After the first six months of my tenure we launched our new headline strategy for the game in Wales, in June 2024.
We have called this strategy ‘One Wales… where rugby matters more’ and in the last six months we have been working in earnest on the systems and structures which underpin and fund it and which will see us achieve its key aims and objectives over the course of the five year plan it describes. (CLICK HERE TO VIEW STRATEGY)
Key achievements this year have included over 772k tickets scanned across all events at Principality Stadium, including 24,000 supporters joining us for our stadium tours and new visitors to our freshly launched SCALE attraction. We welcomed Taylor Swift, Billy Joel, Foo Fighters, P!nk and Speedway to Cardiff in non-rugby events bringing over 350,000 fans between them. For 2025 we already have four sold out external events in the calendar including the first Oasis gig in 16 years.
Thousands of children throughout Wales have been supported by our Fit, Fed, Fun rugby camp programme in the calendar year. Girls in Rugby Week saw thousands more individuals attend rugby festivals nationally and our Road to Principality season hosted 43 finals. All part of our drive to continue to grow the game throughout the nation.
Wales assistant coach Rob Howley visited the Fit Fed and Fun camp in Cefn Cribbwr, Bridgend
I’d like to thank all of the good people across Wales who support the game and voluntarily fill roles at rugby clubs up and down the country as well as those who participate on the pitch. Without them and the fantastic staff we have we would not succeed and by continuing to join together we will achieve more.
Season 2024/25 has seen a great start to our National leagues for senior men, women and youth teams. We have seen a rise in games completed during this period and we know there is more we can do to improve further.
As we enter 2025, we continue to execute our plan with the end date for ‘One Wales’ – the time when it should be judged by its successes, points of learning and evolution – being the 2029 season.
All elements are agreed and are now being executed – from growing participation to investing in the Women’s Game – save for one final and vital piece of the jigsaw.
Our professional game is such a key part of our strategic plan that we need to ensure we have our new Professional Rugby Agreement (PRA) before we can make the next move on some important elements.
For absolute clarity this means a new deal with all four current regional clubs which will increase finances and other supporting factors to levels which will enable continued success and sustainability long into the future and by 2029.
This decision to sustain four regional clubs and not reduce in number divides opinion in Wales. Â Many I have spoken to are supportive and are excited to see what the increased collaboration and investment will bring for Welsh rugby. There are equally those who say that either, objectively, the right decision has not been made or that we have lacked decisiveness in general.
We have made our decision with full grasp of the facts at play, all the research that has gone before and with the best ‘bird’s eye’ view of what may lie ahead. We will get into the detail of this again, but my intention here is to establish that this detail (which leads us to conclude four regional clubs is the current optimum model) exists and that it is persuasive.
As I say above. All the while we are getting on with executing all elements of our plan. One particular success story, where you can see the changes we have made to our pathways programme, is the Super Rygbi Cymru competition which has been exciting us all at Welsh club venues and on our TV screens over the Christmas period. This growth in standards and development will pay dividends to us long into the future and the same can be said for the Celtic Challenge competition in the Women’s game – and it is great to see a Welsh team sitting at the top of the table at Christmas, well done Gwalia Lightning!
Elsewhere, we begin consultation with our member clubs in the New Year on a new model for apportioning the funding they receive and we are hugely optimistic about forging a new way ahead in the community game to ensure that it continues to evolve in a manner that befits a sport that represents a nation… where rugby matters more!
On the international stage we will have a new head coach for our Wales Women’s side in the New Year with two exciting home fixtures in the Six Nations to follow, one against Ireland at Rodney Parade and the other against England at Principality Stadium where we expect record numbers to attend. Please keep an eye out for news of what is to come for this game, which we expect to be as much of an ‘event’ for all the family as it will be a compelling and tantalising fixture.
Warren Gatland’s Wales side begin their 2025 Six Nations campaign against France
First up internationally are our senior men’s national side, fresh from the regional club URC derbies where we wish them well this weekend, and we look forward to welcoming those selected back to international camp just ahead of the third week in January.
They will be welcomed by a determined Warren Gatland and his team, galvanised by the challenge ahead. In a British & Irish Lions tour year it is of course all the more important to not look too far ahead and the lazer focus will be on getting preparations right for that first round match in France.
There’ll be no need to dwell in the past either, unless of course they tune into the new Principality Stadium documentary played out on BBC Wales over the New Year (6.30pm BBC One Wales 31/12/2024).
The TV crews spent a year with Welsh Rugby Union colleagues working across the varied and wonderous events we hosted in 2024 and it fills me with great pride to think that the wider public will get a glimpse into the generous-hearted and characterful individuals that really help define us as an organisation.
From Taylor Swift speaking Welsh on the Principality Stadium stage to an old Robert Earnshaw-signed football boot in an underground store cupboard, the documentary has everything you could wish for. 2024 was another annus mirabilis for many of the dedicated colleagues who work with us and for many throughout the game in Wales, the length and breadth of the country, and I wish each and every one an equally wonderful New Year for 2025, that’s certainly what we have planned for!
Blwyddyn Newydd Dda
Abi Tierney
