George Street-Bridge wrote:We'd have to know more about Swansea's pitch to be able to make a valid comparison. Is it the same sort of hybrid pitch? Have they played on it this season when it was raining heavily? How near the end of its shelf life is it?

I interpret pressure on NRFC as a realisation that three teams on the pitch are too many and that the one that can't pay its way is the one to be thrown overboard. Also that while football is very unlikely to harm it as far as rugby is concerned, one rugby team's usage can damage the interests of the other.

George Street-Bridge wrote:We'd have to know more about Swansea's pitch to be able to make a valid comparison. Is it the same sort of hybrid pitch? Have they played on it this season when it was raining heavily? How near the end of its shelf life is it?

I interpret pressure on NRFC as a realisation that three teams on the pitch are too many and that the one that can't pay its way is the one to be thrown overboard. Also that while football is very unlikely to harm it as far as rugby is concerned, one rugby team's usage can damage the interests of the other.

UPTHEPORT wrote:Stan the rugby at Swansea ground only play about 10-12 games a season Swansea RFC play at the cricket ground St Helens

Q: What is the plan for Rodney Parade, both the ground itself and the area known as the cabbage patch at the old clubhouse end? Will you be looking to buy back any part of the land from the WRU?

A: Our initial hypothesis when we embarked on this six months ago was we wanted to own the whole site because we could build things on it and get revenue streams off it.

When I looked at that, if you look at what the WRU are doing on Westgate Street, they are building a hotel, which is probably what will happen at Rodney Parade.

I have put an extension on my house, but I have never built a hotel, I haven’t developed land. It’s not my background. The more I looked into the idea of redeveloping that area and the financial investment required, the risk sits far better with the WRU in terms of developing that asset than it would be all on me as an individual. It started to feel uncomfortable.

So the model we are leaning towards is where we have a long-term lease on the ground where we pay rent to the owner, the WRU. The lease we are negotiating is well over 100 years. We will control that area.

The WRU will retain the cabbage patch and develop that, something similar to what they have done on Westgate Street. That feels to me like the right way to go.



Q: What would you say to those people who accuse the Dragons of showing a lack of respect to Newport by increasing the charge to them for using Rodney Parade, given they sold the ground to bail out the region?

A: I sometimes feel like a step-dad that’s come into a family with a load of complexity and a history that I didn’t fully understand. I now understand exactly where this is coming from.

Let’s be frank, the board of Newport RFC sold Rodney Parade because they didn’t want to own it anymore and because it was insolvent. It wasn’t to rescue the Dragons.

None of it would have existed and God knows what Rodney Parade would have been if it wasn’t for the WRU. It would have probably been, I don’t know, a Tesco. Thankfully that didn’t happen.

I am trying to make one sports ground work for three clubs, which is challenging.

In terms of Newport RFC, I want them to stay at Rodney Parade. I want them to be there in 50 years' time. I don’t want them to be anywhere else and I will do me level best to make it work.

But I am quite straightforward. As a businessman, I simply went ‘what does it cost us to host them, that’s what they should pay’. I have shared details of those costs with Newport RFC.

It’s a few hundred pounds less than £2,500 to host a game. That’s the real cost.

We are not making profit off Newport RFC being at Rodney Parade. Far from it. At the moment, we are subsidising.

I will do my level best to make it work for them. My hope and expectation is we will figure it out.

I want Newport RFC to be successful and sustainable and I want them to be at Rodney Parade. Equally I don’t want to spend tens of thousands of pounds of my own money to make that happen. What I will try to do is find a compromise that works for everybody.

George Street-Bridge wrote:I'm absolutely certain that once the pitch has had some wear, scrummaging on a wet day can wreck it.

Stan A. Einstein wrote:There are two discrete problems with the pitch.

One is wear an d tear.One is drainage. If a scrum in wet weather destroys the pitch, the problem is drainage not wear and tear. And judging from the two posts above that would seem to be the case.

Second point. I'm still unclear why GSB believes that pressure on Newport RFC bodes well for County. At best it seems to be a neutral point but my fear is that if the WRU will treat one of their own like that, what would they be willing to do to us?

Stan A. Einstein wrote:

OLDCROMWELLIAN wrote:
Presumably GSB believes one less team playing at RP will improve the pitch the County play on. A belief I have heard expressed by many.

And two less teams playing on it would improve the pitch Dragons play on no end.

OLDCROMWELLIAN wrote: Presumably GSB believes one less team playing at RP will improve the pitch the County play on. A belief I have heard expressed by many.

George Street-Bridge wrote:

OLDCROMWELLIAN wrote: Presumably GSB believes one less team playing at RP will improve the pitch the County play on. A belief I have heard expressed by many.

Indeed, plus it's a recognition that we are the more valuable of the two other sharers. I would argue that's by a huge margin. And of course, if for some reason there was a sudden surge in interest in second-tier rugby which made NRFC more able to pay their way, their revenue would likely come at the Dragons' expense.

David Buttress sounds more upbeat on NRFC staying than I would have thought - BUT there's an elephant in the room. What if levels of interest in NRFC simply won't sustain its matchday costs? You could equally spin it as an ultimatum.