'It's a truly bonkers idea!' Eddie Butler leaves many aghast with radical Welsh rugby plan

Former Wales captain Eddie Butler has divided opinion with his solution to Welsh rugby's problems this week.

Appearing on The Rugby Paper Podcast, Butler opined that the way forward should involve pulling Welsh teams out of the URC, scrapping the regions and returning to a traditional club structure in Wales. He also feels that the best players should be free to leave.

Effectively, what Butler describes is the cessation of professional rugby in Wales as we know it. Quite whether the game would ever come back from such moves is doubtful.

But the views of the Premier Sports broadcaster have certainly been polarising and provoked a visceral reaction from both sides as emotions in Welsh rugby as a whole run high. The game is at a real crossroads and a plan is yet to materialise from the Welsh Rugby Union or the Professional Rugby Board.

In any case, Butler's views have prompted 100s of comments from fans and readers across WalesOnline and here is a flavour.

"There is nothing wrong with the concept of the URC or for that matter the regions, and no amount rhetoric from rose tinted blowhards will change that.

"There are major issues with the implementation. There is little point going into the issues of training and coaching, but how about something simple, fixtures and following! Following Scarlets this season has been a nightmare, sometimes matches are back to back, sometimes it seems like a month goes by with nothing. There is no possibility of gaining regular support without regular matches."

"Eddie's idea would mean more cooks to spoil the broth. The Premiership clubs all look out for themselves, which understandable I guess, but imagine if there were 12 clubs sticking their finger in the professional pie. It’s