Welsh Rugby Union

Part of 4. Topical Questions – in the Senedd at 3:45 pm on 25 January 2023.

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Photo of Dawn Bowden Dawn Bowden Labour 3:45, 25 January 2023

I heard that call for an independent regulator come from Tonia Antoniazzi in the programme. It's the first time I've heard that call made by anybody, so I would need to have some discussion with officials about what that might look like, how that would work in practice, what the legalities of that might be, how that would link in, for instance, with international bodies, because the national governing bodies of Wales don't stop in Wales; there are international rugby boards, there's UEFA for football, there's FIFA for football, there are international boards for all of our governing bodies. So, on the face of it, it's not as simple as it sounds. However, I do think there is something in there that we could look at, but I certainly can't make any commitments to that at this stage, because I think that does require some considerable investigation.

Llywydd, if you'll bear with me, I'm very conscious that I didn't answer one of the points that Heledd Fychan raised with me, which was about the public funding of the WRU. What I would say is that the Welsh Government clearly does have a long-standing financial relationship with the WRU, which is based on basically advancing public and economic objectives. And as one of our major partners, we have very, very clear expectations about what an organisation looks like and behaves like to be in receipt of public funds, and that that is something that we will be watching very, very carefully in future.

Sport Wales has recently developed, with the sector, a capability and governance guidance framework for all national governing bodies working in Wales, and that's been developed by the sector to help provide a supportive tool to help organisations across a range of sectors. Now, again, one of the things I will want to be speaking to the WRU about is whether they are taking all of that on board. It's a new set of guidance from Sport Wales, and I will be expecting the WRU to be complying with it.