Buchanan fights on to save future for Llanelli
A YEAR ago Anthony Buchanan launched an ‘SOS’ appeal to try to safeguard the future of Llanelli rugby club.
How could one of the greatest names in the world game be under threat, most people thought, but Buchanan wanted to let everyone know just how close to extinction the club he played for and served for so long actually was.
The original ‘Scarlets’, formed in 1872, had just hung onto their Welsh Premiership status with a play-off victory over Pontypool and the former Wales prop set about improving performance on and off the field last season.
At the time he was a member of the WRU Board and World Rugby Council, but stepped down from both roles after last year’s World Cup in Japan. Now all his efforts are going into keeping Llanelli at the top end of the ‘community game’ in Wales.
“I received a good reaction to my pleas for help although not perhaps as much as I was hoping for. What it did do was highlight the club’s position and vulnerability and led to us having a much better season,” said Buchanan.
“The team performed much better on the pitch, our financial position improved greatly, but there is still a lot more ground for us to make up.
“Funding from the WRU has been cut by 50 per cent, with further pressure to go right back to the days of not paying anyone to play. But there has to be a place for a properly managed and costed semi-pro game in Wales.
“If you look at the team that played for Llanelli against Cardiff when we opened Parc y Scarlets in 2008, you’ll find Ken Owens, Dom Day, Aaron Shingler and Josh Turnbull in the pack, Rhys Priestland and Jonathan Davies in the back line and Gareth Davies on the bench.”
The big concern for Buchanan is that if Llanelli are relegated to the Championship or beyond they will go out of existence.
“There is a real danger that clubs like Llanelli, Newport and Cardiff could simply fade away and die. I’m working to avoid that doomsday scenario, but I’m involved in a huge fight for survival – make no mistake about that!”