The Welsh Rugby Union have been criticised by a government report following allegations of racism, misogyny, sexism and homophobia within the organisation.
A documentary aired by the BBC earlier this year revealed the issues within the governing body.
Chief executive Steve Phillips resigned following the allegations and an external taskforce was set up to investigate.
The Senedd report was scathing over the WRU’s initial inaction, stating that they only decided to act when the individuals affected spoke to the media.
Systemic failures
“It is unacceptable that it took a BBC documentary for the Welsh Rugby Union to act decisively to tackle long-standing toxic behaviour within the organisation,” read the 33-page committee report.
“There is a clear body of evidence that points to opportunities that were missed by the WRU to act on concerning behaviour, or to acknowledge and tackle a pattern of this behaviour.
“This includes formal complaints; the WRU entering into several settlement agreements in relation to allegations of sexism, racism and homophobia over several years; the review into the women’s game; and the resignation of Amanda Blanc (chair of Wales’ Professional Rugby Board).
“Taken together, these point to systemic failures in the culture of the WRU.
“The fact that senior management did not identify and tackle the problem is a serious failure of governance.”
Extracts of a previously unseen 2021 independent review were also published, which showed that female players in Wales may have faced “unfavourable treatment.”
The WRU responded in a statement, accepting the findings and that they are committed to addressing their “past failures.”
“We have already accepted that we have much work to do to ensure that we address our past failures and we again express our sincere remorse for the missed opportunities and failures described and offer our sincere apologies to anyone affected,” the statement read.
“We are fully committed to implementing all of the recommendations of the current independent review into the WRU.
“The committee are right to highlight that we should not wait until the taskforce completes its work before we make changes, specifically to ensure that our staff feel safe, supported and valued, and that we tackle incidents and behaviours in a robust and consistent matter.”
CEO’s response
Nigel Walker, who took over as acting CEO after the resignation of Phillips, says that he is committed to changing the culture within the organisation but insists that it will “take time.”
“Whilst this period has been extremely challenging for us, I hope you can appreciate that our intention is to accept and learn from the challenges we face, and to change the way that we work day to day,” Walker wrote.
“The (2021) review made very challenging reading for us and described a committed squad of high-performance athletes frustrated by the support they were receiving, with failures in strategic and operational management.
“The review report also made clear that we had not ensured that our female players felt fully welcomed, valued and an equal part of our game.
“Changing culture takes time, but we are determined to do it.”
READ MORE: WRU chairman Ieuan Evans apologises over ‘distressing’ sexism and discrimination allegations and launches external taskforce
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