If you all love Ponty - clap your hands!

A STUDY has found that Pontypridd are most peoples’ second favourite rugby team. 

Dr Gareth Roderique Davies, of the University of Glamorgan, tracked the attitudes of Welsh fans from the season before regional rugby was introduced in 2003. 

And in the research, which is due to be published by the University of Wales Press in its Contemporary Wales series, he says: “Pontypridd was the team that most supporters of other clubs wanted to see do well and were most like their own. 

“It’s clear that supporters of other clubs felt the least need to differentiate themselves from the supporters of Pontypridd. 

“The team that supporters of other teams wanted to see do well – Pontypridd – tended to be justified in terms of the positive playing style of that team (‘They play good attacking rugby’) and the positive attitude of the club (‘Community spirit’).” 

“Supporters largely named Cardiff as the team they most wanted to see get beaten and the team that was most different from their own club. 

“The broader picture here is that supporters most want to distinguish themselves from Cardiff. This was justified in terms of perceived negative attitude (‘They’re arrogant’), rather than statements about their performance.” 

The study also found that since regional teams were formed supporters now tend to identify more closely with the Welsh national side than their local club. Whereas before just under 70% of fans identified most closely with their club, by 2006 the greatest level of identification – at around 50% – was with the national team. 

The report added: “This trend seemed to indicate that supporters felt less need to assert group distinctiveness with regard to other regions, supporting the idea that the super-ordinate category of ‘Wales’ took precedence over parochial interests. 

“Rivalries that had developed over many years were now much less relevant to social identification in regional rugby.”