A tongue-in-cheek look at the Welsh Rugby Union Annual General Meeting by Gary Williams
Fair play, it must have seemed like a good idea at the time (probably in the summer) and would be a nice treat for the club delegates, ‘we’ll have the AGM in the stadium, out on the pitch’.
The warning, with hindsight, was in the correspondence clubs received, ‘probably best if you wear some warm clothing’. However, it failed to mention that you might need clothing with a Tog rating of 13.5 minimum! Where are those flame throwers that we see on match days when you need them?
Meeting was a bit late starting, due to a few delegates poking their heads around the door of the hospitality room and wondering if they should leave the warmth and venture out to take a seat behind the posts.
Noticed that the roof was shut, so probably very little chance of Warren free-falling from a helicopter on to the centre spot.
Thinking about it, this meeting outside was probably a master plan by the WRU as it was too cold for anybody to nod off. Anyway, most of us I think, thought that we were on the pitch so that Warren and Wayne might appear, high-fiving as one headed home and the other moved in. Not so it soon became obvious.
Surely then, a player or two from the Grand Slam winning/World Cup semi-final reaching team would run out from the tunnel and give us the opportunity to applaud them for their fantastic efforts. Apparently not. It appears that winning the Grand Slam and getting to the semis is no great shakes these days for a team that also occupied world number one spot.
Surely, a WRU blanket each… nope.
However, I must say, the team weren’t completely forgotten, they did get a mention in the reports from the top table. Sadly though, taking my autograph book had turned out to be a complete waste of time.
And so to business. We’d all received the Annual Report from HQ, so were pretty clued up on what was going to be said. First up Chairman Gareth, with icicles forming in his hair, giving an overview and letting us know that any difficult questions should be directed to the others on the top table who, at this point, were busy blowing in to their cupped hands and stamping their feet whilst the rest of us were sitting there regretting having that last coffee.
Fair play to CEO Martyn, he did a great job, answering questions that nobody had asked, but he thought we should be asking and, I for one, admire his enthusiasm and passion. You’d certainly follow him out of the trench when the whistle blew.
Steve, the money man, thought hard and long before eventually getting up from his heated chair and heading to the rostrum to talk figures. Took a glance at the temperature gauge and was immediately sorry that he’d prepared too many slides for his presentation.
Back to Gareth, who returned to the rostrum and did a little jog on the spot, supposedly to get some circulation in his legs but most of us noted that it was a smokescreen for us to look at him whilst CEO Martyn, on the top table, slipped another WRU puffa jacket over his WRU vest, shirt, blazer and fleece.
And so, to questions and the chance for those delegates whose lips hadn’t frozen to ask for clarification etc on any of the points put forward in the reports. Three or four questions were asked (mainly about the audit) before it was agreed, that it might be best if there were any other questions, that they be emailed (once your fingers had thawed out) and the Union would get back to you.
And so, off we trudged to a posh nosh buffet a little bewildered to be honest. What had just happened?
As I say, hats off to HQ for trying something different and it was great to see so many of the staff in attendance, ready and willing to help out in any way possible and all very approachable. On a serious note, they seem to be looking after us clubs very well and I, for one, certainly thank them for all their efforts on our behalf.
But, as someone who has been attending the AGM regularly for many years, I do miss the days when there was none of this digital stuff on screen, reports were either off the cuff or read off paper and delegates didn’t have to wait until the end of a report to fire a question. I will admit, it was a bit like the wild west at times, but I remember them with fondness.
Can’t wait to see where we’ll be at next year’s AGM. See you there!
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