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Page 1 of 2 There is still an inbuilt fracture in the region, where no unifying point has yet been found between the valleys rugby community which still feels disenfranchised and the Cardiff RFC followers who fear the dilution of their historically strong capital club identity.
From match day programme Pontypridd v Cardiff 31 December 2005 Sections of supporters, as well as some media outlets suggest that this dysfunctional regional constituency might somehow be repaired and unified by simple broad-sweep decisions like dropping "Cardiff" from its title or playing some meaningful fixtures away from Cardiff Arms Park. This seems unlikely as things stand. So too is the hope of valleys supporters for a regaining of separate regional status (unless some other wider rethink occurs, but that is currently extremely wishful thinking). The reality at the moment is that the losing of the title "Cardiff" would outrage many capital diehards and would risk, they claim, dissolving a strong commercial brand. A few token games at Sardis Road, if not done under meaningful regional branding, could be met with indifference. Pontypridd supporters hanker for a region with which to identify - to represent them in terms of immediate geography as well as parading the young talent graduating up from Ponty's premiership ranks. Cardiff Blues has been tasked with doing this. But despite some lessening of initial hostility there is no sign of a positive attitude by valleys punters towards actively embracing the Blues and attending their games. And with a raft of young talent from the fertile hinterland north of the M4 now feeding through to the Blues Academy teams, the Valleys rugby community sees that its contribution as a feeder of talent is being welcomed, but not its claim to representation in the branding of the region. This makes the feeling of disquiet unsettling and pressing. Something needs to shift, but without alienating the two core sets of supporters. Otherwise the capital team will fail to maximise a large potential support while the Mid Glamorgan valleys will become even more entrenched in their recent bitterness. The triumphing of one tribal agenda over the other will not be any kind of first step towards a new constituency of support. If the dropping of the name Cardiff is not commercially a prudent move, but if the Valleys need to be encompassed by a new branding, then why not use a regional title to expand out from Cardiff's identity, and rather than exclude Cardiff, make it meaningfully inclusive of Valleys rugby culture? We accept that the new Blues region is not a merger of equal partners - Cardiff agreed to shepherd the wider regional rump which became available after the demise of the Celtic Warriors. But of course Cardiff still volunteered to accept the new responsibility, and are therefore answerable to a less insular brief, which should entail a clearer de-coupling from a single club identity. So, what if the regional team kept its prefix of Cardiff as its identity linchpin, but spun outwards to embrace the newly lost constituency of Valleys support by taking on the additional suffix of "Valleys" alongside "Blues". This would be a bold recognition of the fact that two separate strong identities exist within the one region, whilst allowing the Cardiff club name to be the main identifiable component. A full common use title such as "Cardiff Valleys Blues" would be a twinning of tribes rather than a forced compromise which tries to break identities on the anvil of neutral branding. For the Blues to gain full value for the sense of trust and inclusion they're seeking to build, they need to get supporters from the valleys to attend games at the Arms Park and to start energetically following the regional team, buying merchandise and season tickets. By-passing the current generation of Pontypridd supporters is not a logical option since these are the people who bring their kids to matches. And while old club rivalries are entrenched a majority of these supporters are yearning for a professional team to follow and are there to be won over with a decisive gesture of inclusion. We are undoubtedly talking about a sizeable number who feel starved of regional professional rugby and who could well turn to the capital for this provision if there were an argument-breaking token change by creating an improved area title such as "Cardiff Valleys Blues". It's one option. Or is the debate closed, and the current (and last?) generation of die-hard Valleys supporters already written out of the equation? Sion Eirian
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