New chair Delyth Evans vows no repeat of crisis at S4C
Meanwhile she admitted that audiences for the broadcaster were a "massive challenge", and she was not comfortable with S4C's viewing figures.
Delyth Evans was announced earlier this month by the UK government as the preferred candidate to replace interim chair Guto Bebb.He had stepped in after former chair Rhodri Williams said he would not take up a second term.Williams had fired Sian Doyle after a highly critical review, the claims of which had been rejected by Doyle.At her pre-appointment hearing, Evans told the committee: "When the news broke in 22/23 about the failure of leadership at S4C I was very shocked, as I think an awful lot of people were."It was an established part of Welsh life, Welsh media and Welsh culture."All of a sudden it seemed precarious," she said. "We couldn't really take the future of S4C for granted in the way that we had done in the past."She said a "lot of people" felt at the time it was a "very serious moment".Evans told MPs she wanted to immediately "establish the culture of the board and the kind of leadership that is required".The former journalist said she wanted to "get to grips very quickly with what's been going on in the past year, to improve the culture, to improve the leadership, and to introduce new processes in terms of whistleblowing complaints that are actually going to work".She added that she wanted to "ensure that what happened previously is not going to happen again".
Evans said that "transformation is needed and I want to see that happening, to establish S4C that delivers on behalf of audiences".All public broadcasters face a challenge in maintaining audiences, she explained."Audiences are a massive challenge. I won't pretend that I'm comfortable with the viewing figures - I'm not. We want to see more people viewing S4C overall."While she said she would "love" to reach new viewers, Evans said she hoped the channel would maintain its current audience, and reach "young people and Welsh learners".
'Absolutely vital'
Delyth Evans had served as an assembly member between 2000 and 2003.Before politics Delyth Evans was a journalist at ITV-broadcaster HTV Wales, working on current affairs programme Y Byd ar Bedwar for S4C.After her stint in the Assembly she was chief executive of Smart Works, a women's employment charity, and is currently a board member at Sport Wales, and a trustee of the Urdd.Her appointment was criticised when it was announced by Welsh Conservative MS Andrew RT Davies, who said it had risked "public trust in Welsh media".Asked about her political background by Plaid Cymru's Llinos Medi, Evans told the committee: "I think being impartial as a chair and as an organisation is absolutely vital to the success of S4C."The S4C provision is reliant on cross party support."I would be very foolish if I personally were to undermine that in anyway."
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It's not a stretch to say that the Gallagher PREM offers that more than the United Rugby Championship, particularly given the latter's apparent stretch for American teams. Of course, the WRU's allegiances currently lie with the URC. The bizarre scenario of two WRU-funded - surviving, if you like - teams remaining in the URC, while the remaining two head over the bridge to find solace in England was put to Reddin, Tierney and Collier-Keywood. Perhaps surprisingly, it wasn't shot down immediately - even if Tierney eventually admitted that it was "getting way into the future of hypotheticals". She went on to suggest the idea two clubs that were no longer supported by WRU could play in the English Premiership franchise would be "very, very difficult," to make happen given the minimum standards and salary requirements. As for the prospect of the chosen clubs being offered up a way into an Anglo-Welsh league someway down the line, that was met with a straight bat from Reddin. "I think that we've got to think bigger picture longer term," he said. "In the short term that's not a viable option. "So I think what we're dealing with is what we've got at the moment. We've competed in the URC, that's our focus, we want to be winning the URC, that's the ambition." 'Unashamedly a radical decision' - a new 'national campus' Clearly the part Reddin is most excited about is the creation of a new shared 'national campus' which would house - should the optimal system be implemented - two professional men's clubs and the men's national team. "The campus is about creating a defensive moat for Welsh rugby," said Reddin. "It's about creating competitive advantage in the future. Quite how the campus would be funded or where it would even be built remains to be seen. Reddin has previous experience of a similar base with St George's Park at the Football Association. He admitted he had drawn a little from that, as well as other experiences from different sports around the world. However, this would be the first of its kind in rugby - with two professional teams and the national team training out of the same building - with initial plans showing six pitches, two indoor 4G pitches, shared facilities such as medical, S&C and catering spaces, and then environments solely for individual teams. "At its essence, the proposal is about how do we really supercharge collaboration and alignment? How do we really bring people together? "Because, as I said in the intro, for a small nation, with real proximity, we haven't done that very well. So we need to think about how do we do that differently. It hasn't worked well through an agreement. There's inherent frictions there. It hasn't worked well just by force of personalities. "What are we gonna do better and differently to any other nation if we believe we can out-compete them? Because performance is a dynamic environment. "All of our competitors, whether we are clubs or whether we are national teams, are not sitting on their hands doing nothing for the next five years. I think what we want us to what I want us to focus on is what advantages do we have in Wales and how do we supercharge those advantages." It is a radical part of the plan that Reddin admitted afterwards he was expecting pushback on. For him, clearly, the message to the public is to look past the perceived flaws and see the possible opportunities. Improving Super Rygbi Cymru If there is to be a reduction in the number of professional clubs, that will only serve to increase the reliance on Super Rygbi Cymru as a pathway. Reddin expressed his desire to grow the league in a similar way to the NPC in New Zealand or the Championship in England, with the WRU at pains to state that any cut in teams would open up added funding for the SRC. Collier-Keywood also believes that the league could offer a greater affinity for fans, should the number of sides at the top level be reduced. "I think there's obviously a danger that everyone is focused on the 'four, three or two' question but I would encourage you to look at a holistic change that's being proposed here," he said. "For example, we previously had a wider group of historic clubs that everyone would call 'the real clubs'. "Several times in this role, people have said to me the regions are not clubs in the same way. This proposal does include a significant investment into the SRC clubs to try and create that additional element of pathway that we've lacked in Wales that has really caused some difficulty in the past with bringing through elite players. Article continues below "We're trying to fix the whole system as opposed to just to focus on the 'four three or two' question."
