One Wales - David Moffett's Manifesto Launch

And so we come to the culmination of the previous three weeks ...

This morning I travelled west for the second time this week. This time to the Castle Hotel in Neath - the birth place of the WRU.

I had been invited along to David Moffett's manifesto launch. It's been a fascinating few weeks on a personal level. I have gone from being vehemently anti-Moffett to realising that my perception of the man and the events of the time have been clouded in a smog of anger for ten years. It takes a lot to admit you are wrong about someone, almost as much as it takes to meet them to face to face and tell them what you think of them instead of hiding behind a pseudonym on twitter. I am doing things now I would never would have had confidence to do a few years ago.

I pinned my colours to the mast last night on twitter, and said pretty much what I have said above on an open social media feed. I got an overwhelming positive reaction and a few texts saying good on you.

So with that all in mind I stood there in the hotel whilst David tried to convince those who were of the same sceptical mind as mine a month ago. There were a couple of key things that resonated with me.

When asked what he would have differently ten years ago, he said he would have taken the four clubs to court rather than ended up with the four super clubs we have. He asked the media to stop calling them regions. Top of his agenda is to regenerate and reinvigorate grass root rugby. He wants the regions to be accountable, and franchised, and this would be reviewed every five years to ensure that the proper regions would meet predefined criteria. The franchises could be expanded up to six teams should other interested parties could put together business plan and get the backing required.

I thought it went really well, and he put his message across well. The WRU was attacked yesterday by an external source, so it heightened the interest in this launch. Up until now he has been the annoying fly buzzing in the background of all the in-fighting, but for the next three days people are going to sit up and take notice.

I said in these blogs a week or so back I didn't think he would get elected. I still suspect he has an uphill struggle on his hands, but I think he has a far better chance now than he did this time last week. At the very least I hope this creates enough debate for the clubs to call for an EGM. As David said we can continue to bump along the bottom or we can seize the moment and try to make the game in Wales better. Maybe, just maybe the tide is turning. I am just pleased to have done my little bit to try and get change.

It was great meeting up with people like me who didn't have the time of day for any of this a month ago, and now passionately believe that they are involved in a force for good in the game. I didn't rush into this, but hey, I believe!

You can read and download his manifesto here: moffettrugby.com