Random Stuff!!

[Jerry]

A big positive for my team Cardiff Blues. Olly Robinson, son of ex England, Scotland and Bristol head coach Andy Robinson, who has been on loan from Bristol RFC (he has now since been recalled) since September after the region lost Sam Warburton to injury and who has been one of our outstanding players has signed a permanent contract for the region and will return next season as a Blues player!
http://www.walesonline.co.uk/sport/rugby/rugby-news/olly-robinson-join-cardiff-blues-14030506

 

[TheLocalYokel]

Won't that seriously affect his chances of playing for England if he's playing for a club outside the country?

Doesn't say a lot for Bristol's ambition. They will be back in the English Premiership next season and ought to do better this time as they will have more time to assemble a squad. In Pat Lam they now have a much better coach too than Andy Robinson, unless Northampton can persuade him to break his contract and go there where I understand he was once a player.

Can't be anything to do with pay either. With their billionaire owner Bristol are already paying players more than a lot of Premiership players earn. I thought it was odd when Bristol loaned out Robinson this season given they have to get back to the Premiership next season. They lost another locally-born forward, Ellis Genge, who has since played for England after his move to Leicester. It was said at the time that it was in both Genge's interest and Bristol's interest for him to move away. Lots of rumours did the rounds as to the reason.

 

[Jerry]

Won't that seriously affect his chances of playing for England if he's playing for a club outside the country?

He won't be able to play for England while he plays in Wales. From what i know he was a squad player at Bristol and took his chance at Cardiff to get in some proper game time and show what he can do and he was excellent for us. If his contract was up at the end of the season then he's taken his chance, he'll probably get a lot more game time at Cardiff than at Bristol. The bonus for Cardiff is that he'll be available during the international windows as well especially as 3 of our flankers, Sam Warburton, Ellis Jenkins and Josh Navidi are in or near abouts the Welsh squad then this means we won't be as weakened. For him as well he'll get the chance of 2 to 3 years of playing regular first team rugby in a decent league and he'll get European rugby under his belt which if Bristol got promoted he probably wouldn't have got and then he may catch the eye of an English team like Ben Morgan did playing for the Scarlets and Sam Underhill did playing for the Ospreys and both ended up getting capped by England after moving to Gloucester and Bath respectively. It may be that Wales for some English players could be a good route to getting first team rugby at the top level that they might not get in England.

 

[TheLocalYokel]

Reading comments from some Bristol RFC supporters they are very upset that he's going. They seem to really rate him. Mind you, the English Championship is dire made worse by the fact that it gets virtually no national coverage in the press, so no wonder Robinson jumped ship for this season. With the quality and depth of squad Bristol have if they don't win the Championship yet again, and with an unbeaten record, they might as well give up.

At least this time there are no ridiculous play-offs at the end of the season. When you consider that Bristol was one of the top English clubs for much of the 20th Century it's unbelievable that they failed to find a wealthy backer when professionalism came along. That is until Steven Lansdown became involved. They get bigger crowds in the Championship than some Premiership clubs.

In the 'shamateur' days Bristol regularly played all the top Welsh clubs - that was before the Welsh regional teams came along - and I remember watching some cracking matches against the likes of Cardiff and Swansea. There were no leagues then - not official ones anyway but at least one national Sunday newspaper published unofficial league tables based on the results of all the top clubs in England, Wales and Scotland. Just because there were no leagues the games weren't played as 'friendlies' to use a football term. As with the autumn internationals which also don't feature a league they were played at the highest intensity.

After I gave up playing football I would regularly watch Bristol RFC, Bristol City and occasionally Rovers whenever I had a free Saturday afternoon.

 

[Jerry]

Reading comments from some Bristol RFC supporters they are very upset that he's going. They seem to really rate him. Mind you, the English Championship is dire made worse by the fact that it gets virtually no national coverage in the press, so no wonder Robinson jumped ship for this season. With the quality and depth of squad Bristol have if they don't win the Championship yet again, and with an unbeaten record, they might as well give up.

I don't usually follow the English championship but i'd be surprised if Bristol didn't get promoted again. Bristol's problem will be staying up the season after and establishing themselves in the Aviva Premiership essentially doing what Exeter did. I believe now in the modern day that the cross border games should be left to the European competition as they lose their spark when it's A teams versus academy teams. I believe the B&I Cup is ending next season and I wouldn't be surprised if eventually the Anglo Welsh Cup will end to eventually. The problem for the lower leagues of English rugby like football is the money gap and it will only get bigger.
As for Olly Robinson i'm really glad we've signed him, there has been a lot of news lately about the Dragons signing Ross Moriarty and I think Cardiff were linked with him but for Cardiff Robinson is a much better signing especially as he's already familiar with the setup, though we will have a new coach by then and he'll be available all season which Moriarty wouldn't have been if we'd signed him.

 

[TheLocalYokel]

The B&I Cup is a complete waste of time so far as I'm concerned. Bristol fielded some youth players who aren't even in their normal first team squad in one game. Snag is there are only 22 league matches a season in the English Championship which isn't a lot to keep a big squad occupied or provide sufficient matches in a season for spectators.

You are right about money in rugby. I think most of the English Prem clubs want to ring fence it so that no-one is relegated. In truth there aren't many English Championship clubs with the resources to play in the Prem anyway.

Exeter have done fantastically well. They beat Bristol in the 2010 play-off after Bristol were the regular season champions as they've been five times since 2010 and been promoted just the once through the play-offs. Exeter was never a very top club at any time in their history and I expected them to struggle in the Prem but look how well they've done.

Speaking of play-offs, the English Championship had a system until a few years ago where every team played each other twice in the regular season to determine final league positions as they do now. The top eight teams then played off for the one promotion spot and the bottom four played off to see which team be relegated. That was the entire league as there were (as now) only 12 teams in the Championship. You couldn't make it up. No wonder one Mr Carling once called the Rugby Union a load of old farts.

 

[Jerry]

The cruises from Wales to Devon for 2018 on the MV Balmoral have been cancelled as it's been revealed that the ship needs huge repairs to the ships hull as the Maritime and Coastguard agency recently made changes to the specifications required to carry passengers and the Balmoral doesn't meet the new standards. The charity has recently applied to the Heritage Lottery fund for £3.72 million to improve the educational facilities, crew quarters, restore some heritage features and bring to make sure the ship complies with the new standard. Fundraisers are trying to raise £300,000 to keep the ship afloat.
http://www.walesonline.co.uk/whats-on/travel/cruises-wales-devon-cancelled-2018-14041719

 

[Jerry]

Boris bikes are coming to Cardiff!
Nextbike intends to install 25 docking stations with 250 bikes across the city with the intention of launching in May 2018. They hope that by the end of 2019 they will then be able to double the amount of docking stations to 50 and the bikes to 500. Hopefully they will be popular with residents and visitors alike.
http://www.walesonline.co.uk/news/w...scheme-14058341.amp?__twitter_impression=true

 

[TheLocalYokel]

The cruises from Wales to Devon for 2018 on the MV Balmoral have been cancelled as it's been revealed that the ship needs huge repairs to the ships hull as the Maritime and Coastguard agency recently made changes to the specifications required to carry passengers and the Balmoral doesn't meet the new standards. The charity has recently applied to the Heritage Lottery fund for £3.72 million to improve the educational facilities, crew quarters, restore some heritage features and bring to make sure the ship complies with the new standard. Fundraisers are trying to raise £300,000 to keep the ship afloat.
http://www.walesonline.co.uk/whats-on/travel/cruises-wales-devon-cancelled-2018-14041719

The Balmoral was out of commission a few years ago and had to raise several hundred thousand pounds for a thorough refit which it managed to achieve.

It's a shame that the ship now needs even more money if it's to carry on operating.

It will be a sad sight seeing the Balmoral tied up at Prince's Wharf, Bristol Harbourside, next summer when at that time of the year it's usually away doing what it does best - carrying tourists and holidaymakers.

I've sailed on the Balmoral more than once. The last time was from Clevedon to Ilfracombe via Penarth, returning via Penarth to Cumberland Basin, Bristol. It was a summer evening but was quite late and we navigated the Avon from Avonmouth upstream to the Cumberland Basin in the dark.

Standing near the bow of the ship was a remarkable experience as we seemed to be going at breakneck speed into the darkness. The Horseshoe Bend between Avonmouth and Shirehampton used to be notorious for ships going aground on the river banks because of the strength of the tide (reputedly where the expression 'Shipshape and Bristol Fashion' emanated because of the power need to navigate Avon in the days of sail) and it seemed that the Balmoral had to keep up a certain speed to avoid a similar fate.

It reminded me of the time when I had a ride in the cab of a Western Region 'Hymek' diesel hydraulic locomotive in the early 60s running light engine between Bristol and Weston-super-Mare. That was in the dark too and we hammered along rocking and rolling into the blackness.

Boris bikes are coming to Cardiff!
Nextbike intends to install 25 docking stations with 250 bikes across the city with the intention of launching in May 2018. They hope that by the end of 2019 they will then be able to double the amount of docking stations to 50 and the bikes to 500. Hopefully they will be popular with residents and visitors alike.
http://www.walesonline.co.uk/news/w...scheme-14058341.amp?__twitter_impression=true

Let's hope Cardiff fares better than Bristol did when a similar scheme was launched there earlier this year. A lot of the bikes were damaged or stolen. The scheme still operates but I sometimes see abandoned bikes in the outer suburbs near where I live.

http://www.bristolpost.co.uk/news/bristol-news/new-app-allow-you-rent-46575

 

[Jerry]

Welsh Secretary Alun Cairns has called for closer ties between South Wales and the South West of England to compete with the new metro mayor's of places like Birmingham and Manchester. A Severn Growth Summit will be held on the 22nd January at the Celtic Manor in Newport.
On cross border cooperation he said ''I am keen to develop an economic hub on the western side of the UK. For example, from Bristol to Newport to Cardiff we have one of the strongest digital clusters in the UK.

“Another key cluster is financial services. The Treasury recognise Cardiff as a financial services centre of excellence and Bristol has similar expertise too. So developing this region is one of my key priorities.

“This is why abolishing the Severn tolls is so important. It was my number one aim when I became Secretary of State for Wales – sending a direct message to businesses, commuters and tourists that Wales is open for business.

“Furthermore, Bristol is the only city in England and Wales, outside London, that adds to UK productivity. That’s why one of my priorities is to improve rail connectivity between Cardiff and Bristol.”

It's interesting he mentions added connectivity between Cardiff and Bristol. I believe with the new Metro franchise for South Wales it was suggested that who ever operates it would provide more trains to between South Wales and Bristol yet that was stopped by Chris Grayling and only First Great Western are allowed to run trains between Bristol and South Wales which currently stand at 1 an hour i believe.

http://www.walesonline.co.uk/business/business-news/welsh-secretary-calls-closer-ties-14085423

 

[TheLocalYokel]

Currently there are two trains in both directions every hour between Cardiff Central and Bristol Temple Meads via Newport. One starts/finishes at Portsmouth Harbour and routes via Southampton, Salisbury and Bath and the other service starts/finishes at either Exeter St Davids or Taunton. In addition there are two trains in both directions every hour between Cardiff Central and Bristol Parkway on the Paddington/Newport/Cardiff/Swansea service. All the services are operated by First Great Western or the Great Western Railway as this company now brazenly calls itself - Brunel would be apoplectic at the thought of such an organisation usurping the iconic name with which he will always be associated.

Interesting that the secretary of state has now become involved. For the past few years a series of talks has taken place between leaders of these cities with the aim of creating a Great Western Cities power base -see press links below going back over recent years. I'm not too sure how much progress, if any, has been made but there has certainly been a lot of talking.

The obvious potential obstacles are (1) Wales already has some powers of its own and in future will gain more that will probably include the ability to set part of the income tax and other taxes for the country which would mean any 'power base' could be operating under separate and different tax regimes (2) these city regions have been traditional rivals for many, many years and could anyone really see a situation arising where one of the cities would be allowed by the others, and supported by them, to step forward if an economic plum (say a major company looking to relocate its headquarters) was up for grabs?

Nevertheless, it will be fascinating to watch what progress emerges now the secretary of state is showing an interest.

https://www.theguardian.com/cities/...-bristol-cardiff-newport-great-western-cities

http://www.walesonline.co.uk/business/business-news/cardiff-newport-bristol-could-together-10876634

 

[Jerry]

The only way i could see of the 2 areas working more closely together is if they came under the same governance ie the Welsh Assembly, which would never really happen as it would require part of England being essentially ceded to Wales, the areas are rivals and despite these summits will continue to be. I really can't see the local authorities and businesses in the South West turning away jobs and contracts in favour of South Wales in some mutual bid to cooperate or vice versa. As an example would say BRS turn away Jet2 and send them to CWL or CWL turn away Delta and send them to BRS if either were looking to operate from the area.
Would be interesting to know what the welsh government thinks about it and what the heads of the local authorities in the South West thinks about it as well.

 

[TheLocalYokel]

One of the newspaper reports cites the Oresund region in Scandinavia where there is close co-operation between Copenhagen in Denmark and Malmo in Sweden, despite their being in different countries with separate tax regimes and different currencies - Danish krone and Swedish krona.

I think it all started some years ago when the Cardiff and Bristol councils began speaking about mutually advantageous co-operation. This seemed to grow in to the concept of a trans-Severn city region.

Bristol's previous elected mayor was particularly enthusiastic but I don't sense the same commitment from the present mayor although there is no suggestion he intends to sabotage the initiative. Currently, he seems more intent on travelling the world, especially China, to try to drum up investment in his city.

I am certainly sceptical that anything major will evolve - nothing seems to have yet, despite local authority-level talks going back at least three years - but I am always open to persuasion.

 

[Jerry]

Well done to Newport County yesterday for pulling off a FA Cup giant killing. The League 2 side defeated Championship side Leeds United 2 goals to 1 in front of 6887 at Rodney Parade, which was bigger than Cardiff City's 6378 crowd against Mansfield at the Cardiff City Stadium, and they are in the draw for the 4th round. The manager Michael Flynn is hoping for Liverpool Football club and a trip to Anfield for the next round and that dream draw could provide the funds for a new training ground.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/42598659

 

[Seasider]

Not everyone on this forum is happy about that result.

 

[Jerry]

It was a pretty big victory for them. They only stayed in the football league by the skin of their teeth last year!

 

[TheLocalYokel]

Well done to Newport County yesterday for pulling off a FA Cup giant killing. The League 2 side defeated Championship side Leeds United 2 goals to 1 in front of 6887 at Rodney Parade, which was bigger than Cardiff City's 6378 crowd against Mansfield at the Cardiff City Stadium, and they are in the draw for the 4th round. The manager Michael Flynn is hoping for Liverpool Football club and a trip to Anfield for the next round and that dream draw could provide the funds for a new training ground.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/42598659

Severnside co-operation - the winning goal was scored by a player on loan from Bristol City. That will please Mr Cairns.

Let's hope for the sake of both clubs that they are not drawn against Yeovil Town who also need money.

Not everyone on this forum is happy about that result.

Could be a blessing in disguise for LUFC - can now concentrate on their promotion bid.

 

[TheLocalYokel]

Re recent posts, Newport have drawn Tottenham at home and Yeovil Manchester United at home. The only thing that would have been better for both (apart from manager Flynn's Liverpool dream) would have been away ties as they would have made a mint of money. They will both now have to battle hard to see if they can take the ties to replays.

Incidentally, if Cardiff City beat Mansfield in their replay they will be at home to Manchester City.

 

[a300boy]

I dont see Leeds Utd getting any where near promotion !
More chance of Cardiff Airport getting Qatar B787 operations. { good luck with that ]

 

[Jerry]

There are plans to effectively build a new town just off the M4 between Junction 34 and 35 which will get it's own motorway junction as well.
http://www.walesonline.co.uk/busine...ns-5000-new-homes-14143094#ICID=FB-Wales-main