WRU: Council leader calls on Abi Tierney to quit over leaked Ospreys-Scarlets merger tape

The Leader of Swansea Council has called on Welsh Rugby Union chief executive Abi Tierney to resign, hours after the union confirmed Cardiff and the Dragons would be offered two of its three licences from 2028.

Cllr Rob Stewart said rugby players and supporters “in the West and beyond have been betrayed and misled by the WRU”, as the council pointed to a leaked recording of Tierney telling journalists in a private briefing in April that she favoured a merger of the Ospreys and Scarlets.

The union’s announcement, made earlier today, left the two west Wales clubs fighting for a single licence, with Cardiff Rugby and Dragons RFC offered the capital and east places in its three-team future.

Stewart said: “I cannot see how Abi Tierney can continue as CEO of the WRU following the release of the recording.”

He accused the union of stringing everyone along. “The WRU has strung everyone along claiming this would be a fair and transparent process, while all the time they’ve been plotting behind the scenes,” he said.

The council leader said the licences had been announced “without any consultation or publishing any supporting evidence”.

It is not the first time Stewart has demanded a WRU departure: he called on the union’s boss to quit during last year’s row over secret meeting notes, which the union said were not accurate.

The council launched legal action against the union in February over the sale of Cardiff Rugby. Stewart said the WRU gave assurances during that case “that this would be a fair and transparent process, which is why we agreed to pause our legal case”.

“How can anyone call this a fair and open process when two of the licences have been decided behind closed doors, while players and supporters at the Ospreys and Scarlets are now facing an uncertain future,” he said.

Stewart accused the union of redrawing the map of Wales to suit its preference for keeping Cardiff, whatever the cost.

“The WRU have arbitrarily carved up the rugby map of Wales to suit their own biased view, knowing they wanted to sell Cardiff to Y11 at the time and it would lead them to the result they wanted, with complete disregard for the impact this would have on our region,” he said.

The council leader argued the geography pointed the other way. “Newport and Cardiff are both in the East and they could merge to create a new East team, with the Ospreys in the South and Scarlets in the West,” he said.

“But the fact is the WRU is hellbent on protecting Cardiff and has devised this illogical regional map with that in mind, rather than what’s best for Welsh rugby.”

In extracts of the recording quoted by the council, Tierney says: “I would have loved that, you know Scarlets, off the record, and Ospreys said let’s do a merger, you know they’ve talked about it time and time again. I can’t make people do something that they don’t want to do, so… that makes it hard.”

She adds that she is “not giving up on a consensus”, but says it is very hard “when you have people that have invested into those clubs… over many, many years, many millions of pounds, who… don’t want to compromise on that”.

Asked whether a merged west Wales team would need a new stadium, Tierney describes Parc y Scarlets as “one of the best venues in the URC and PRL” and St Helen’s as “such an iconic location”.

“It’s not beyond the wit of us,” she says, suggesting “one would be an amazing venue for games in the summer, the other would be a great venue for wetter winter games and you crack on.”

On supporters facing longer journeys, she says fans “will follow their teams” and “will drive to see where they want to”.

Stewart said the recording showed the chief executive “has been following one route publicly and other privately”.

“How can anyone have faith in the current leadership of the WRU, or that they will speak truthfully and transparently,” he said.

He said Tierney “expresses a clear preference for a merger between the Ospreys and Scarlets rather than approaching all options with an open mind”, and that taken together the developments showed key decisions “have already been made behind closed doors, with only the mechanism for delivering them still under discussion”.

Stewart said supporters, players and communities across Wales deserved confidence that decisions were being made “fairly, transparently and on the basis of evidence, not through a process where outcomes have effectively been determined in advance”.

The council says the single west Wales licence is now central to its legal challenge, which argues the prospect has not been adequately justified and that key questions remain unanswered. Its lawyers have written to the union, with the stay in proceedings due to end this week and the WRU’s defence due in two weeks.

The union has not responded to the recording. In today’s announcement, Professional Rugby Board chair Marianne Økland said the WRU was committed to progressing “in a collaborative way, whilst not underestimating the considerable challenges ahead”.