Notes of the meeting of the regional Joint Supporters Group and Welsh Rugby Union
Tuesday 26th July 2016, 5pm
Principality Stadium

Attendees
Martyn Phillips, Chief Executive, Welsh Rugby Union
Gareth Davies, Chairman, Welsh Rugby Union
Cardiff Blues Supporters’ Club , Sarah Hopkins and David Elsmere
Crys 16 Trust, Barrie Jones and Ian Lewis
Dragons Supporters’ Club, Brad Hayward and Ryan Price
Ospreys Supporters’ Club, Grant Berni and Melanie Maggs

Notes of the discussion topics
JSG thanked MP for the opportunity for this latest meeting and confirmed that an agenda had been sent in advance with a note of the discussion topics, but that it was also an opportunity for a general discussion to raise issues and feedback on behalf of regional supporters.

JSG asked for an update on the WRU plans for the forthcoming season:

• Club and Regional engagement will be an ongoing focus, with the WRU seeking a more collaborative approach encompassing things such as coaching, skills, digital presence and sponsorship
• Judgment Day 5 was scheduled for Easter Sunday and the WRU had taken on board supporter feedback from past JD’s and general fixture timings. JSG thanked MP for the work that the WRU had done alongside PRW to get a more sensible fixture list for season 2016/17. Consideration had been given to changing the JD fixtures with different teams facing each other but the regions had been keen to retain the local derbies over the Christmas period.
• MP confirmed that seating allocations for ST holders were within the control of the regions and feedback/requests regarding this would be better made to them directly. A discussion had also taken place about the possibility of a second JD event at Christmas but again the regions had decided that this would affect traditional derbies.
• JSG asked MP about the timing during the season and collectively they felt that moving it to start of the season would encourage new supporters to come to regional games – however the Principality Stadium doesn’t have grass until October due to other events.
• The WRU digital strategy was progressing well with the WRU working with the regions to help them target new audiences. They are keen to develop and launch more of their own content rather than relying on local media, and consider content such as coaching videos.

JSH asked for an update in the strategy and engagement with the Board. GD confirmed that this was complication with lots of stakeholders involved but that progress was being made.

JSG enquired as to WRU actions to bridge the income gap from TV between Pro12 & English/French leagues. MP confirmed that all options were being explored by all parties – WRU, Pro 12 and PRW. He said that he felt that a full B&I league was not an option at this stage due to the desire of other parties who are happy with their financial and commercial deals.

JSG asked about future plans for National Dual Contracts as some felt that they had not been equally distributed among the regions. MP said that during his tenure they had focused purely on retaining and repatriating the ‘first 15’. He expressed his disappointment that Toby Faletau had not been successfully retained.

JSG asked what the WRU view on the current season structure was with regards to the balance of player welfare versus the requirement to generate income and honour commercial agreements.

MP said that the recent visit to NZ was very informative in this respect and that there is a real desire in Wales to improve the season structure. However, there are a number of key players and not all are in the same place. To move to a global season would be ideal – but it’s just not that simple as it would require radical change.

JSG said that the recent use of Welsh Language by the FAW had been such a success which had been impressive and asked what the WRU was doing to improve its use of Welsh. GD said that the WRU Senior Team was full of Welsh speakers who were passionate about use of the language and that lessons could be learned from the FAW. MP said that this was under review, that WRU had probably produced more content than FAW but had not been as consistent and creative. He stated that a sustainable Welsh Language policy and action plan would be implemented as part of the wider digital strategy, and part of this would be resource and embed the policy consistently.

A question was asked about the on-going structure of the 4 professional teams and MP confirmed that there were no plans to suggest or move towards a merger or relocation of any of the existing teams.

MP thanked JSG members for their professionalism and ongoing support, and JSG thanks MP and GD for their engagement and time. A further meeting would be planned in approximately six months time.

Meeting ended at 6.40pm

Follow

Congratulations Josh in winning the March try of the month award with a staggering 87% of the vote for his try against the Scarlets!  The Flying Fijian took the try scoring pass from Dan Evans after a typical Sam Davies break.

Click here to see video footage of the tries scored in March.

Follow

By creating an account and logging in, you will get access to additional features such as being able to vote in polls as well as some other features in development.

Here’s a handy step-by-step guide.

1. To register or log in, click on the LOG IN option on the MAIN MENU
2. If you havent’ already created an account, click on Register and create a unique username for this website (this is entirely independent of facebook, twitter or ospreysrugby forums) and provide your email address and click on Register.  You will receive an email that will provide you with a password – if you want to change your password, you can do this once you’re logged in.
3. To log in, just enter the Username you created when you registered and your password and click on Log in.

4. This website is relying on cookies stored on your computer to remember who is logged in.

   Unfortunately there might be occasions, when this memory can get confused, e.g. upon logins from different computers under certain circumstances. This might result in trouble logging in or the submission of information being denied with an “invalid request” error.

   To fix this, simply clear all cookies from this site out of your browser by using the clicking on the Delete Cookies button and then logging in again.

Follow

What’s that ?

It’s a multi day self sufficiency ultra marathon, glad that’s cleared that up !

So lets break it down, ultra marathon, is a name given to any run over 33 miles, this one is around 155 miles in total!

Multi day, it’s run over a total of 6 days, with a break on the 5th day making 7 in total. The first 3 days are between 20 – 22 miles long, The fourth day is about 55 miles long, while day 5, is either a rest day or you’re still finishing day 4 ! Day six is a marathon and day 7 is a 10k ‘fun run’.

Doesn’t sound so hard does it, apart from the fact that its being run in the Sahara Desert, where daytime temperatures can top 50°C while at night they plummet to just 5°C !

If covering that distance, in that heat isn’t enough, lets explain the self sufficiency bit ! Everything that is needed for the 7 days must be carried in the competitors rucksack (with the exception of the tent & water .. 7 days worth of water much too heavy). So, sleeping bag, spare running kit, food for 7 days, cooker, fuel for the cooker must be carried on your back. Along with a long list of mandatory items, including a venom pump … yep, that’s not a typo, it does indeed say venom pump ! It’s expected that the rucksack will weigh around 10kg!

Paul is running it to raise money for the NSPCC. Even today, after all the success of childline, its still a sad fact that 25% of all calls to childline go unanswered due to an insufficient number of trained counsellors.

Paul is looking for sponsorship and if you wish to help, he’d be delighted if you could email him on tircoeds@googlemail.com.  In particular, business sponsorship is of great interest, where company names / logos’ can be placed on his running kit / ruck sack / even the venom pump.

He says fundraising is going well, with a planned fundraising night on the 14th November in the Old Inn, Penllergaer, where there will be a raffle, music and a charity auction. Again, if anyone can supply some rugby memorabilia for auction Paul would be truly grateful.

Hopefully, we’ll report back in the new year with a story of him successfully completing the run!

Paul interviewing Ryan Jones – the “dogging” innuendo moment (you had to be there)

Follow

A group of supporters who won the signed Ospreys Shirt in yesterday’s raffle has kindly donated this back to us so we can auction it off and all funds to be donated to The Jerry Collins Memorial fund.

Unfortunately we did not get the group’s name but we want to thank the 3 gentlemen for this generous offer. If you know who they are please let us know.

The shirt is last season’s shirt (unframed) and we ask anyone interested in bidding please send an email to secretary@ospreyssupportersclub.com with the amount you would like to bid.

Each day we will post and tweet the amount of highest bid for that day so you are all aware what needs to be beaten.

The bidding opens Tuesday 15th September at 9am and closes 8pm Sunday 20th September.

Follow

The Ospreys Supporters Club together with the rest of the Joint Supporters Group are extremely pleased to announce that representatives from the four regional supporters groups will be attending a meeting with the soon to-be WRU Chief Executive, Martyn Phillips on Monday 7th September.

The JSG group kindly received a very positive letter from Mr Phillips in recent weeks which outlined his vision for the future of Welsh rugby, and resulted in an invite to meet with the man himself.

After our very successful meeting with Gareth Davies and Mark Davies on Judgement Day, together with the invite from Mr Phillips, we are pleased to say that communications between the JSG and the WRU are much improved and stronger, and we hope that our relationship can continue to build in a positive manner.

We would like to thank Mr Phillips for his invite and we look forward to meeting him.

We will report back to all members after the meeting

Follow

We received this earlier from Terry Williams from Camborne RFC – it looks like the day was a major success!

“I am writing on behalf of Camborne RFC to thank the Ospreys supporters for the gift of £400 towards a charity held at our club on June 13, organised by Josh Matavesi and his brothers. The object was to raise money for a rehabilitation hospital in Hayle, Cornwall, where Josh’s father is a long term patient.

The total raised for the charity was £17,000, and our bar take was £20,000 and the club made a further £5000 profit on the day. I thought I would pass this on as you were kind enough to support us on the day. There was a crowd of 3000.

Many thanks and good luck for the coming season.

Terry Williams

Secretary

Camborne RFC”

Follow

With the Rugby World Cup approaching and ITV having exclusive broadcast rights, you’ve got to be curious of the quality of coverage that will grace our television screens.

However, ITV have named a really strong lineup:

Laawrence Dallaglio, Jonny Wilkinson, Sir Clive Woodward, Jason Robinson, Gareth Thomas, George Gregan, BOD, Sir Ian McGeechan, Fancois Piennar, Sean Fitzpatrick, Michael Lynagh, David Flatman & Maggie Alphonsi

Nobody will ever compare the late, great Bill McLaren who’s prose lit up the rugby world, but this is a chance for you to vote for your favourite TV pundit currently gracing our screens.

If you’re torn and can’t pick just one, you can vote for up to 5 pundits.

Voting closes at the end of the June and the winner will receive a Liberty Stadium Pie from the OSC committee on their next visit to the Riverside Bar.  The lowest polling pundit will receive TWO Liberty Stadium Pies if they ever dare to come and see us.

 Loading ...

Follow

Jerry Collins 1980-2015

We were all shocked and deeply saddened to hear the passing of ex-Osprey and All Black legend Jerry Collins together with his wife Alana early this morning.

We’re sure we can speak on behalf of all Ospreys supporters, when we say that he will be truly missed. His physicality and edge made him the back row enforcer that everyone – both his peers and opponents, came to respect. Not only on the international stage, but also when he proudly pulled on the shirt of the Ospreys.

Jerry was at the heart of the Ospreys squad at the height of the so-called ‘Galactico’ era. The back row dominance of Collins, Holah and Jones culminated in us winning the Magners League title in 2010. He was also a prominent figure during our 2009/10 Heineken Cup campaign, with an almighty performance against Biarritz in San Sebastian during the Quarter Finals.

From a Supporters’ Club perspective, Jerry was always very supportive of the OSC. He always gave his time to talk to supporters, and had a great sense of humour. From browsing social media this morning, it’s evident to see how Jerry made an impact in so many peoples lives, not just with supporters, but with his young team mates too.

He may have only been in Ospreylia for a short period of time, but his legacy will live long for many years to come.

Once an Osprey, Always an Osprey

RIP Jerry and Alana.

Follow