SCARLETS: ‘Welsh rugby needs four professional teams’: former First Minister Carwyn Jones joins the board

Former First Minister Carwyn Jones has joined the Scarlets board, and used his first statement as a director to call for Welsh rugby to keep all four of its professional teams.

His appointment was announced by the Scarlets on Thursday and takes effect immediately, two days before the region opens its season against Cardiff.

He said: “I believe Welsh rugby needs four professional teams. The proposal to leave west Wales with one licence puts two clubs with proud histories and important contributions in an impossible position.”

“The West must stand together to secure the future of both of its teams.”

Former First Minister backs both west Wales teams in the licence fight

Welsh rugby’s governing body confirmed in July that Cardiff and the Dragons will be offered two of the three licences in its three-team future from 2028/29, leaving the Scarlets and the Ospreys to fight for the last one.

Jones’s position echoes managing director Jon Daniels, who ruled out a merger with the Ospreys in August and said Welsh rugby should be able to support four teams, as Ireland does.

The WRU has not budged. Its director of rugby Dave Reddin insisted last week that the cut to three teams is going ahead, blaming “brutal economics”.

Jones set out how he thinks the fight should be fought: “The challenges facing Welsh rugby are real, and they call for clear thinking, sound evidence, transparency and practical solutions.”

From Bridgend’s Senedd seat to the Lords, and a Bridgend Ravens director

A barrister, Jones represented Bridgend in the Senedd from 1999 to 2021 and was First Minister from 2009 to 2018. He now sits in the House of Lords.

He is already a director of Bridgend Ravens in Super Rygbi Cymru, and sits on the Football Association of Wales’s finance, audit and risk committee.

The club says he comes from a Welsh-speaking family with strong Carmarthenshire roots, and played rugby while studying law at Aberystwyth University, where he later worked as a professor.

He also presented Y Gem yn y Gwaed, an S4C series on the social history of Welsh rugby.

‘A pathway for young players, a first-class home at Parc y Scarlets’

Jones called joining the board “a privilege”, saying he knew what the Scarlets mean “to their supporters and to the communities they represent”.

He argued the club’s case rests on the present as much as the past: “a pathway for young players, a first-class home at Parc y Scarlets and a place at the heart of life in west Wales”.

“Generations of players have gone from this rugby heartland to represent Wales and the British and Irish Lions. We should be building on that strength.”

Executive chairman Simon Muderack called Jones “one of the most respected figures in Welsh public life”, and said the club was delighted he had joined “at such a significant time”.

Tonia Antoniazzi and Sean Fitzpatrick among the directors he joins

Jones joins a board that includes Gower MP Tonia Antoniazzi, former All Blacks captain Sean Fitzpatrick, Rupert Moon and Derek Quinnell, as well as Daniels.

The full board is Tonia Antoniazzi MP, Jon Daniels, Philip Davies, Huw Evans, Emyr Wyn Evans, Sean Fitzpatrick, Brian Jones, Ron Jones, Carwyn Jones, Rupert Moon, Simon Muderack, Derek Quinnell, Nigel Short and Glan Wise.

Director of rugby Nigel Davies said on Tuesday that the Scarlets have “probably one of the strongest boards in Welsh rugby”.

Ospreys added Alun Wyn Jones to their board in August

The Ospreys made a similar move over the summer, when Alun Wyn Jones joined their board, a step the club described as strengthening it “at a critical time for the region”.

The Scarlets open their United Rugby Championship season against Cardiff at Parc y Scarlets on Saturday, with kick-off at 7.45pm.