WRU defend redundancies as 4,500 people urge them to reconsider

Wales Online

17-05-2025

WRU defend redundancies as 4,500 people urge them to reconsider
The WRU has come under fire for its decision to cut its hub officers programme
WRU's Geraint John
(Image: Jonathan Myers )
The Welsh Rugby Union has shed new light on its decision to discontinue funding for the community hub programme and insists the new structure will have a positive effect on the game in Wales.
As part of the One Wales strategy the WRU hopes its restructuring and transformation programme will save £5m overall, but unfortunately this will result in job losses.
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The WRU's decision to stop funding the hub officers programme - which has seen circa 30,000 children benefit from it since its inception in 2014 - has been criticised in some quarters.
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Up to 20 jobs could be lost as part of the changes while more than 4,500 people have signed a petition asking for the hub officers to be saved.
But WRU community director Geraint John has explained the WRU's decision and is adamant its replacement will have an even greater impact than the current model, which only covers 48 percent of Wales. Sign up to Inside Welsh rugby on Substack to get exclusive news stories and insight from behind the scenes in Welsh rugby.
The current programme will be restructured to increase coverage, with current funding discontinued in key areas. It will be up to schools to decide how they reallocate the investment into rugby.
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The plan is that the existing WRU staff will be reorganised and the number increased, with a much wider remit to ensure there is total coverage of all community clubs and educational establishments across Wales in terms of having named contact and consistent level of support
"If we could have put Hub officers in 100 percent of schools across Wales this would absolutely have been the way forward, but we can't afford to do that and not all schools can afford it either," John told WalesOnline.
"None of this has been easy but we have found a solution which will bring rugby to all of our children, rather than just those in areas that can afford it.
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"People say how can you get rid of this hub officer because he or she is brilliant? I get it because they are wonderful but they only cover certain areas at the moment. They have delivered a great service in their respective areas and done what has been asked of them, but our job has been to think about how do we service all of Wales, all schools and all clubs.
"If we could have 200 of these hub officers spread across Wales then fantastic but we don't have the money to do that and the feedback we have gathered is that neither do all of our educational establishments. We have had to look at what was the best way to service all of Wales, our clubs as well as our schools, and not just those areas with the means and resources."
The Hub officers deliver rugby activities to young people across Wales at clubs, schools and other community rugby outlets. But WRU is not the primary employer of the Hub Officers with schools paying the majority of their salaries and the union covering only a certain percentage of it.
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The union has faced criticism over how the news was delivered, with hub officers saying they were left in the dark for too long.
"We weren't taking the hub officers away, we were, sadly and unfortunately, taking the finance away in order to use this resource in a more efficient way," said John.
"The whole timing of it happened it was 8.15am prior to them starting education. We spoke to the educational establishment in charge saying we will no longer be able to continue with the financial model that we are doing.
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"That was a tough call with all the educational establishments. They understandably weren't very happy that the WRU was pulling their funding and we get it but we had to tell them first as they were the primary employer.
"People are saying why aren't you telling the hub officers but we had to tell their employer first, which was very difficult but this was the situation we were in because of the way the programme was set up, we had no choice.
"At the same time during that week we were also running the Urdd sevens. People say well couldn't you have done it a week earlier but we couldn't have done that because decisions hadn't been fully ratified.
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"I'll put my hand up and say the timing and mechanism was unfortunate but we have since spoken to the hub officers directly, this week in fact. Join WalesOnline Rugby's WhatsApp Channel here to get the breaking news sent straight to your phone for free
"We have explained we will look at ways we can support them and there may also be other vacancies they can fill. These people have skills that we need and can utilise, they are good people and we will be looking for roles they can fill within our structure, but we simply cannot do that yet due to internal consultations taking place with our own staff right across the business.
"This was a business decision and we could have just written to the educational establishments but that would not have been the right way, we had to do it personally and be there to answer questions and explain our thinking. We have tried very hard to do the right thing and consider the individuals involved but we have had to follow a process.
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"We felt the best way was to sit with the educational establishments and verbalise it.
"They phoned the hub officers and rumours got around. That's not how we wanted to do it but it was a very difficult decision to make.
"If people are hurt by this decision we can only apologise but we thought it was the right thing to do to let the schools know first as their employers."
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The WRU plans to invest money into a restructured programme that can cover much more of the country.
The plan is that the existing WRU staff will be reorganised and the number increased, with a much wider remit to ensure there is total coverage of all community clubs and educational establishments across Wales in terms of having named contact and consistent level of support.
The aim is to support and provide opportunities for all and make sure all departments are covered from rugby, coaching, match officials, policy, and integrity, safeguarding and club development and invest further with WRU clubs and volunteers.
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"We will be announcing the full details of our plan very soon, once we have completed our consultation period with staff and given the right support to those affected," John told WalesOnline.
"I'm confident the restructured programme will be more effective in keeping young people involved in rugby and driving up participation levels. Get the latest breaking Welsh rugby news stories sent straight to your inbox with our FREE daily newsletter. Sign up here.
"These days there is so much more competition from not just other sports but various activities which are readily available to young people.
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"What we are going to put in place will cover the whole of Wales far better than the previous programme.
"WRU staff will be reorganised and their number increased with a much wider remit to ensure all community clubs and educational establishments across Wales have a named contact and a consistent level of support."