The talking will soon be over and next month Newport RFC members will have their say on the WRU takeover plans for the Dragons and Rodney Parade. Robin Davey nails his colours to the mast and says black and amber can only survive if they say yes.

 

The day of reckoning is drawing ever closer and we are now less than a month away from the most crucial date in Rodney Parade’s 140-year history.

For on May 9 comes the Newport shareholders meeting which decides the very future of one of the most historic rugby grounds and clubs in Wales.

They must vote on whether to decide to accept the WRU’s offer to take over ailing Rodney Parade lock, stock and barrel.

Newport and the Dragons are bankrupt, but the outcome of the vote depends on a 75% majority and it is by no means a certainty that the magic figure will be reached.

There is one more meeting before the absolutely decisive one and that is on April 24, when fans of both Newport and the Dragons can attend, though key figures who would have spoken are unable to do so.

A comprehensive Q&A document has been released on the Newport and Dragons websites in which just about every question fans might ask was answered.

There could be little room for doubt, every emphasis placed on the need for the sale of Rodney Parade to the WRU to go through.

For many, probably the majority, it is a bit of a no-brainer for Rodney Parade is hundreds of thousands in debt and kept afloat only by a WRU loan until the due takeover date on July 1.

One of the crunch phrases in this wordy document is that the debts on the Newport balance sheet are greater than the value of the asset. If there is a forced sale there will be nothing left for Newport RFC to go it alone.

A key figure in all of this is Tony Brown, who is held in such high esteem but not in the best of health and hasn’t been for some time.

In his open letter he urged acceptance of the WRU takeover deal, believing there is no other way and, significantly, along with fellow benefactor Martyn Hazell, emphasising that a no vote meant they would call in their debts amounting to millions rather than leave Rodney Parade pretty much debt free and exclusively for rugby.

Within hours of the documents and letter appearing many were giving their support, mainly on the back of Brown’s words, but a number out there are still voicing their concerns, claiming there are no guarantees for the future of Newport RFC and the Union are still getting the ground on the cheap.

Taking a personal view, I would say if there’s no other offer on the table – and there isn’t – the shareholders have to vote yes for the sake of rugby at Rodney Parade in the future. For how long, we don’t know.

For the WRU can’t give any long-term guarantee as they don’t know what the future is once the Rugby Services Agreement runs out in 2020. On the other hand, they don’t have to take over the Dragons and they don’t have to invest in Rodney Parade.

They have pledged to invest in a new artificial pitch, vital after the shocking state of the present one, with three teams playing on it, and they will also carry out essential and extensive repairs to the old ground which is virtually falling apart in places.

There are many, myself included as a Newportonian, who wanted it to be four super clubs when David Moffett wielded the big stick a dozen or so years ago and went for regions instead, because the vast body of clubs wouldn’t countenance super clubs.

I was singled out on more than one occasion by Moffett – called a dinosaur from the stage for wanting Newport to be stand-alone along with Llanelli and Cardiff.

But it was all in vain and those days are now long gone. You can’t live in the past. You have to live in the real world.

And in that real world Rodney Parade is on the very brink of extinction. Director after director has stressed to me that if there is a no vote on May 9 the receivers will be in the next day and the ground will be sold.

Brown and Hazell will call in their debts, the banks will demand repayment of their £1m loan, and Newport will fold, whereas the Dragons will resurface elsewhere.

WRU chief executive Martyn Phillips has stressed that they want to help rugby in Gwent, how it has a grand total of 73 clubs, the biggest in Wales, and they are prepared to invest heavily.

Again, they don’t have to do it, but they are taking this unprecedented step, basically, as a rescue act.

It is not some kind of land grab, which some of the doom-mongers claim, and they are contractually obliged to field four sides at this level.

So, the Dragons would survive regardless, just at another venue, though that wouldn’t be ideal. Rodney Parade is really the only ground in Gwent fully capable of staging professional rugby.

But survive they would, whereas, what of Newport? The bulldozers would be in pretty quickly, the ground sold, and another block of flats or a supermarket would be under construction.

How ironic if the very fans of Newport RFC were responsible for the death of the famous old club.