WRU to apologise to players over contract row but refute sexism claims

The Welsh Rugby Union say will apologise to its female players for the way they have dealt with contract negotiations but have strongly denied allegations of sexism.

A report in the Telegraph alleged the players were given a three-hour ultimatum to sign contracts after the women's national side threatened to go on strike. It was also alleged that the WRU's executive director of rugby Nigel Walker told players if they did not sign new contracts they would be withdrawn from the WXV2 tournament in South Africa and by extension the World Cup in England next year.

These fresh allegations have been put forward less than a year after an independent review lead by Dame Anne Rafferty found aspects of the WRU's culture to be sexist, misogynistic, racist and homophobic.

"It is absolutely clear that we need to apologise," said WRU CEO Richard Collier-Keywood.

"We had a meeting with them to let them know that was our intention and to share with them some of the recommendations. As part of that engagement, I will be apologising as will other members of the leadership.

"Yes, undoubtedly this is reputationally damaging for us. I accept that entirely.

"I think it's important people judge us on the basis on having seen the full report though and the causes behind it and what we are doing about them. We acknowledge we aren't perfect and there's a long road ahead of us in terms of trying to improve what we do.

"This is not a good day for us in relation to that. We totally accept that.

"We should have done better and we didn't but we've learnt our lessons and we'll keep learning our lessons and keep trying to improve."

A review of the process surrounding the contract negotiations, which was undertaken by WRU board members Alison Thorne and Claire Donovan, will be published by the end of the month.

But the WRU has revealed the report has already found a number of key failings. These were:

• It was a mistake to issue a three-hour deadline to the players with regards signing contracts
• The WRU had failed to take into account the growth and rapid change of the women's professional game
• Contrasting views on how to grow the women's game in Wales
• Players were left isolated without even being given WRU email addresses like any other employee
• The players considered strike action before the friendly with Scotland on September 6
• Not enough transparency in the contract talks which led to poor behaviour from both parties
• Sexism was not the root cause

While the WRU accept there are clear failings in the way they dealt with these contract allegations they strongly refute allegations of sexism.

"None of the parties mentioned it so the WRA didn't mention it either," said Donovan. "It wasn't just the players.

"I would like to say, and the evidence we've seen over the last few weeks, is that the players trusted Alison and I. I think this is one of the reasons the review got delayed is because there weren't that many people who necessarily wanted to speak to us, understandably.

"I met with the contract review group and then I met with other players and I think they then felt that Alison and I were people they could trust, that they could invest their trust in.

"That's a huge position of responsibility and I do feel that very heavily. I'm very conscious we are lucky to have been given that opportunity by the players.

"I heard a lot and one of the things Alison and I have made sure we've done is anything that wasn't related directly to the contract negotiation review has gone in a pot to be explored further.

"Nothing was left if it wasn't directly related but I would absolutely stand by my statement that the drivers and the emotions that people felt wasn't sexism that was coming out. It was potentially a lack of respect and it was potentially a lack of understanding of the importance of people's position of power over that employee piece but it wasn't ever expressed as sexism."

Despite allegations in the Telegraph report surrounding the conduct of Walker and Wales Women's head coach Ioan Cunningham, the WRU refused to blame any one individual for its failings.

A couple of months ago the WRU announced new deals for 37 players worth £24,000-£30,000. The WRU has also increased its funding to girls and women's rugby by £6m.