Ealing Ospreys

[teds]

It is my belief that for a team to compete in European knockout stages they need a ground of a certain minimum size with a percentage of tickets available to the opposition. How would Ealing provide that and if it presents no problem why were they unable to do it to enable promotion from the Championship?

I think you are right, there are ground stipulations, however in the extremely unlikely event of Ealing getting a home quarter/semi-final I believe they would be permitted to host that fixture at a bigger ground as other teams have done in the past.

[Hot_Charlie]

Would fans in England buy into regional rugby?

No. The relatively few fans there are either are interested in England or existing clubs!

[jgriffin]

Back in 1995 (?) when the AngloWelsh 2 tier league was on the table, the WRU put the mokkas on it because they wanted the Welsh sides all in the top tier. With hindsight, this was another example of WRU hubris, to go with the neglect of the lower tiers following the formation of the regions. Aping the Irish regions without the underlying feeds was a slow train wreck. So sad to see the decline of once great sides like Neath and Swansea.
It would make a lot of sense to bring Cardiff - if it survives, or indeed become Cardiff Wasps - into the fold. I did wonder if the Ealing merger was betting on Ealing Ospreys being an attractive draw - but they'd have to play at Liberty (the Morfa to us oldies) to make sense in Wales.

[Hot_Charlie]

Back in 1995 (?) when the AngloWelsh 2 tier league was on the table, the WRU put the mokkas on it because they wanted the Welsh sides all in the top tier. With hindsight, this was another example of WRU hubris, to go with the neglect of the lower tiers following the formation of the regions. Aping the Irish regions without the underlying feeds was a slow train wreck. So sad to see the decline of once great sides like Neath and Swansea.
It would make a lot of sense to bring Cardiff - if it survives, or indeed become Cardiff Wasps - into the fold. I did wonder if the Ealing merger was betting on Ealing Ospreys being an attractive draw - but they'd have to play at Liberty (the Morfa to us oldies) to make sense in Wales.

Which given the money Gooley has spent on the Ealing Trailfinders brand would be "interesting" commercially. Unless he just wants a source of TV revenue (obviously they don't care about stadium revenue at all in their current guise and location); does he see the next URC TV deal(s) being big ones?