William Gareth Davies (born 29 September 1955) is a Welsh former rugby union player and former chairman of the

Welsh Rugby Union The Welsh Rugby Union (WRU; ) is the 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 of rugby in Wales, overseeing 320 member clu ...

. He played international rugby for

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

and the British Lions.

Early and personal life

Born in the mining village of

Tumble, Carmarthenshire Tumble (), 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 (Wales), community of Llannon.Davies (2008), pg 503. The populatio ...

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

Llanelli ; ) is a market town and community (Wales), community in Carmarthenshire and the Preserved counties of Wales, preserved county of Dyfed, Wales. It is on the estuary of the River Loughor and is the largest town in the Principal areas of Wales, ...

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

Glamorgan County Cricket Club Glamorgan County Cricket Club () is one of eighteen first-class cricket, first-class county cricket, county clubs within the domestic cricket structure of England and Wales. It represents the Historic counties of Wales, historic county of Gla ...

'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 () 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 – the university was the first universit ...

Cardiff Cardiff (; ) is the capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of Wales. Cardiff had a population of in and forms a Principal areas of Wales, principal area officially known as the City and County of Ca ...

, 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 Colleges of the University of Oxford, constituent colleges of the University of Oxford. In 1974, it was also one of the first men's colleges to admit women. It has 528 un ...

. Davies used this experience as an

alumnus Alumni (: alumnus () or alumna ()) are former students or graduates of a school, college, or university. The feminine plural alumnae is sometimes used for groups of women, and alums (: alum) or alumns (: alumn) as gender-neutral alternatives. Th ...

ambassador for the

Seren Network The Seren Network is a set of eleven regional hubs in Wales to help Sixth form, sixth-formers in Secondary education in Wales, Welsh state schools to get into Russell Group universities. It was formed by the Welsh Labour, Labour Welsh government ...

. 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. Cl ...

and Gwendraeth Grammar School. He briefly played for

Llanelli RFC Llanelli Rugby Football Club () 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 Pemberton. The club song is " ...

whilst still at school before moving to

Cardiff RFC Cardiff Rugby Football Club () is a rugby union club based in Cardiff, the capital city of Wales. The club was founded in 1876Parry-Jones (1989), pg 59 and played their first few matches at Sophia Gardens, shortly after which relocating to Ca ...

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 status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city and non-metropolitan district in Oxfordshire, England, of which it is the county town. The city is home to the University of Oxford, the List of oldest universities in continuou ...

in the 1977

Varsity Match A varsity match in Britain and Ireland is a fixture, especially of a sporting event or team, between university teams, usually the highest-level team, or varsity team, in that sport. The University Match in cricket between Oxford University an ...

. During this time he gained 21 Welsh caps, captaining them five times, and winning a Triple Crown in 1979. He toured with the British 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 number 10 shirt was listed as ''A.N. Other'' for the game against

England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...

at home at the

Cardiff Arms Park Cardiff Arms Park (), also known as The Arms Park, is primarily a rugby union stadium, and also has a bowling green. It is situated in Cardiff, Wales, next to the Millennium Stadium. The Arms Park was host to the 1958 British Empire and Common ...

, 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 broadcasting, 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, ...

from 1988. In 1994 he was appointed

Chief Executive A chief executive officer (CEO), also known as a chief executive or managing director, is the top-ranking corporate officer charged with the management of an organization, usually a company or a nonprofit organization. CEOs find roles in variou ...

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 rugby league in English-speaking countries and rugby 13/XIII in non-Anglophone Europe, is a contact sport, full-contact sport played by two teams of thirteen players on a rectangular Rugby league playin ...

as Rugby Union turned professional. In 1999 he joined

S4C S4C (, ''Sianel Pedwar Cymru'', meaning ''Channel Four Wales'') is a Welsh language free-to-air public broadcast television channel. Launched on 1 November 1982, it was the first television channel to be aimed specifically at a Welsh-speakin ...

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 Royal Mail Group Limited, trading as Royal Mail, is a British postal service and courier company. It is owned by International Distribution Services. It operates the brands Royal Mail (letters and parcels) and Parcelforce Worldwide (parcels) ...

. In 2006 he joined the

Welsh Development Agency Welsh Development Agency (WDA; ) 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 encouraging business development and ...

, heading the

Sydney Sydney is the capital city of the States and territories of Australia, state of New South Wales and the List of cities in Australia by population, most populous city in Australia. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Syd ...

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...

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 univer ...

. 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 Rugby union fly-halves