons will play next 3 home games in Cardiff.
Really good news.
Means no matches throughout March at RP (assuming our Scunthorpe game is off due to international call-ups).