WHY WE’VE GOT TO HIT THE RESET BUTTON
WRU chairman Gareth Davies on Welsh rugby’s new direction:
IN the second part of our interview with WRU chairman Gareth Davies, we turn to matters off the field.
There are big changes on the way in Welsh rugby, both at regional level and in the governance of the sport. Rugby correspondent
SIMON THOMAS finds out more as he talks to former Wales and Lions fly-half Davies.
Q: YOU’VE BEEN LOOKING AT THE HEALTH OF THE REGIONAL GAME THROUGH WHAT I UNDERSTAND IS CALLED ‘PROJECT RESET’. WHAT HAVE BEEN YOUR MAIN FINDINGS?
A: It needs more money. That was clear.
So we are putting in place a Professional Rugby Board, which basically will be responsible for raising money to fund the pro game.
We obviously have a big asset in town in the stadium, so some people might say why don’t you just borrow more money?
But I have always been nervous about just raising money against the stadium until I can prove that we are working well.
If we are all working collectively together and not haemorrhaging money, which has been the case in the past, then you can start thinking how to raise money long term.
In the immediate term, the question is how can we work together smarter?
If we have the five entities – WRU and the four regions – working together collectively, we can make significant savings.
There has been duplication in the past in terms of supplies to both the region and to Wales.
The five can work together to generate money as well, commercially and through sponsorship.
And what the exercise has proved is that all of us do want to work together.
Q: HOW CLOSE ARE YOU TO STRIKING A NEW DEAL WITH THE REGIONS, A REPLACEMENT FOR THE RUGBY SERVICES AGREEMENT?
A: That’s almost in place.
The previous deal was to hammer people, to control people totally.
We are moving away from the master-pupil relationship. We are all in this together. We don’t know any better than the regions, the regions don’t know any better than us. We are trying to work as a team. This is how we behave.
The new Professional Rugby Board will ask for collective thinking and their decisions will be for the betterment of the pro game.
Q: REFORMING THE GOVERNANCE OF THE WRU HAS BEEN A KEY OBJECTIVE FOR YOU IN YOUR SECOND TERM OF OFFICE. WHERE ARE WE ON THAT?
A: The board agreed to the parameters back in March. Not everybody, it wasn’t unanimous, but we do work to a cabinet system.
Our legal guys are now putting things together in terms of the fine details and the clubs will vote on the proposals at the AGM on Sunday, October 14.
Before that, my plan is to go out to all the districts again in late August and early September.
They have been told in letter form what the board have agreed to. There will be far more detail now and no doubt other questions.
They will have a chance to quiz us at an open meeting. Rather than just go to the AGM with ten pages of text, we can talk it through with them and have a debate before the AGM.
At the meetings, I want to get the district reps to contribute because it’s not Gareth Davies’ plan, it’s our plan, the board have approved it.
Q: HOW WOULD YOU SUMMARISE THE KEY ASPECTS OF THE PROPOSED REFORM?
A: The board would be reduced in number from 20 to no more than 12 to provide a more streamlined and modernised administration.
The other important part of the change is the separation of the community and the professional game.
As I said, there will be Professional Rugby Board in place, which will run the pro game. It will have to ensure there’s funding in place.
You would also have a Community Rugby Council established.
We would look for that to be more diverse, with more women, people representing disability, all the uncatered areas.
We will get new people on to the council, which means over time they feed into the board and make that more diverse too. I talk to people out there in Wales and they would like to get involved. They just feel at the moment it’s a bit of a closed shop so we are trying to open it up a little bit.
That’s not criticising anybody, it’s just making it more accessible to what should be representative of Wales in terms of rugby. At the moment, I don’t really think it is.
Q: DO YOU SEE ANY ISSUES OVER THE CLUBS BACKING THE PROPOSALS AT THE AGM?
A: I hope not, but it’s their call at the end of the day if they don’t want to change.
It is important the clubs realise how crucial it is to have an effective governance in terms of the decisionmaking process.
We are on a good run at the moment and things are going well financially, but we can see some pinch points over the next couple of years. Those could work against the community game. They would be the ones exposed if something bad happens.
If anything catastrophic did happen to the top end of the game – whether it’s sponsorship or the Six Nations not delivering or losing TV income – it would be the community game that would feel the pain as things stand, by the nature of contracts being in place for the pro game. So we are proposing that we will ring-fence the community funding.
We will guarantee them a figure which can only go up. That’s quite important for the community game and I would have thought that’s something they would welcome.
With guaranteed funding, they
wouldn’t see a drastic cut in three years time if something dreadful happened.
It’s not a carrot to get them to vote. It’s important for the maintenance and future stability of the game.
Q: WITH THE FOCUS ON THE NEW WALES COACH AND A NEW DEAL FOR THE REGIONS, IS THERE A CHANCE THAT THE CLUBS MIGHT FEEL THEY ARE BEING A BIT OVERLOOKED OR FORGOTTEN?
They are certainly not forgotten. They are critical for the future of the game.
Having kids playing and working their through the age groups at vibrant community clubs is a key part of the pathway. It starts at five, six, seven years of age.
Ring-fencing the funding of the community game and setting up the Community Council is part of recognising and acknowledging the crucial role the clubs play.