Urban Legend - A Pope dies every time Wales win the Six Nations

Occasionally trawling through the internet one finds rather odd stories/ statistics dug up by some poor soul but today's discovery really takes the biscuit....A wonderful letter was published today in the latest edition of the British Medical Journal, which studied the notion that whenever Wales wins Europe's rugby crown, a Pope passes on into the afterlife.

The urban legend goes that 'every time Wales wins the rugby grand slam, a Pope dies, except for 1978, when Wales was really good and two Popes died".

This idea arose in 2008, when a pair of welsh doctors somehow found this link after researching news from the years of the Welsh Grand Slam victories. They found that of the eight Roman Catholic Pontiffs who had died since 1883, five had passed away in a year when Wales won the Grand Slam. Of course the link is incidental, but while the stats gather up, this urban legend continues to gather 'credibility'!

The unlikely jinx continued this year too..... if you increase the scope of the research to Coptic Popes in Egypt. One of the researchers involved, Edward Snelson (who is a pediatrician at the Sheffield Children's Hospital) said:

"This year saw the death of the Coptic Pope, Shenouda III, on the very day that Wales won the Grand Slam. He was Pope for 41 years and succeeded Cyril VI, who died in 1971, in the same month that Wales won the Grand Slam again"

Snelson concluded that "although the association between these deaths and the sporting events may not be fully understood, this research has created a false reassurance and may be putting the lives of other Popes at risk."

Clearly one must end this 'Papal Curse', and this blog consequently proposes that WRU and it's national team is dissolved henceforth. It is the only option......at least until George North and co stop being so bloody good! All in favour say 'Aye'.