Glanmor Griffiths Standing Down

It is reported in the Western Mail today that Glannmor Griffiths is standing down from his role at the head of Welsh rugby.

He last night withdrew his nomination for the post of national representative with special responsibility for financial affairs at the new-look Welsh Rugby Union. Griffiths broke the news to a stunned general committee after completing 20 years of service.

He had been the most powerful man in Welsh rugby until the union’s membership passed a series of reforms at an extraordinary general meeting last summer. The full changes come into operation this summer but included the appointment of a professional management team to run the day-to-day affairs of the WRU.

According to the newspaper article, the recruitment of big hitter David Moffett – a former chief executive of Sport England, the Australia Rugby League and the New Zealand Rugby Union – as WRU group chief executive has seen a gradual erosion of Griffiths’s powers as the union belatedly adapts to the professional era.

Griffiths had served a marathon 18-year stint on the general committee, 16 of them as treasurer, and succeeded the late Vernon Pugh as chairman in 1997.

He is relinquishing all his roles in Welsh rugby, having been the union’s treasurer and chairman of Millennium Stadium plc.