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Holding an impromptu press conference following Telegraph Sport’s investigation into how the company mishandled contract negotiations was probably not the way Welsh Rugby Union (WRU) bosses expected to spend their Friday afternoon.
For more than an hour, they apologized for the way women had been treated during lengthy and complicated contract negotiations. They did it in a robust and defensive manner.
It was so embarrassing that at one point the free Zoom call time ran out. A reminder, perhaps, that the WRU has no money and desperately needs to increase ticket sales for the upcoming autumn international window, at a time when its men’s game is hemorrhaging financial and is plagued by its own deep-rooted problems. Or an apt metaphor for his general incompetence.
WRU representatives spent much of the hour-long call apologizing profusely. They apologized for not treating their players like employees.
They apologized for the stress and harm they had caused, poor management behavior and the lack of a “clear process with open dialogue”. But they have also fiercely denied claims that their treatment of female players amounted to any form of sexism.
What is clear is that the WRU has failed to learn the lessons of last year’s publication of an independent report which delivered a damning verdict on the organisation’s “toxic” culture.
A total of 36 recommendations were issued following the voluminous 133-page document and the WRU is now preparing to implement another, after saying it would learn “lessons” from its botched process of rehiring women.
Soon this union will be buried under so many recommendations, measures and goals that you will wonder if you will ever be able to see it at all.
How did we get there? The WRU appeared to have turned a corner when Nigel Walker took the helm and introduced historic contracts for the women’s team in 2022.
Walker was credited with recognizing the players’ struggles and listening to their needs, but what he and his colleagues failed to understand was how quickly the women’s game had grown, even since then.
It is no longer enough for unions to use women’s football as a public relations exercise, award professional contracts to women – some of which are just above the national living wage – and pat themselves on the back.
It’s everything from simple measures like ensuring players can access a spending system so they don’t have to pay for hotels out of pocket and not claim the funds – a a common phenomenon among players who earn barely more than the national salary. living wage – to some of the most important requirements, such as implementing a tailor-made maternity policy that meets the performance needs of its employees. These two requirements are not unreasonable in most workplaces.
WRU had no response to “sign here or else” threats
The most shocking revelation, however, is how players were threatened with disciplinary action if they did not obey the union’s orders and sign on the dotted line. Surely the Welsh would never be threatened with losing a World Cup if they did not sign what was offered to them?
“This is a very difficult question to answer,” said Richard Collier-Keywood, making the most diplomatic statement of the century, when the subject was put to him.
But considering this is the same organization that moved heaven and earth to prevent its men’s team from going on strike and forfeiting their Six Nations match against England last year due to contractual disputes, the answer is actually quite simple. Of course, that wouldn’t be the case.
But the most bizarre moment came at the end when Claire Donovan, one of the WRU board members on the call, said how happy she was to meet those who cover women’s football .
“I’ve always really admired some of you in your journalism and I’m in the firing line the first time I meet you, which is a little scary,” she said, looking from a laughing teenage Taylor fan. Swift on the other end of the line.
That pretty much sums up the WRU’s disastrous attitude towards the whole saga. Yes, there is a woman’s game, and yes, the powers that be who fail to treat it with the respect it deserves will be held to account.
