Get the latest Welsh rugby news sent straight to your inbox Sign up Thank you for subscribing We have more newsletters Show me See our privacy notice Invalid Email

Professional rugby in Wales has been the subject of a seemingly never-ending debate since the regions were first formed in 2003.

Talks have taken place in recent years about the possibility of creating two super-regions in an effort to improve prospects of a Welsh team lifting Europe's Heineken Champions Cup.

The contentious plan was shot down by power-brokers, but it reopened old wounds about the brutal demise of Celtic Warriors after just a season in existence.

Rival regions Cardiff Blues, Dragons, Ospreys and Scarlets each stumped up £312,500 towards a pot of £1.25m assembled by the Welsh Rugby Union to buy controversial Warriors kingpin Leighton Samuel's share in the Bridgend and Glamorgan valleys outfit.

The WRU promptly wound up the Warriors with the surviving regions picking off the players they wanted in a hugely controversial and messy fire sale.

Celtic Warriors had a star-studded squad, including Gareth Thomas, Gethin Jenkins, Dafydd James, Neil Jenkins and Ryan Jones - one which some reckon could have been good enough to conquer Europe. There was no shortage of takers for players of that kind of talent.

The WRU decision created bitterness towards the regional game among many rugby followers in the valleys, an anger which remains to this day and continues to be the subject of heated debate.

What really happened during that 2003-04 campaign? Andy Howell tracked down Samuel to his new home in France to speak about the demise of the Warriors and also canvassed the views of their coach Lynn Howells and fly-half Ceri Sweeney.

HOW CELTIC WARRIORS WERE FORMED

Like it is today, Welsh rugby was struggling to generate money to compete with Europe's top teams, with the WRU struggling to cope with a £70m debt back in 2003.

There wasn't enough cash to have nine professional sides and eventually it was agreed to replace them with five regions, with then WRU chief executive David Moffett overseeing the controversial process.

Businessman Samuel had bankrolled Bridgend as they became the last club to lift the Welsh title before the professional end of the game went regional.

Originally there had been a plan for Bridgend to amalgamate with Neath, who were beaten 37-17 by Munster in the final of the Celtic League that season.

But Neath went in with Swansea RFC to form the Ospreys, Bridgend linking up instead with valleys rugby kingpins Pontypridd to form the Warriors.

The Celtic Warriors squad Full-backs: Gareth Wyatt, Kevin Morgan Three-quarters: Aisea Havili, Gareth Thomas, Dafydd James, Sonny Parker, Jon Bryant, David Bishop (development contract), Matthew Nutthall (development contract) Fly-halves: Ceri Sweeney, Neil Jenkins Scrum-halves: Paul John, Sililo Martens, Gareth Cooper (from Bath) Props: Gethin Jenkins, Phil Booth, Martin Jones, Chris Horsman, Geraint Morris (development contract) Hookers: Mefin Davies, Andrew Joy, Matthew Rees Locks: Robert Sidoli, Brent Cockbain, Deiniol Jones, Ryan Jones Back rows: Nick Kelly, Richard Parks, Maama Molitika, Nathan Budgett, Richard Bryan, Cory Harris, Mark Lewis (development contract) Supplementary players: Richard Fussell, Emyr Lewis, Lee Thomas, Shaun James, Tommy Walsh, Gerald Cox, Duane Goodfield, Ian Evans, Jonathan Edwards

HOW THEY FARED ON THE FIELD

Celtic Warriors won 17 of their 28 fixtures in tournaments to finish fourth in the Celtic League and came close to qualifying from their group in the Heineken Cup.

The Warriors were the only team to beat eventual champions Wasps in Europe, with a memorable 14-9 victory over Warren Gatland's then team at Adams Park in High Wycombe.

But they were ravaged by injuries to key forwards for the return and went down 17-12 at a packed out Brewery Field in Bridgend.

The Warriors also had a bumper audience for the 16-15 success over Perpignan, but their runners-up finish behind a crack Wasps side in Pool Six wasn't enough to put them through to the quarter-finals.

"We'd had a really good win at Wasps in a heck of a game but kind of let ourselves down in the return," recalls former Wales outside-half Sweeney.

"We had lost narrowly in Perpignan and, looking back on it, were a bit unlucky.

"We had a strong squad with two good players in each position and became close to each other and improved as the season progressed.

"We also had players like Ryan Jones, Ian Evans and Andrew Bishop coming through.

"Those went on to become crucial to the success of the Ospreys and I do wonder what we would have achieved with the Warriors had we continued and retained our best players."

THE DISAPPOINTING ATTENDANCE FIGURES

The Warriors averaged just 3,327 in competitions, broken down as 2,425 for the Celtic League and 6,534 in Europe.

Their combined figure was the worst of the regions, with the Ospreys averaging 3,553, Cardiff Blues 4,856, the Dragons 5,288 and the Scarlets, who were crowned league champions, 9,098.

The Warriors initially split home matches between the Brewery Field and Sardis Road, but Samuel pulled the pin on Pontypridd after only 1,477 people turned up for a clash with the Dragons.

He went back later in the season and there was an electric atmosphere against heavyweights Munster, but the damage had been done with the valleys arm of the entity having lost belief in him.

"Gethin Jenkins and I had given interviews saying it was great to be going home to Pontypridd, but I don't think Leighton liked that," said Sweeney.

THE BITTER COLLAPSE

Former coach Lynn Howells turns his ire on Moffett and Samuel as he reflected upon the team being disbanded.

"In my view the man had no concept of Welsh rugby," he said of the former WRU boss, who certainly divided opinion during his time here.

Samuel also drew flak, with Howells rapping: "I have always been a person who makes up his own mind about people rather than relying on others' opinions, but I got it wrong about Samuel in a big way.

"Things had been building up for months. There was a feeling with Samuel running the show we could either fold or win the Heineken Cup."

They folded.

The WRU became 50% stake-holders in the Warriors after Pontypridd went bust and were later approached by Samuel to buy out his shareholding.

The WRU didn't have the money to pay the £1.25m to Samuel so benefactors at the Blues, Dragons, Ospreys and Scarlets came up with it.

Howells says: "They persuaded them to put up a quarter each so they would get the pick of the players they wanted and the annual multi-million share-out from the union would be divided four rather than five ways.

"From an outlay of just over £300,000 the surviving regions would get back £1.75m the following years. No contest."

Sweeney said: "It was hard. Leighton called us to his office in Bridgend and told us the Warriors would continue the following season but I don't think any of the players believed him."

Their belief was proved right and, as Sweeney explains, a "fire sale" of the Warriors squad took place.

"The players who went to other regions or clubs were okay, but we felt for those who didn't get professional contracts elsewhere," he says.

Thomas headed to Toulouse and Jenkins to Cardiff Blues, where he spent 14 years aside from one season with Toulon.

James joined Harlequins, then went to the Scarlets. Jones moved to the Ospreys; Sweeney himself switched the Dragons, before later moving to the Blues.

LEIGHTON SAMUEL'S VERDICT

"Looking back, I think I made the wrong decision in getting involved in regional rugby because it wasn't sustainable," Samuel told WalesOnline in an interview last year.

"It never was and, as a business model it still doesn't stack up in my opinion because the income streams aren't there in Wales to pay for it.

"I would have loved it to stay as Bridgend and may have remained in rugby if the professional game stayed as it was, but from the outset I wasn't comfortable with what transpired with the advent of the regions and Celtic Warriors.

"My accountant said the figures didn't add up and he has been proved correct. It's no different now when you look at the finances of the regions and how much debt they are incurring and carrying forward.

"The way I look at it then and now was, if it was going to work, it would have in the first year.

"From a financial point of view, it hasn't worked and attendances appear to be dwindling again, although the lack of success on the pitch has something to do with that."

THE STING IN THE TALE

Lynn Howells, in his book 'Despite the Knock-backs', claimed the WRU "exploited" Samuel because "they could see he was weak".

And he went on: "To this day some of the players blame Samuel. Others, and I am with them, still blame Moffett and the WRU."

Moffett has a different view, insisting: "Celtic Warriors wound themselves up. We had no money, so we couldn’t help anybody.

“Pontypridd were broke and went into administration, at the Brewery Field they were getting crowds of around 1,500 and Leighton Samuel, the owner, said he wasn’t going to continue.

“So it was market forces. It was a sad day, but five teams was most likely too many."

Samuel claimed the WRU had reneged on a pledge to keep the Warriors going after he sold them his 50 per cent stake, with the dispute due to go before a judge in October 2006.

But an out-of-court settlement, believed to be of around £500,000, was agreed, with the WRU paying compensation to Samuel for the non-use of his Brewery Field ground.

HOW A YOUNG RYAN JONES SILENCED MOFFETT

Ryan Jones was a youngster who broke through with the Warriors during the second half of the campaign.

And he showed his mettle and leadership capabilities at a creditors' meeting in June 2004 which had been called by the liquidators Begbies Traynor.

Moffett was present with Howells recalling: "It was the first time he had lifted his head above the parapet.

(Image: James Davies/©Huw Evans Picture Agency Ltd)

"Moffett had been really aggressive at the meeting and it had just about gone as far as it could when Ryan walked in.

"Ryan proceeded to lay into Moffett, telling him what he thought about what he had done and the way he had gone about it.

"Moffett sat there with his jaw almost on the floor, and he wasn't the only one.

"Here was a young lad who had the balls to stand up to the WRU chief executive. I think Moffett and a lot of the rest of us thought here is a young guy with character and some bottle.

"Little did we realise that here was a future captain of Wales."

THE AFTERMATH FOR RUGBY IN THE VALLEYS

"In my view Moffett had no consideration what happened to rugby in the valleys or Bridgend, which were among the traditional hotbeds of Welsh rugby," claims Howells.

"He gave no thought to communities. You only have to look at Pontypridd. Since it has not been part of the hotbed of rugby, people from the Glamorgan valleys have nothing to support."

(Image: PA)

The Pontytown blog remains blunt, reading: "Moffett forced many rugby fans to desert the game and in effect forced the Warriors players to take up contracts with the other inferior teams left in Wales.

"Like a bunch of piranhas the other clubs quickly butchered the fine crop of Welsh internationals and British Lions that were part of the great Ponty set-up.

"To say this was a crazy decision by the WRU was the understatement of the century.

"Imagine the English Premier Football League getting rid of Man Utd (the Warriors) whilst keeping hold of Hull (the Blues) and Blackburn (Dragons) – utterly beyond comprehension! Welsh club rugby has been paying the price since."

That, of course, isn't exactly an accurate representation of events. But it does demonstrate the depth of feeling in the Valleys that surrounded the demise of Celtic Warriors.

A feeling that appears to be as strong today, 16 years on, as it was back then.

Welsh rugby.... never short of a controversy, or six, is it?