Swansea Council sends pre-action letters to Welsh Rugby Union and club owners after being told Ospreys will cease to exist

The local authority said it has “serious concerns that the WRU's restructuring proposals breach UK competition law”.

In the letters the council demanded an immediate pause to the current restructure of Welsh rugby.

The local authority claimed that at a meeting last month the WRU had confirmed its position that Welsh regional teams would be reduced from four to three, and shared details of the Ospreys’ intended direction should the Y11 acquisition of Cardiff Rugby proceed:

• There would not be a professional Ospreys team playing regional rugby at St Helen's after the 2026/27 season.
• The Ospreys envisaged a potential merger with Swansea RFC (the Whites) after the 2026/27 season, to play semi-professionally.

Swansea Council said it had expressed “deep frustration that, despite extensive and recent discussions about the redevelopment of St Helen's, it had not been informed earlier of these proposals”.

Such lack of transparency and engagement was “wholly unacceptable”, it added.

The council said it was “profoundly disappointed that such a significant decision affecting the city's rugby future has been taken without proper consultation, fairness, or regard for the impact on Swansea, its people, its young players, and communities across the region.”

In addition to a pause in the restructure, the pre-action letters request reconsideration of proposals that would reduce the number of regions from four to three, and support for efforts to secure the Ospreys' future as a regional team in Swansea.

The council has asked for a response to its pre-action letters by 13 February.

In its pre-action letters, Swansea Council claimed:

• The WRU's decision to cut the number of professional regions from four to three is, “by its nature, a restriction of competition and has not been carried out in a fair, transparent or non‑discriminatory way”.
• The process for allocating regional licences “created an unfair distortion, effectively protecting Cardiff and Dragons while disadvantaging the Ospreys”.
• The WRU's ownership of Cardiff at the time of these decisions “created a clear conflict of interest, further compounded by its willingness to allow Y11, already owners of the Ospreys, to become preferred bidders for Cardiff Rugby”.
• This arrangement “appears to rely on an understanding that the Ospreys would withdraw from competing for a regional licence, an outcome that is both anti‑competitive and unlawful”.
• The council will suffer loss as a result of these unlawful acts.

However, the details of the meeting released by Swansea Council are disputed by the Welsh Rugby Union.

The WRU told the BBC that it “can confirm that we have received a pre-action letter from Swansea Council, alongside a public statement which is inaccurate in reference to a recent meeting we attended.

"As you will understand we will be taking our own advice and so cannot comment on this at this time.”

It added: "This WRU board has worked in good faith since it took office some two years ago to create a new way forward for Welsh rugby given the significant financial and performance issues we are all facing.

"We appreciate that these are difficult issues for everyone concerned, but we have conducted ourselves with future long-term success in mind."

Local Government Lawyer has approached the WRU for comment.

In a statement Ospreys maintained that “no decisions have been made regarding Ospreys’ future past the 2026/27 season, and no statements have been made by Lance Bradley or anyone else associated with Ospreys which contradict that.

“Given the sensitivity of these matters, and the fact that they involve multiple parties and ongoing discussions, it would be inappropriate for Ospreys Rugby to comment on interpretations of meetings, unfinalised proposals, or legal correspondence.”

Harry Rodd