PLAID CYMRU-LED COUNCIL HELPS ENSURE THE SCARLETS WILL REMAIN ‘YMA O HYD!’

The financially troubled Scarlets Rugby Club has been boosted by Plaid-led Carmarthenshire County Council’s agreement to restructure a £2.6m loan originally granted in 2007. At its meeting on Wednesday, September 11^th the Council heard that the Scarlets will make a loss of £4m in 2024, and calling in the loan might endanger the club’s future and the jobs of 400 full and part-time staff. 

In proposing the loan arrangement Plaid’s Cllr Alun Lenny, Cabinet Member for Resources, said:              “Way back in 2007 the former council administration gave the Scarlets a £2.4m loan during the club’s impending move from Parc y Strade to Parc y Scarlets – a stadium owned by this authority. The total loan now stands at just over £2.6m and was due to be repaid last year. However, like the other Welsh Rugby regions and the WRU itself, the Scarlets are in a dire financial state. They’re on course to make a loss of £4m this year, so are hardly in a position to repay the money owed to this council in one lump sum. 

“This loan has not cost the council tax payers of Carmarthenshire a penny. The interest paid by the Scarlets has been a very fair one for this authority. To date, the total repayment amounts to about £1.3m. 

“As part of their recovery plan the Scarlets asked for the term of the loan to be extended until 2038 with payments deferred for two years. As from 2026 the club will start paying off the £2.6m at the rate of £218,000 per annum until it comes down to zero, while also paying interest on the loan at 2.2% above the Bank of England base rate, which is currently 5%. 

“Some people may ask why the county council should use public money to bail out a sports club? The 17 year-old loan is not money the council is likely to get back if we called it in. It’s not money that’s available for such things as filling potholes, or building a new school – which would cost many times that much – as some have proposed out of ignorance or political malice. 

“The Scarlets isn’t ‘just a sports club.’ They employ 160 full-time and almost 250 part-time staff. On top of that, some 87 local companies supply them with goods and services, and the benefit to young people who come through the academy system is immeasurable. The club also delivers skill sessions and other sporting opportunities to over 20,000 pupils in our schools, including events for children with disabilities and camps in socially deprived areas. It works with Llanelli Town Council to provide sessions for ethnic communities, at a time when certain elements are trying to stir up racial tension. 

“If we tried to foreclose on the loan we’d be very unlikely to get much of our money back, and there would be a real danger that the Scarlets – a club with thousands of supporters and famed throughout the rugby world – might come to an end. Hundreds of people would lose their jobs; it would be a devastating loss of opportunity for countless young people; and we’d have an empty £70m stadium on our hands. 

“The Scarlets are a huge part of the sporting, social and economic fabric of Carmarthenshire. This agreement will help the club to survive the present difficult conditions so that future generations can continue to sing ‘Yma o Hyd’ during matches at Parc y Scarlets.”