And the RFU allowed them a degree of independence and the setting up of the WRU about ten years before the split. People compare the North of England and the South of Wales (rightly or wrongly!) and the comparisons were even more evident back then with mining being a dominant industry that was an integral part of the economies of both.

No Welsh clubs attended the 1895 meeting, but a year later a player in Wales had a testimonial game and the RFU deemed him professional, the IRB backed the RFU, and the WRU withdrew from the IRB in protest. At this point it was seen as likely that they would follow but for once the PTB saw sense and caved in, having lost many clubs in the North only a year earlier, and the possibility of the whole sport disappearing altogether, as the international game would lose a major force and also the West country would lose the majority of their fixtures. Basically pressure came from the clubs to say we need them to stay and they did, and unions own rules on professionalism were bent and broken in Wales more then anywhere else in the game.

It was close, and IMO but for pressure from the West country and a few people at the 19th century RFU and IRB seeing the bigger picture they would only play the 13 a-side game in Wales.

There are so many what ifs? Missed opportunities and general questions on why the NU seemed to give up on expansion that we would probably all go mad thinking about them!

Still, that What if? article was an interesting read.

Didn't the Welsh vote on it, but the governing body gave a vote to each of the public schools (or clergy?) to ensure that the clubs didn't breakaway?

It was Arthur 'Monkey' Gould. I was reading about him recently.

Quote: Thoth "The 10 years before the schism England had won the home nations outright on one occassion the same number of times as wales and Ireland, during the same period Scotland had won it outright 4 times. Top dog was clearly Scotland. The championship following the schism Wales suffered a heavy loss. The following two years Wales with drew from international competition due to the WFU sanctioning perceived professionalism due to pressure from the RFU.'" This is misleading. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Six_Nation ... .80.931909 England were the most successful team before the great schism and Wales were bottom.

Quote: Thoth "The 10 years before the schism England had won the home nations outright on one occassion the same number of times as wales and Ireland, during the same period Scotland had won it outright 4 times. Top dog was clearly Scotland. The championship following the schism Wales suffered a heavy loss. The following two years Wales with drew from international competition due to the WFU sanctioning perceived professionalism due to pressure from the RFU.'" This is misleading. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Six_Nation ... .80.931909 England were the most successful team before the great schism and Wales were bottom.