What’s In A Name ?

The quest to find a name for four of the five regional Welsh sides continues with Cardiff the only club who have agreed a moniker and from now on they will be known as the Cardiff Blues.

The other stand-alone side, Llanelli may end up being called the Llanelli Scarlets but elsewhere the picture isn’t entirely clear.

The three merged sides are Neath/Swansea, Bridgend/Pontypridd and Ebbw Vale/Newport.

It would appear that the West Glamorgan merger of Neath/Swansea will end up being known as Neath-Swansea Ospreys but the other two sides are still locked in debate over the their titles.

Ebbw Vale had settled on the name Gwent but Newport supporters, backed by the club itself, objected, and submitted a 10,000 strong petition demanding that ‘Newport’ should be included in the title of the new East Wales regional side. With the two clubs unable to reach agreement, the WRU were called in to mediate and they came up with the name Gwent Dragons. Newport have reserved judgement on that and their backer Tony Brown is expected to make a statement tomorrow (Wednesday) following a board meeting.

However, the WRU insist that the arbitration is binding with chief executive David Moffett adamant that there’s no turning back.

That leaves just Bridgend/Pontypridd to be sorted. The first option, RCT Ravens was dropped after protests from Pontypridd supporters and since then suggested names included, Crusaders, Celtic Warriors and Glamorgan Bowmen. However, latest reports suggest that Glamorgan Celts looks the likely winner in this particular name game.