WRU: Businessman Lyndon Faulkner named chair as Ospreys and Scarlets fight for last licence

The Welsh Rugby Union has named businessman Lyndon Faulkner as its new chair, with the Ospreys and Scarlets still fighting over the last west Wales licence.

The former Newport and Pontypool player will be in place at the head of the union’s board by its annual general meeting on Sunday 22 November.

He says his first job is to listen.

Lyndon Faulkner: “A pivotal time for the game”

Faulkner said it was “a huge privilege for me to return to Welsh rugby as chair of the WRU” and a chance to “give something back to a sport which has helped define me”.

“This is a pivotal time for the game and I will start by listening to those around me,” he said.

He said he would be “listening and learning from all of the major stakeholders across both the community and professional game”, while “remaining open to credible challenge”.

He also said he looks forward “to meeting member clubs at our AGM in November”.

From Pontypool’s glory years to Microsoft and Pelican

Faulkner was born near Newport and went to Bassaleg Comprehensive. He won the Welsh Youth Cup with Newport Youth, then played for Newport RFC and Pontypool RFC.

He was at Pontypool in its glory era, when the club won the Welsh Cup and three Welsh league titles in a row. A serious knee injury ended his playing career.

In business he held senior roles at Technicolor/Nimbus CD International and Microsoft, working on launches including the DVD, Xbox, Windows XP and Office 2000.

He joined Pelican Products in 2006 and retired in 2021, when the company was sold. He has won an EY Entrepreneur award twice, with two different businesses.

John Manders: “A major coup for us”

Vice-chair John Manders, who has led the board as interim chair, said: “We are delighted to welcome Lyndon to lead the WRU Board.”

He called the appointment “a major coup for us and testament to the strength of the very proactive recruitment process we have been engaged in”.

The union says it found Faulkner through a global search, in Wales and among the Welsh diaspora abroad. It says he will give “significant time to the role on a weekly basis in a professional capacity”.

Chief executive Abi Tierney said: “I know Lyndon and I are ready to form a formidable team working to advance Welsh rugby at all levels.”

Senior independent director Alison Thorne called it “a welcome appointment for Welsh rugby”.

The west Wales licence fight Faulkner inherits

Faulkner takes over a board that refused calls to resign in August and stood by its decision to cut Wales to three professional clubs.

Cardiff and the Dragons have been handed two of the three licences from the 2028/29 season, leaving the Ospreys and Scarlets to fight for the third. The union says it will announce the outcome by the end of June 2027.

Swansea Council leader Rob Stewart called again last week for the board and chief executive to resign, and says the council’s High Court challenge continues.

The union’s next step is a “State of the Game” summit in early December for the boards of all four clubs and the union’s leadership.