Welsh rugby: Who sits on the WRU board?

Ieuan Evans and Nigel Walker must convince the clubs to vote through change

New Welsh rugby chief Nigel Walker has vowed to improve the diversity of the game's governing body.

Welsh rugby is facing an "existential crisis" according to the man who has stepped into the breach following Steve Phillips's resignation.

Along with new chairman Ieuan Evans, top of the list is changing the culture and governance within the organisation itself.

But who are the people behind the scenes in charge of our national game?

The WRU board is made up of 12 directors.

Of those, eight have been voted into position by the clubs, three are independents and with the final place going to the chief executive.

For many, that imbalance is part of the problem with the governance of the WRU as branded "archaic".

"People have called for change in the WRU for years but nothing has happened," said former Sport Wales chief executive Huw Jones.

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"Most sporting governing bodies in Wales have evolved, they are more balanced, have outside expertise and are much more professional.

"The WRU has not changed. The board is still dominated by elected district representatives from the clubs who will always have the ascendancy in voting and that's why nothing has changed."

Of the 12 board members, only one - Catherine Read - is a woman.

Former member Amanda Blanc quit her role within the WRU after just two years having grown increasingly frustrated at the apparent reluctance within the organisation to modernise.

In her leaving speech, Ms Blanc, on the 2021 Forbes most influential women in the world list, said she was questioned whether she had "sufficient business experience".

She also recalled a board member saying "men are the master race" and women should "stick to the ironing".

Mr Jones said: "When people of Amanda Blanc's quality leave, it makes you wonder what is going on. Those comments give dinosaurs a bad name and these are the people governing the game in Wales."

Amanda Blanc warned the WRU it had "deep rooted"culture and behaviour problems

WRU chairman Ieuan Evans said he wanted to change this by convincing the majority of the 300-plus member clubs at an extraordinary general meeting (EGM) in March to accept a 13th member - an independent chair of the board .

His predecessors Gareth Davies and Rob Butcher both failed with a similar resolution, most recently in October 2022, however there is a belief that there is a "groundswell" of support for change after last week's furore.

"We recognise we need to reform and we need to make sure there is a diversity of people and skills on that board and that all the components of what makes a £100m business are represented. We are absolutely committed to that," said Mr Walker.

And, of course, this is all going ahead just days before Warren Gatland and his Wales team kick-off the Six Nations.

So, these are the senior figures at the helm.

Ieuan Evans (chairman)

Ieuan Evans scored 33 tries for Wales over 11 years of international rugby

As a player, Evans was unrivalled, breaking records and scoring career-defining tries.

Between 1987 and 1998, the Llanelli wing became Wales' record try-scorer (33) and captained his country more times than anyone else, including lifting the Five Nations trophy in 1994. He toured with the British & Irish Lions three times, scoring the series-winning try against Australia in 1989.

He became a WRU council member in 2020 and replaced Rob Butcher as chairman in November.

Anthony Buchanan (vice-chairman)

Buchanan is in his second spell on the board

Former Wales and Llanelli prop Buchanan is Evans's former teammate and now deputy as vice-chair.

He spent five years as a board member before standing down in 2019, when he was replaced by former Wales captain Liza Burgess.

A retired company director and current chairman of Llanelli RFC, he was voted back onto the council in March 2022 after Burgess stood down to pursue a different role with the union.

Henry Engelhardt

The American entrepreneur and businessman was joint founder of Cardiff-based insurance company Admiral, which employs 11,000 people.

He stepped down in 2016 after 15 years as chief executive having helped broker the deal for Admiral to become shirt sponsors of the Wales national team.

He was appointed an independent non-executive director by the WRU in March 2021, having served in a similar role with Wales Millennium Centre for seven years.

Originally from Chicago, with a journalistic degree, he has lived in Wales for more than three decades but is also a minority shareholder of the Chicago Cubs baseball team.

Chris Jones

A founding member of Newcastle Emlyn, Jones has served as secretary since its formation in 1977 - as well as being a past player, captain and coach.

He also coached the Welsh Schools Intermediate (Under 16) International side and chaired the Intermediate Group and the Schools Council.

Having taught PE for 35 years before his retirement in 2010, he joined the WRU board in 2018 and is a District Council Member.

John Manders

John Manders is chairman of Cardiff-club Old Illtydians

A former sergeant with South Wales Police, he was capped by Wales at youth level and toured South Africa in 1980 and went on to play for Cardiff, Newport and Pontypridd.

After retiring from the police, he has continued to work as a law lecturer at the University of South Wales, and artistic director at Tickledom Theatrical Productions.

He was elected chairman of the community game board in November 2022, in place of departing Rob Butcher, which brought with it a place on the board.

Chris Morgan

Played rugby for Glyncorrwg and Tonmawr before moving into strength and conditioning coaching where he worked for three years with Ospreys as well as Swansea and Aberavon.

A former senior non-commissioned officer in the Royal Marines, he first joined the WRU Board in 2014.

Catherine Read

Catherine Read and Henry Engelhardt were both appointed to the board in March 2021

A second independent member, Read remains a chartered accountant for Royal London Asset Management, one of the UK's leading fund management companies, managing about £148bn worth of assets.

Originally from Haverfordwest, Pembrokeshire, she won the Markets Media 2020 European Women in Finance Excellence in Leadership Award.

Phil Thomas

Swansea council worker from Clydach is a former Wales Schools Under-16 international and played youth rugby for Morriston before joining Vardre where he became club secretary, vice chairman and then chairman in 2012.

Malcolm Wall

The former Harlequins chairman replaced Amanda Blanc as chair of the Professional Rugby Board (PRB), granting him a place on the board as well.

Wall began his media career at Southern, Anglia and then Granada Television before becoming deputy chief executive of Meridian Broadcasting in the early 1990s.

He went on to lead the multinational media company United Business Media over a four-year period before running Virgin Media's content business for three years as well as serving as chairman of UKTV.

Nigel Walker

Nigel Walker played 17 times for Wales between 1992 and 1998

The former Wales rugby international and Olympic hurdler joins the board having taken over as acting chief executive following the resignation of Steve Phillips on Sunday.

After retiring from rugby in the late 1990s, Walker worked for the Welsh Institute of Sport before becoming head of sport at BBC Wales for five years and then head of change and internal communications for a further five.

He became national director at the English Institute of Sport before joining the WRU in 2021 as performance director.

His first major move was to introduce the first professional contracts for female international players after admitting the WRU had not "covered itself in glory" in how it managed the women's game.

Colin Wilks

Having joined the Board in 2019, Wilks has spent nearly 50 years in rugby, as a player, referee, coach and administrator with Risca.

The retired engineer worked in the mining and metals industry.

Dave Young

Young played for Llandaff North and went on to become club secretary. Formerly a selector, vice chairman and competition secretary for the East District Rugby Union.

He is a retired chartered electrical engineer and former design and construction manager for Cardiff council and joined the WRU board in 2014.

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