Yes, that’s entirely true, and the plaque is still on the wall in Bangor rugby club marking that.

A little over 10 years ago, the WRU made a mistake in relation to rugby in north Wales. I know because I was a great supporter of Llangefni Rugby Club at that time, which won promotion to the second division of the national league. And the WRU’s decision was not to promote them, but to demote them to the new division four in north Wales, and that had a huge impact on rugby, certainly in Llangefni, where many people decided to stop playing and lost some of their love for the game. We’ve moved a long way from that point. The WRU did respond positively to the backlash at that point, and Rygbi Gogledd Cymru was established, and now we are in a position where we are looking forward to take the next step.

I delight in seeing the young boys that I train being selected for youth teams in north Wales. There were a dozen of them, almost, playing in games earlier this week. Getting a professional team, creating those idols for them in their own region, would be a major step forward, and I look forward to seeing this conversation continue, and I hope that the end point will be to bring professional rugby to north Wales, taking nothing away from the excellent professional teams we already have in the south.