CF10 Rugby Trust

A year ago, we conducted a survey of our members, asking for their thoughts on the future direction of travel after the WRU’s purchase of Cardiff Rugby and subsequent decision to review the structure of the Welsh game.

Our members made it clear that they were opposed to ongoing WRU ownership. 77% wanted a swift return to private ownership with only 13% expressing a willingness to proceed as a centrally owned team.

Fans are certainly grateful that the WRU stepped in to rescue the club after the actions of Neal Griffith and Philip Kempe of Helford Capital pushed us into administration. The union on that occasion did what the RFU were criticised for not doing when English Premiership clubs found themselves in a similar position and they are once again to be thanked.

However, a deep seated mistrust of our governing body and its decision making has been built up over many decades. It is testament to the scale of that ongoing mistrust that fans still preferred private ownership over the WRU’s safety net. A clear majority of our members wish to see the club back in private ownership.

We were glad to see that the WRU had apparently kept to their word and were going through an extended, thorough process of selling the club. Although we were amongst those in Welsh rugby horrified at their eventual choice of preferred bidder.

We disapproved of the choice of Y11 for two chief reasons:

Firstly, we felt deep empathy for our friends at the Ospreys. We have never had any desire for our survival to come at the expense of another club. The notion of choosing a buyer for our club in order to solve a political problem of the union’s own making was and still is deeply distasteful.

Secondly, entering negotiations with a group who already own a Welsh pro club seemed always likely to create a protracted, complex process during which players, employees and fans alike would be offered little clarity on the future.

Yesterday the Chief Executive of the WRU explained they were taking the club off the market after lengthy negotiations with Y11 indeed got them nowhere.

To her credit, Abi Tierney fronted up to journalists on what was no doubt yet another day of deep embarrassment for the WRU.

She stated that it was “not the right time” to sell Cardiff.

“It’s not the right time to sell Cardiff now with where we are in the market, so we’re taking Cardiff off the market.”

This was stated in response to a question asking if the WRU would now reopen talks with Martyn Ryan’s consortium. The so called “Hollywood” bid which Abi Tierney in the same interview confirmed was a credible bid for ownership of the club.

This explanation simply isn’t good enough.

If there were no other credible parties interested in buying the club then this “not the right time” statement might make more sense. But the WRU themselves have confirmed that this is not the case.

The WRU’s statement suggests that Cardiff remain under WRU ownership “until it makes commercial and strategic sense to revisit this decision.” The WRU should be obliged to define what commercial and strategic conditions would need to be arrived at to then trigger a return to the market.

It would be good to know if the WRU has even defined for itself what those conditions are.

It may well be that the WRU feel that in years to come they may be able to sell the club for a better price.

The WRU certainly needs money and certainly needs to make smart financial decisions.

But as things stand, the WRU intend to fulfill the “benefactor” role at Cardiff occupied by private owners at the other 3 clubs. In doing so they have committed to spending more on Cardiff in at least the short term.

Would the sale at a later date be enough to justify this additional expenditure? All in Welsh rugby will surely be asking this question. Why is it suddenly not in the WRU’s interests to sell the club?

It seems that the WRU must be very certain about their ability to get a much better offer at a later date in order to justify taking Cardiff off the market. Why?

Other clubs will also undoubtedly be wanting assurances that Cardiff are not given further preferential treatment. Perfectly understandable.

From a Cardiff perspective, this surely creates the potential for slow moving, guarded decision making at exactly the time when the club needs the very opposite.

As a minimum, the board of Cardiff Rugby (currently consisting of just four individuals) needs to be made as independent as possible, with no WRU employees. This seems an obvious move if indeed the aim remains to eventually transfer the club back into private hands.

Looked at from a wider perspective, the longer Cardiff remain in union hands, the longer fans will treat the union with suspicion and accuse them of dealing from the bottom of the deck.

For Welsh rugby to return to something resembling normality and for the negativity stemming from the current dispute to subside sooner rather than later, it is not enough for all clubs to be signed to PRA25. All sides need to be put on an equal footing and that means all four need to be privately owned.

Finally, it is surely in the WRU’s interests to quash speculation. If there is one lesson to take from the past year’s events (and surely there are several lessons to be learned) it is that in an information vacuum, speculation, accusation and misinformation thrive.

In summation, it is in no one’s interests for “it’s not the right time” to remain the only explanation for taking Cardiff off the market.

The current leadership of the WRU have correctly identified that the culture at the union needed to change. They have also correctly identified that in terms of professional business expertise, the current board is considerably stronger and more impressive than those we have seen in the past.

But perhaps they may wish to ask themselves if they have continued making some of the same mistakes that previous regimes have made.

The WRU has often found itself driven by strong personalities who seem to be able to push forward their own ideas. It’s hard to not view Richard Collier Keywood (apparently a big proponent for the unpopular Y11 deal) and his huge role in events of the past year in a similar light.

WRU board members remind us time and again in interviews that the new board is stacked with experience and expertise. No doubt there are several individuals with impressive CVs present. But ultimately, the board will be judged on their actions, not on past achievements. Currently, it is hard to see where the board have begun pushing Welsh rugby forward.

The WRU need to be open about their plans for Cardiff Rugby. They need to fully explain why the club is now off the market.

Until they do, no one in the Welsh game can have full clarity on the direction of travel. Furthermore, the WRU board will continue to fail abysmally in their goal to be the regime that finally starts to rebuild the union’s shattered reputation