Cardiff director calls for Welsh Rugby Union board to resign
Cardiff Rugby non-executive director Hayley Parsons has called for the entire board of the Welsh Rugby Union to resign.
The letter, which has been endorsed by the four professional regional teams, has been sent to WRU chairman Ieuan Evans and has asked for the immediate removal of chief executive Steve Phillips along with the rest of the board.
It comes after a BBC Wales Investigates programme revealed that there have been allegations of sexism, racism and misogyny within the Welsh Rugby Union.
Parsons, who acts as a non-executive director at Cardiff Rugby and founded financial services comparison website GoCompare, has taken aim at the “toxic culture” within the WRU as well as the board’s “incompetence” in a scathing letter.
Scathing letter sent to the Welsh Rugby Union.
“I write to you today to urge you to take immediate and decisive action to address the issues raised in this week’s BBC Wales Investigates programme, but also against a backdrop of a long-standing and deep-rooted culture of toxicity and bullying within the Welsh Rugby Union,” Parsons wrote.
“In my role as a non-executive director at Cardiff Rugby, I constantly witness and have to deal with the fallout of incompetence at the Welsh Rugby Union.
“I believe the board, in its current state, does not possess the expertise and experience to run the WRU, which is essentially a £100million company.
“As a group of individuals, they are not fit for purpose, and the future of Welsh rugby requires people with the capability and experience to turn this urgent and dire situation around.”
The regions have long been at odds with the national body.
The four professional regional teams in Wales, Cardiff, Ospreys, Scarlets and Dragons, have long been at odds with the WRU over the funding that the national governing body provides them with.
In her letter, Parsons explains that the regions’ current strategy is to stay afloat in the hope that the governance of the WRU changes so that the teams can make it to the next season.
Parsons writes that the regions have held back in their criticism of the WRU in the past in fear of retribution, and likened the current arrangement between the two as an “abusive relationship”.
