Cardiff Rugby Community Foundation director Nadine Griffiths has been appointed as the Welsh Rugby Union’s new Director of Women’s Rugby.
The 44-times-capped Welsh international has spent the past 23 years at the Arms Park but will now move onto the WRU’s executive team for a role she says ‘feels more like a calling than a job’
Griffiths leaves the Community Foundation in an incredibly strong position, with numerous programmes across sport related themes, health, mental health, social inclusion and education, engaging more than 120,000 people a year throughout our region.
Cardiff Rugby managing director, Jamie Muir said: “Nadine has been a huge part of Cardiff Rugby for more than 20 years, and on a personal level it’s been a privilege to work alongside her for the past 11 years.
“She should be incredibly proud of everything she’s achieved through the Foundation, consistently living our values of community, inclusion and opportunity, and making a genuine difference across the Cardiff Rugby region.
“This move to lead women’s rugby at the WRU feels like a natural next step for someone with such passion and experience in the women’s game, which I know first drew her into sport.
“While she’ll be a big loss to us day to day, we wish her every success in this new role and look forward to welcoming her and her family back to Cardiff Arms Park very soon.”
Griffiths, who began her post-rugby career as a rugby development officer at the WRU, covering the Cardiff region, returns, fired up and with a career’s worth of elite and community rugby experience behind her.
She featured for Wales in the 1998 Rugby World Cup, went on to became one of the first female level 3 coaches in the UK after hanging up her boots and was part of the coaching team on Wales Women’s successful tour of South Africa in 2013.
Since then, she has built an exceptional career spanning professional sport, governing bodies and multi-agency partnerships. She has grown participation, strengthened pathways and has left lasting positive impact wherever she has gone.
WRU CEO Abi Tierney is delighted to welcome Nadine back into the Welsh Rugby Union family:
“Nadine shone through in a competitive field of candidates and is uniquely placed. She has played and coached at the elite end of the game, but has also dedicated her career to the women’s and girl’s pathway in Cardiff and to developing community rugby. We are thrilled to welcome her back into the WRU family.”
Griffiths is passionate about Welsh rugby and felt a strong call to take on this new role:
“I am passionately Welsh. I have a great understanding of the opportunities and the barriers across the women’s and girl’s game and the challenges our clubs face
“That insight matters, because growth won’t come from copying others, it will come from building something that reflects Wales, its communities and its identity.
“I feel like I have come full circle from the young girl in Pencoed who watched the 1991 Rugby World Cup and dared to dream of pulling on that red jersey, to now being responsible for inspiring the next generation to do exactly the same.
“This is a hugely exciting time. Women’s sport is on a remarkable growth trajectory in Wales and globally.
“With the inaugural women’s British & Irish Lions tour in 2027, the whole world is about to sit up and take notice of the women’s game once again.
“We will have Welsh representation on that Lions tour. We will make trailblazers of the players already leading the way and we will create a new generation of female sporting heroes to inspire our children and grow the game across this great, rugby-loving nation.
“We will take the nation with us on this incredible journey of growth and inspiration for women’s sport, ymlaen.”
Griffiths will officially take up her position as Director of Women’s Rugby at the WRU on 1st June, but will begin the transition across from Cardiff Rugby with immediate effect.