Things are getting spicy...
https://www.bbc.com/sport/rugby-union/64416671
All four regions have backed calls by a Cardiff director for Welsh Rugby Union (WRU) chief executive Steve Phillips and the board to leave.
BBC Wales understands the email from Hayley Parsons has been sent to WRU chair Ieuan Evans.
The message was also circulated to Cardiff, Dragons, Ospreys and Scarlets, who have backed its content.
Evans said the WRU is "not deaf" to the observations and criticisms" it has received.
He said: "I thank Hayley for her constructive and heartfelt comments and I will not only write back in detail but intend to meet up in person just as I will with a number of different stakeholders from outside of the WRU.
"As I made clear in statements yesterday, I will now lead on the composition of a new externally sourced Taskforce which will review our culture, systems and structures.
"We need to respond to the public scrutiny we are currently experiencing, but this is also the right thing to do. We are listening."
Parsons become the first female to serve on Cardiff's board when she was appointed a non-executive director in 2019.
In the email to Evans, she describes herself as a "business professional and entrepreneur, who founded a multimillion-pound business that remains in Wales".
The founder of the price comparison website GoCompare, she sold her stake in the company for almost £44m.
Her correspondence urges Evans to "take immediate and decisive action to address the issues raised in the programme, but also against a backdrop of a "long-standing and deep-rooted culture of toxicity and bullying within the WRU".
"In my role at Cardiff Rugby, I constantly witness and have to deal with the fallout of incompetence at the Welsh Rugby Union," wrote Parsons.
"I believe the board, in its current state, does not possess the expertise and experience to run the WRU, which is essentially a £100million company.
"As a group of individuals, they are not fit for purpose, and the future of Welsh rugby requires people with the capability and experience to turn this urgent and dire situation around.
"Many people have told me first-hand about the culture of bullying and manipulation within the WRU."
It has since emerged that Amanda Blanc, who chaired Welsh rugby's professional board between 2019 and 2021, warned the WRU it had a problem before the sexism claims emerged.
Ms Blanc, now chief executive of Aviva insurance company, told the WRU it had a "deep rooted" culture and behavioural problems, a union-commissioned review into the women's game was "insulting to women" and warned of an equality and diversity "ticking timebomb".
"How many more experienced, professional and good people need to leave Welsh rugby before you take action and say enough is enough?" asked Parsons.
"I am pleading with you to make the right decision for the WRU, as a business and for rugby as our national sport.
"You are surrounded by amazing business professionals who already invest their time and energy into Welsh rugby.
"We need a clear overarching business strategy the whole of Welsh rugby and its regions can work towards.
"This week's crisis isn't new, it's just brought the underlying issues that we have experienced for years to the fore."
Parsons criticised what she says is the union's financial hold over the regions with no new long-term financial deal yet to be agreed.
"As regions, we have been in crisis for so long, our only strategy at present is survival. To stay afloat in the hope that the governance of the WRU is changed soon so we can make it to the next season.
"This cannot carry on - we all deserve better, as do our players, staff and fans.
"As regional clubs we hold back on a range of issues, too scared to go against the Union.
"Yet still, despite allegation after allegation, mistake after mistake, sacking after sacking, statement after statement, denial after denial, the WRU does not appear to have modern governance structures or a proper strategic business plan in place to affect positive change and nurture rugby at a regional, never mind national level.
"The WRU's dedicated and hardworking staff, most of whom are a credit to the game and work tirelessly to champion it, are being failed by the WRU's continued unwillingness to accept responsibility for the failures at board level to tackle the toxic and oppressive culture within the Union.
"The treatment of its staff, regional clubs and dominance and total control over the game has to change now.
"The only way to remedy these issues is to appoint a new board made up of people who know how to run a Union and a business properly, with a thought out, well executed business strategy, and stringent and clear governance system."
Parsons has recognised Evans is calling for governance reform since he took over in November 2022.
This is obviously no fun for Welsh fans but there's a wider effect for the game at play here. Wales is one of the pillars of the game and the principles we hold dear are being challenged through this fiasco. Every Board should be paying close attention...especially NZR but fat chance of them taking heed.
