William Gareth Davies (born 29 September 1955) is a former

Wales Wales ( cy, Cymru ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by England to the Wales–England border, east, the Irish Sea to the north and west, the Celtic Sea to the south west and the ...

and

British and Irish Lions The British & Irish Lions is a rugby union team selected from players eligible for the national teams of England, Ireland, Scotland, and Wales. The Lions are a test side and most often select players who have already played for their national ...

international rugby union player and former chairman of the

Welsh Rugby Union The Welsh Rugby Union (WRU; cy, Undeb Rygbi Cymru) is the Sports governing body, governing body of rugby union in the country of Wales, recognised by the sport's international governing body, World Rugby. The WRU is responsible for the running ...

Early and personal life

Born in the mining village of

Tumble, Carmarthenshire Tumble ( cy, Tymbl), is a village situated south of Cross Hands near the towns of Carmarthen and Llanelli in Carmarthenshire, Wales. Tumble, along with Cross Hands is part of the community of Llannon.Davies (2008), pg 503. The population, includi ...

, Davies was educated at nearby Gwendraeth Grammar School in Drefach near

Llanelli Llanelli ("St Elli's Parish"; ) is a market town and the largest community in Carmarthenshire and the preserved county of Dyfed, Wales. It is located on the Loughor estuary north-west of Swansea and south-east of the county town, Carmarthen. ...

. Davies was an all-round sportsman, representing Welsh schools at cricket and played for

Glamorgan County Cricket Club Glamorgan County Cricket Club ( cy, Criced Morgannwg) is one of eighteen first-class county clubs within the domestic cricket structure of England and Wales. It represents the historic county of Glamorgan ( cy, Morgannwg). Founded in 1888, ...

's second XI. He then studied chemistry at the University of Wales Institute of Science and Technology (UWIST), later

University of Wales The University of Wales (Welsh language, Welsh: ''Prifysgol Cymru'') is a confederal university based in Cardiff, Wales. Founded by royal charter in 1893 as a federal university with three constituent colleges – Aberystwyth, Bangor and Cardiff � ...

Cardiff Cardiff (; cy, Caerdydd ) is the capital and largest city of Wales. It forms a principal area, officially known as the City and County of Cardiff ( cy, Dinas a Sir Caerdydd, links=no), and the city is the eleventh-largest in the United Kingd ...

, and later studied for his teaching qualifications at

St Catherine's College, Oxford St Catherine's College (colloquially called St Catz or Catz) is one of the constituent colleges of the University of Oxford and is the newest college admitting both undergraduate and graduate students. Tracing its roots back to 1868 (although t ...

. Davies used this experience as an

alumnus Alumni (singular: alumnus (masculine) or alumna (feminine)) are former students of a school, college, or university who have either attended or graduated in some fashion from the institution. The feminine plural alumnae is sometimes used for grou ...

ambassador for the

Seren Network The Seren Network is a set of eleven regional hubs in Wales to help sixth-formers in Welsh state schools to get into Russell Group universities. It was formed by the Labour Welsh government in 2015 in response to a fall in Welsh students applyi ...

. Married to Fiona, Davies has two adult daughters.

Rugby career

Davies started his rugby career at

Tumble RFC Tumble RFC or Clwb Rygbi Y Tymbl (Welsh) is a rugby union club representing the village of Tumble, near Llanelli in Carmarthenshire, South Wales. The club is a member of the Welsh Rugby Union and is a feeder club for the Llanelli Scarlets. Clu ...

and Gwendraeth Grammar School. He briefly played for

Llanelli RFC Llanelli Rugby Football Club ( cy, Clwb Rygbi Llanelli) is a Welsh rugby union club founded on 30 March 1872. The club's historic home ground was Stradey Park in Llanelli, but they moved in 2008 to the new Parc y Scarlets in adjacent Pembert ...

whilst still at school before moving to Cardiff RFC for whom he played for 12 years, during the amateur era of rugby, representing the club in over 380 games and amassing 3500 points – still a club record. His drop-goal helped UWIST win the 1976 UAU Cup Final, beating University of Wales, Swansea, 6–4. He also represented

Oxford Oxford () is a city in England. It is the county town and only city of Oxfordshire. In 2020, its population was estimated at 151,584. It is north-west of London, south-east of Birmingham and north-east of Bristol. The city is home to the ...

in the 1977

Varsity Match A varsity match is a fixture (especially of a sporting event or team) between two university teams, particularly Oxford and Cambridge. The Scottish Varsity rugby match between the University of St Andrews and the University of Edinburgh at Murray ...

. During this time he gained 21 Welsh caps, captaining them five times, and winning a Triple Crown in 1979. He toured with the British and Irish Lions to South Africa in 1980, and injured his knee in the second test at Bloemfontein. He resigned from the Welsh team in 1985 after the No.10 shirt was listed as ''A.N. Other'' for the game against

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

at home at the

Cardiff Arms Park Cardiff Arms Park ( cy, Parc yr Arfau Caerdydd), also known as The Arms Park, is situated in the centre of Cardiff, Wales. It is primarily known as a rugby union stadium, but it also has a bowling green. The Arms Park was host to the British E ...

, which allowed Jonathan Davies his first cap.

Professional career

After retirement from rugby, he became assistant director of the CBI Wales, and then head of sport for

BBC Wales BBC Cymru Wales is a division of the BBC and the main public broadcaster in Wales. It is one of the four BBC national regions, alongside the BBC English Regions, BBC Northern Ireland and BBC Scotland. Established in 1964, BBC Cymru Wales is ...

from 1988. In 1994 he was appointed

Chief Executive A chief executive officer (CEO), also known as a central executive officer (CEO), chief administrator officer (CAO) or just chief executive (CE), is one of a number of corporate executives charged with the management of an organization especially ...

of Cardiff Athletic Club/Cardiff Rugby Football Club, where in 1995 he re-signed Jonathan Davies back from his time playing

Rugby league Rugby league football, commonly known as just rugby league and sometimes football, footy, rugby or league, is a full-contact sport played by two teams of thirteen players on a rectangular field measuring 68 metres (75 yards) wide and 112 ...

as Rugby Union turned professional. In 1999 he joined S4C as Commissioning Editor for Sports and Events. He was also chairman of the Sports Council for Wales, and director of Welsh Affairs for the

Royal Mail , kw, Postya Riel, ga, An Post Ríoga , logo = Royal Mail.svg , logo_size = 250px , type = Public limited company , traded_as = , foundation = , founder = Henry VIII , location = London, England, UK , key_people = * Keith Williams ...

. In 2006 he joined the

Welsh Development Agency Welsh Development Agency (WDA; cy, Awdurdod Datblygu Cymru) was an executive agency (or QUANGO) and later designated an Assembly Sponsored Public Body (ASPB). Established in 1976, it was tasked with rescuing the ailing Welsh economy by encour ...

, heading the

Sydney Sydney ( ) is the capital city of the state of New South Wales, and the most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Sydney Harbour and extends about towards the Blue Mountain ...

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...

office. In January 2009 Davies was appointed as Dean at

Leeds Metropolitan University Leeds Beckett University (LBU), formerly known as Leeds Metropolitan University (LMU) and before that as Leeds Polytechnic, is a public university in Leeds, West Yorkshire, England. It has campuses in the city centre and Headingley. The univ ...

. The Carnegie faculty provides courses in sport, education, languages and Events, tourism and hospitality, and in 2009 was named the UK Centre for Coaching Excellence, which will help coaches to develop the sporting stars of the future with the aim of making the UK become the leading coaching nation in the world by 2016. Davies is no longer Dean at Leeds Metropolitan University. In July 2014, Davies was nominated by Peter Thomas (owner of Cardiff RFC/Cardiff Blues) to succeed Gerald Davies on the board of the Welsh Rugby Union. Davies was elected Chairman of the WRU on 21 October 2014 and served in the position until October 2020, leaving the post after failing to gain re-election to the WRU National Council in September 2020. Davies was awarded Honorary Doctorates from Cardiff Metropolitan University in 2015 and The University of South Wales in 2018 and is an Honorary Fellow of Cardiff University

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Davies, Gareth 1955 births Living people Rugby union players from Carmarthen Alumni of the University of Wales Alumni of St Catherine's College, Oxford Welsh rugby union coaches Welsh rugby union players Cardiff RFC players Oxford University RFC players Wales international rugby union players Wales rugby union captains Welsh cricketers British & Irish Lions rugby union players from Wales Academics of Leeds Beckett University Barbarian F.C. players