The Wales Rugby Union has issued a grovelling apology after a Telegraph Sport investigation uncovered widespread sexism in the way it handled contract negotiations with its women’s team.
Players were left “emotionally unwell” during a convoluted and unprofessional negotiating process which lasted several months and escalated when the WRU threatened to pull the women’s team from next year’s home World Cup.
During a bombshell press conference held on Friday, less than 24 hours after the revelations were revealed in the Telegraph, the WRU admitted failings in the way it conducted negotiations and apologised for bringing unnecessary harm and stress to its women’s players.
“This is not a good day for us, we totally accept that. We should have done better and we didn’t, but we have learned our lessons and we will keep trying to improve,” said Richard Collier-Keywood, the WRU chair, adding it was “absolutely clear” the governing body should apologise to its female players.
The WRU acknowledged the process had caused huge amounts of “mistrust” within the organisation and that it had served as a major distraction for its women’s team, which finished bottom of this year’s Six Nations and secured only one win at WXV2.
A year after an independent review highlighted a “toxic” culture within the WRU, the organisation regretted giving players a “draconian” threat to sign contracts they had not agreed to within a three-hour deadline or risk forfeiting planned matches and major tournaments, including next year’s World Cup.
Despite admitting “poor behaviour”, the union said it was not a sexist organisation, although declined to comment on whether it would have threatened its men’s team with similar action.
Nigel Walker, the WRU’s executive director of rugby, was at the centre of the decision to pressure players into signing contracts or risk withdrawing from WXV competition, and subsequently next year’s World Cup in England.
When asked whether Walker’s position was untenable, Abi Tierney, the WRU chief executive, said: “Nigel acknowledges that we needed to have done things better. We will work together as a team to implement these actions.”
Expanding on this point, Collier-Keywood said it would be wrong to “lay the blame at an individual’s door” and highlighted a “complex series of events” that resulted in a breakdown of communications between players and the union, including the threat of strike action from players.
Walker oversaw the introduction of the union’s first central contracts for women in 2021, when Wales finished third in the 2022 and 2023 Six Nations, but the WRU conceded it had been blindsided by the players’ advocacy.
“As the women’s professional sport grows, the dynamics about employment, engagement, media, brand and the structure of the women’s game in many sports is undergoing rapid change,” said Alison Thorne, a WRU board member.
“The WRU process for contracts failed to take this into account when approaching the new round of contract negotiations.
“The players have been kept at a distance from the People Team and the wider WRU, and this has resulted in mistrust, which could isolate the players even further, if not resolved.
“The players, having had little exposure to contract negotiations previously, did not know what was to what to expect, and there was a level of inexperience as to what might happen.”
A review of the contract negotiation process is expected to publish its recommendations later this month.
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