WRU publish huge cost of sackings over the last year

The Welsh Rugby Union posted a turnover of £101.3m for the year ending June 2023 they revealed today in their annual report, but £1.9m of that was spent on a spate of sackings and resignations.

In a space of a few weeks at the end of last year and the beginning of this year, Wales sacked head coach Wayne Pivac and his coaching team shortly before CEO Steve Phillips resigned after a misogyny scandal in the WRU. In Wales' annual report published today, new independent chair of the WRU Richard Collier-Keywood confirmed that those exits cost Wales almost £2m.

Following an autumn where Wales won only one game from four, which included a 13-12 loss to Georgia as well as blowing a 34-13 lead in the final 20 minutes against Australia, Pivac was dismissed after three years in charge and was soon replaced by Warren Gatland. Things went from bad to worse in the new year when allegations were made over sexism and discrimination in the WRU.

"I think that the team at the WRU has delivered a strong performance against a year full with difficulties," Collier-Keywood said.

"These difficulties have cost Welsh rugby significant money as the WRU parted company with some significant individuals including a long serving-Executive-and-CEO and also some senior coaches during the year. The costs of these changes are disclosed clearly in our accounts and amount to £1.9m.

"We have also taken a fresh look at some accounting in prior years, and made some restatements which will put us on the correct footing to approach the years ahead.

"These are all fully disclosed in the financial information that we are issuing today."

The report revealed that Phillips' compensation for loss of office after his contract was terminated was £480k. It also showed that 65% of the turnover came from international matches, which was reduced slightly as Wales only hosted two Six Nations matches in 2023.

The average attendance at the Principality Stadium also increased from the year before from 62,000 to 68,000, or 92% of capacity, which could have been influenced by the return of Gatland for the Six Nations.

Interim WRU CEO Nigel Walker said: "All the profits made by the WRU Group are fed back into the game in Wales, we are guardians of our game and we take this responsibility very seriously.

"We have a stated policy of maximum reinvestment into the game annually, rather than retaining profits, and we have been able to increase our investment in Welsh rugby by £2.4m, up to £65.3m, despite the tough financial climate our game is facing."