Posted by Saturday night was a fantastic night in Cardiff. Town was rammed with a mix of rugby goers and those enjoying the start of the festive season, the Arms Park was bouncing for a huge Anglo-Welsh clash, and the rugby was highly entertaining with 71 points and 10 tries between the two sides.
The Blue and Blacks didn’t quite get the win but it was still a thoroughly enjoyable occasion and everything I had hoped for from a fixture that had been circled on the calendar for some time. Except it wasn’t just everything I had hoped for, it was more!
In amongst all the action Cardiff Rugby snuck a statement out as the full-time whistle blew revealing that contracts had been exchanged with Helford Capital Limited to acquire a majority shareholding in the club. This includes the shares of the late great Peter Thomas, as well as Martyn Ryan, Paul Bailey and the Smart family, with Cardiff Athletic Club retaining a minority shareholding.
So let’s start with Helford Capital Limited and the two men who appear to be the face of the consortium; Phil Kempe and Neal Griffith. There’s been some links to a Helford Capital Partners LLP online but it’s not immediately obvious they’re in any way connected to Helford Capital Limited which has been set up as a special purpose vehicle to acquire the shareholding in the rugby club and as such may not be on the Companies House website just yet.
Kempe is described by the club as “a proud Welshman with an association stretching more than a decade with the club” who set up the first McDonalds franchises in the UK, while Griffith “who also has Welsh roots” is a former investment banker with a wide range of business interests. They have “significant business relationships” in the middle east.
Perhaps most encouragingly the statement from Craig Davies on behalf of the Thomas Family notes that they have “known Phil for number of years, Neal for some time, and listened to their thorough plans, we know Cardiff is in safe hands and supporters can be confident they will deliver.”
That’s probably the greatest reference they could have received as the second aspect of this news is how majorly it will restructure what is still Cardiff Blues Limited as a company. The Articles of Association will need to change in order for Helford Capital Limited to become the majority shareholder, with Cardiff Athletic Club no longer the largest shareholder.
It opens the club up to a possible loss of control over branding and/or heritage, as well as the future direction of the business from a rugby perspective and commercially, but if Peter’s family are satisfied that his legacy will live on with the new owners then it alleviates a lot of concerns.
The Welsh Rugby Union have also ratified the move after a professional advisory firm reviewed the details, but I’ll leave that up to you as the reader to decide how much comfort you take from that!
So now it’s a look to the future with new investment and commercial streams available to Cardiff, how best to build something at the Arms Park. The temptation is to say “get the chequebook out” and start dreaming of Malcolm Marx, Will Skelton, Richie Mo’unga and Damien Penaud wearing blue and black, but let’s be somewhat sensible about this.
This change in ownership comes right at the start of a new era in the capital and in Welsh rugby. The playing budget and squad size have been cut, the focus is on the young players coming through and there’s an evolution ongoing that is expected to take 2-3 years to complete. This news shouldn’t change that massively.
Going out and signing a plethora of expensive new players might look great in the short-term but there’s no guarantee of medium-term success and certainly no elements of long-term planning in that. Over the last six months a young coaching staff has brought on a squad with a young homegrown nucleus that can set this club up for the next decade.
Retaining that nucleus and adding signings which complement them is a recruitment aim, but beyond that there has to be investment to ensure that the next crop of young talent is coming through and maintaining, or improving on, the standards set as part of a club that is sustainable off the field.
If anyone should be getting a blank cheque it is Academy Manager Gruff Rees to bolster his coaching infrastructure, talent identification system and spending power, building on the excellent work already done. Imagine the current pathway but with even better coaching resources and the ability to retain some of the players that head over the Severn Bridge. A scarily good prospect.
Then around that there has to be the facilities to grow the club generally. Training facilities are one aspect, but most importantly is the future of the Arms Park. Nailing down a long-term lease, working with the Athletic Club on a significant redevelopment and getting a world class rugby stadium alongside units that harness the commercial potential of a city centre site in one of the fastest growing capital cities in Europe.
As myself and countless others have noted over the last 10-15 years, the possibility is there for Cardiff Rugby Club to be a powerhouse once again, it just needed the right investment vehicle to come along.
Hopefully now we have it and the future can be a bright one.
Cardiff Rugby Life 