The WRU has set a date for arguably the biggest EGM in its history
The Welsh Rugby Union has announced the seismic Extraordinary General Meeting which could change the face of the game in Wales will be held at the Principality Stadium on Monday, April 13, at 6pm.
Every member club will also have the option to attend online for the first time ever, while there is also the option of voting through a proxy form.
Three proposed motions that were put forward by the Central Glamorgan Rugby Union will be voted on includes a vote of no-confidence in WRU chair Richard Collier-Keywood.
These are as follows:
1. Proposed as a special resolution: That the four Board of Director positions held by persons elected from District Council Members and National Council Members be vacated and that the WRU Council hold elections for those board positions within 14 days of the date on which this resolution is passed (such election process to be overseen by the Board of Directors).
2. Proposed as a special resolution: That with effect from conclusion of the meeting the Articles of Association of the Company be amended by: Deleting Articles 43(a) and 43(b) in their entirety and replacing them with: “43(a) four Council Members (to include the chair of the Community Game Board) from the pool of National Council Members or District Council Members elected by Members in accordance with these Articles, who shall be appointed following an election process overseen by the Board of Directors”;
Amending Article 45 as follows: “45 One of the Directors appointed to the Board of Directors pursuant to Articles 43(a) or 43(b) shall be the chair of the Community Game Board, who shall be appointed to such role following an election process overseen by the Board of Directors.”
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And amending Article 50(d)(ii) as follows: “50(d)(ii) any Director appointed pursuant to Article 43(i)(a) 43(i)(b) shall retire upon expiry of such Director’s term as an elected Council Member (pending any re-election as a Council Member in accordance with the terms of these Articles);”
3. Proposed as an ordinary resolution: That a vote of no confidence be passed in respect of Richard Collier-Keywood, the current independent chair of the Company who shall resign from the Company’s Board of Directors with immediate effect.
Motion three, the removal of Collier-Keywood as a WRU director, requires a 50% share of the vote to pass.
But motions one and two are deemed ‘special resolutions’ and require a 75% majority to pass.
A requisition notice for the meeting was signed by 50 out of the 282 members of the Union.
But for the EGM to be quorate, 95 out of the 282 members must vote. Each member club is entitled to have two representatives at the meeting but only one can vote.
In addition to the three motions put forward Central Glamorgan Rugby Union also requested the WRU put an immediate hold on plans to amend the structure of the professional game, establish a rugby steering group within six weeks, set up a central national academy within three months, ensure no director is paid except the CEO, WRU chair and PRB chair, and ensure the WRU chair and PRB chair are immersed in Welsh culture.
They also wanted to rescind the decision made about past presidents of the WRU that resulted in their lifetime memberships being revoked.
In reply the WRU board says it is already planning to invest £28m into the pathway which includes a national academy and that reducing the number of professional clubs will result in improved sustainability in funding for these clubs.
The WRU board says it already has a duly appointed Professional Rugby Board (PRB), Women’s Rugby Committee and Community Game Board (CGB) which report into the main WRU Board. The PRB and CGB are embodied into our formal governance processes.
In addition, in accordance with the recommendations made in the 2023 Independent Review of the WRU (the Rafferty Report) a business advisory group currently made up of seven senior Welsh commercial and business leaders was appointed to advise and make recommendations to the WRU.
It claims these leaders make themselves available on a pro-bono basis to lend senior expertise across finance, retail, technology, legal and a number of other fields.
They also feel the WRU and PRB chair should be the best person for the job.
But the WRU board has rejected these proposals as inadmissible, and they will not be voted on at the EGM.
The WRU has urged its member clubs not to vote in favour of any of the three motions put forward. Regarding the first motion the WRU has emphasised that a clear and transparent election process has already been held to appoint the elected WRU council positions to the main board.
Regarding motion two they are seeking to change the constitution of the main WRU board by removing the quota of district-elected persons and nationally-elected persons that make up the four elected directors who join the WRU Board.
The WRU claim this would create an imbalance on the board between district-appointed directors and national appointed directors and is essentially a move to unpick the recommendations put forward by Dame Anne Rafferty to modernise the governance which 97% of member clubs voted in favour of at the previous EGM in 2023.
Regarding the vote of no-confidence in Collier-Keywood the WRU claims he has more than met his expectations when appointed.
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