The Welsh Rugby Union is facing more money worries, only this time over its flagship, the Millennium Stadium, rather than the financial struggles of rugby clubs in Wales.

The Millennium Commission, which kick-started the project to build the much-admired stadium with a �46m grant, is holding back �600,000 over a row about land.

The stadium makes money from hosting pop concerts

The rules for the grant required the WRU to own every inch of the ground on which the stadium is sited.

But BBC Wales has learned that three years after it opened in a blaze of publicity part of the Millennium Stadium is located on land still owned by telecoms giant BT.

The situation leaves the WRU in breach of the rules regarding grants by the Millennium Commission.

The matter was raised at a recent meeting of the WRU by a former General Committee member, Russell Jenkins, but his concerns were dismissed.

BT has confirmed there is no lease on its land which extends under the south stand at the stadium and even on to the pitch.

WRU chairman Glanmor Griffiths masterminded the stadium scheme

The stadium has been hailed as a triumph for Welsh sport and its image worldwide since it opened in June 1999.

The project was steered through by the WRU's chairman, Glanmor Griffiths, who had to negotiate with senior BT executives in London to obtain the land needed to construct the 72,500-seater complex.

But in the row over the land ownership, it is has emerged Millennium Stadium plc, the company created by the WRU to run the stadium, owes BT around �9m.

Mr Jenkins said: "Until such time as BT starts receiving money, I suspect that BT will not sell the land and grant the lease."

WRU Secretary Dennis Gethin has defended the status of the stadium site's legality in relation to BT.

Russell Jenkins was accused of scare-mongering

He said: "There is an agreement for a lease, and as most people know, an agreement for a lease is as good as a lease."

However, a longer-term implication of the wrangle is that if the stadium ever had to be sold, it would, in effect, have two owners, the WRU and BT.

The Millennium Commission said: "It was a condition of the grant that the land was owned by or leased to the Millennium Stadium.

Cash worries

"The Millennium Commission is aware of the situation but we trust that this agreement to lease will be honoured.

"We really want it sorted out as soon as possible. We are holding on to �600,000 until this is sorted out."

The WRU's cash worries are further complicated by the fact that the Stadium plc owes Barclays Bank more than �50m.

The stadium itself is security on the debt to the bank but, as it is now apparent, Millennium Stadium plc does not own all of the arena it manages.