Suddenly Davies has joined the ‘bad guys’

AS CHIEF executive of Cardiff RFC pre-regionalisation, Gareth Davies defied the WRU and put them in the English Premiership alongside Swansea. After one season, the rebels relented and returned to the Welsh fold.

As chief executive postregionalisation of first Cardiff Blues, then the Dragons, Davies was not slow to speak out on behalf of the regional quartet against the WRU. The regions feared they were being run into the ground in their conflict with a Union run by the divisive Roger Lewis.

Now, as WRU chairman, Davies heads an organisation accused of doing exactly that, ‘in order to exert more central control and eventually take over their running,’ according to the CF10 Arms Park Rugby Trust, a thriving forum devoted to ‘all supporters of Cardiff rugby’.

The regions had been expecting to share upwards of £35m from the PRO14’s £120m deal with CVC Capital Partners. Instead Davies has made it clear that ‘some of the money will go to the community game and, potentially, the women’s game’.

The money negotiated by the English Premiership with CVC went straight to the 14 clubs. The CF10 Trust say the Welsh share of the PRO14 deal belongs to the regions, nobody else.

“To take full advantage of this opportunity we require strong and forward-thinking leadership at the Arms Park but still the senior management of Cardiff Blues Ltd continue to hide behind a wall of silence,’’ say the CF10 Trust.

“Pleas from supporters to be informed of what the plan is for Cardiff Blues, to receive some communication or just to be shown evidence that Richard Holland (chief executive) and/or Alun Jones (chairman) are in fact still alive, increase by the day.

“It’s not acceptable to simply say: ‘We know best – you don’t understand.’ The history of clubs and the emotional investment of fans are being played with like an accountant knowing the cost of everything and the value of nothing.’’