Rugby: Welsh FA chief executive resigns after accusations of sexism

Six days after several women within the organization spoke out against the sexist culture there, Welsh Rugby Union (WRU) chief executive Steve Phillips has stepped down, the WRU announced on Sunday 29 January

Rugby: Welsh FA chief executive resigns after accusations of sexism

Six days after several women within the organization spoke out against the sexist culture there, Welsh Rugby Union (WRU) chief executive Steve Phillips has stepped down, the WRU announced on Sunday 29 January.

"Phillips attended the meeting to set up a task force" announced on Friday to investigate sexist, racist or homophobic behavior within the federation, "but has since come to the conclusion that he does not can no longer be the person at the helm of Welsh rugby,” the statement explained.

Phillips was not personally charged with any charges, but he said in the statement that he "has come to the conclusion that now is the time for someone else to lead the way."

"I wholeheartedly agree with Ieuan's [Evans, WRU Board Chairman] commitment to re-examining and improving our culture and behaviors at the federation and I give my full support to the new independent working group. I am happy that I was able to initiate this process at WRU,” he added.

Nigel Walker, who until then was director of performance at the federation, has been appointed interim director general.

"Did I really hear that? »

Last Monday, several women, including Charlotte Wathan, then director of women's rugby at the WRU, had testified to the sexist words or behavior of which they had been victims for years, in a BBC program.

A man at Welsh training center Glamorgan in 2019 “said he wanted to rape me. Take me back to the hotel, tie me to the bed and rape me,” Wathan recounted, adding, “I remember getting sick from it, like from being punched in the stomach. I remember being in shock and thinking "did I really hear that?". "Everyone laughed," she continued. I left the room and burst into tears."

A former WRU employee, interviewed on condition of anonymity by the BBC, even claimed to have written a memo in 2018 for her husband in case she committed suicide following sexist harassment.