24 minutes agoShareSaveAmy MackrillBBC WalesShareSave<\/p>\n
Swansea council has begun formal legal proceedings against the Welsh Rugby Union (WRU) in a bid to stop the proposed sale of Cardiff Rugby to Y11 Sport & Media.<\/p>\n
The council has claimed a deal the WRU struck with Y11, which already owns the Ospreys, breaches UK competition law and undermines the governing body's own restructuring process for the professional men's game.<\/p>\n
"We believe the WRU has acted unlawfully, and we will continue fighting on behalf of the Ospreys and rugby supporters across Wales," said council leader Rob Stewart.<\/p>\n
The WRU has been approached for comment.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n <\/a><\/p>\n <\/a><\/p>\n The WRU announced plans in October to cut one of Wales' four professional teams<\/a> by 2027, arguing that the pool of talent and finances within Welsh rugby means only three professional teams are able to be either sustainable or competitive. <\/p>\n The governing body said three licences would be granted – one to a team in Cardiff, one in the west and one in the east.<\/p>\n In December, it said discussions needed to continue and if an agreement could not be reached, a six-month tender process could open<\/a> to determine the successful trio.<\/p>\n Last month, the WRU announced Y11 Sport and Media, the current owners of Ospreys, had been chosen<\/a> as the preferred option to buy Cardiff Rugby.<\/p>\n It prompted the council to call on the UK's Competitions and Market Authority<\/a> to investigate the proposed takeover of Cardiff, saying it risks unfairly restricting competition, reducing choice for supporters and damaging Swansea's economy. <\/p>\n The council now says it has opened legal action against the union, arguing the proposal breaches UK competition law. <\/p>\n "If this deal proceeds then the Ospreys will cease to exist as a professional regional team at the end of the 2026\/27 season, based on what we've been told," Stewart said. <\/p>\n Last week, the council said it had applied<\/a> for a High Court injunction to halt the proposed deal with Y11, adding that it had been told by the union that a deal would not be completed before 16 March. <\/p>\n The WRU has been approached for comment.<\/p>\n More top stories<\/p>\n <\/a><\/p>\n <\/a><\/p>\n <\/a>Wales<\/a>City and County of Swansea Council<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Swansea council launches legal action against WRU over proposed Cardiff sale24 minutes agoShareSaveAmy MackrillBBC WalesShareSaveGetty ImagesFeelings having been running high for several weeks among O…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":8647,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"colormag_page_container_layout":"default_layout","colormag_page_sidebar_layout":"default_layout","footnotes":""},"categories":[47],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-8646","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-decor"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/wp1.niviyo.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8646","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/wp1.niviyo.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/wp1.niviyo.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wp1.niviyo.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8646"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/wp1.niviyo.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8646\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wp1.niviyo.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/8647"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/wp1.niviyo.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8646"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wp1.niviyo.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8646"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wp1.niviyo.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8646"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}Government body asked to intervene over Ospreys<\/h2>\n
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