Rob Regan, the former chief operating officer of Principality, has put himself forward to stand as part of an interim alternative board amid calls for the Welsh Rugby Union's existing board to step down.
Pressure mounts on WRU board
CEO Abi Tierney, as well as the rest of the WRU's current board, are under increasing pressure after a bruising week to their plans to cut a team in west Wales. The governing body hope to get down to three professional teams by the start of the 2028/29 season, but both the Ospreys and Scarlets hit back at the WRU this week.
The two west Wales clubs both publicly accused bosses of choosing the wrong path amid accusations of a lack of transparency and demanded the WRU show the evidence used to decide west Wales should have only one team going forward.
Then, on Thursday, influential businesswoman and former Cardiff director Hayley Parsons called for the board to resign en masse. That was backed up by Wales dual-code legend Jonathan Davies on Friday in a video on Instagram.
Regan outlines intention to stand
Now, Regan, who had emerged earlier this year as a figurehead for an alternative plan to keep four teams in Wales, has thrown his hat into the ring when it comes to taking over from the current board.
The only way the board can be replaced is if its members resigned or an Extraordinary General meeting was triggered by 10% of the WRU's 282 member clubs, followed by a vote.
Regan had already mobilised support for an oversight committee to hold the WRU to account and offer an alternative plan back in March. That was around the time that the WRU were facing an extraordinary general meeting that could have ousted chair Richard Collier-Keywood. However, he ended up stepping away from the role beforehand.
Posting on LinkedIn, Regan supported what Parsons and Davies had said as he outlined his intention to stand as part of an alternative board.
Regan's criticism and five-step plan
"Of all the people I’ve met in my work on WRU Hayley Parsons OBE has by far been their strongest ally and supporter. Over the last 12 months she has been working with the WRU CEO and a number of Board members to try and help them. They have consistently over promised and under delivered and let Hayley down. Her first instinct was to support the CEO and try and mobilise others to do the same."
"However the collective arrogance across the very top of the game is unbelievable and worse than anything I have seen in my 30 years in different business sectors."
"The brutal truth is we have allowed the pendulum to swing too far post the Dame Anne Rafferty review. Whilst many of the changes I still support and believe in we just got the wrong people."
"We the Rugby Public are being misled through strong assertions but no evidence supporting their claims is ever shared. Statements about profitability, costs base, stadium ownership are misleading or at best confusing. Never backed up with data."
"Whilst I said in January I wanted to remain independent to try and maintain integrity and drive better outcomes I am now in a different place."
"I and a number of others are prepared to stand as an alternative interim Board to steady the ship and appoint a more capable, credible and experienced Board to directly address the broken trust, lack of transparency and toxic culture that still ostracises and ousts any internal challenge."
He then called for help in getting the "silent majority to step up". "We need a much stronger balance of commerciality, Rugby Administors, Ex Players and Transformation experts to sustainably shift Culture before it’s too late. There are strong people inside and outside the organisation with no desire for money fame or fortune willing step in."
"Help me give them the confidence that they won’t become the targets? Your credibility and endorsement of an alternative option to restore trust and deliver for member clubs would be crucial."
Regan then outlined a five-step plan that began with proposing an interim group. He said they would then create a mandate to "restore trust and credibility through transparency".
The next step would be to "bring the outside in quickly but from Wales, welsh diaspora and the wider rugby and business communities" before looking to "radically reduce waste, drive efficiency and redirect administrative costs into the core rugby product". The final step would be to drive revenue and growth "much harder with partner and sponsor support".
Regan finished his post by saying that, this year, he has called for the WRU to pause the strategy, publish the evidence and protect communities and pathways.
"Like many before us we’ve been ignored," he said. "Wales has become completely divided through misinformation and lack of a clear fact base. Let’s open the books!"
