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Whatever direction Welsh rugby takes over the next few years, Fortis Sports Group will be at the forefront of it.
Agents are rarely in the public eye, but they are the glue which holds a number of professional sports together. Undoubtedly the most influential agency in Welsh rugby is Fortis who have recently acquired Win Sports Management, which was owned by former Wales second-row Derwyn Jones, making it one of the leading agencies in professional rugby anywhere in the UK.
Fortis is a multi-sport agency which is also involved in golf, cricket, boxing and football, with former Wales midfielder Joe Ledley employed as a football consultant to help build that division of the business. However, professional rugby will be central to its business moving forward.
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In what is undoubtedly the most uncertain period in Welsh rugby for over 20 years, with the men’s national side not winning a single Test match in 2024 and the four professional clubs – Cardiff, Dragons RFC, Ospreys and Scarlets – struggling badly, many players will be relying on Fortis to help them through some choppy waters.
Fortis is led by Ian Bird who has been an agent in various sports for 15 years and he is keen to educate the public on the important role agents play in sport. “As agents we’ve got a duty of care to our clients,” he tells WalesOnline. “It’s important for us that we are constantly making sure that the players off the field needs are served.
“We are that extra layer of support for our players. A big part of what we do is securing their contracts.
Fortis Sports Group representatives Alex Cuthbert (left), Joe Ledley (middle) and Ian Bird (right)
“For some players depending on what level they are in their careers that also includes any commercial opportunities that they have. Players in various sports need different levels of attention. Having worked in a wide range of sports your clients’ needs can vary.
“The day-to-day managing of a golfer on the European Tour, who is essentially his own business in himself. Travelling the world to take part in golf tournaments is different to other sports that don’t quite require that labour-intensive work around that day-to-day running of the player because they are contracted to a club who take care of those things.
“The actual needs of an agent can vary but the most important aspect is we are there for the player through the good and bad times. You should also make sure you try to help your player transition into careers after sport.
“I think that’s one thing we can often help with. You always try to intersperse them during their careers with various businesses and opportunities for some work experience, particularly in sports where you don’t make the money you would do in football or golf where you can retire to lead a financially secure life.
“That’s not the case with a lot of rugby players. We work with the WRPA to ensure that they’ve got some kind of an interesting qualification if they haven’t gone through post-school education to try to encourage them to take up some further learning opportunities while they are playing.”
Bird, who hails from Pontypool, was working in sales job in 2004 after graduating from university when his friend, former professional boxer Gary Lockett, asked him would he try to find some sponsors for his boxing shorts. Having been a talented cricketer who played for Glamorgan second XI, Bird had many friends who were professional cricketers and rugby players which paved the way into a career as a sports agent.
“I kind of fell into it through other businesses as a sideline where players would ask me to go and speak to the chairman on their behalf to get some more money on their contract,” he said. “They were like ‘I don’t really want to do it, so will you do it?’ It really has escalated from there.
Welsh agent Ian Bird with Joe Cordina
“I set my own business up from 2009 and worked on my own for 10 years while building up a stable of players in various sports including rugby and cricket. I’ve also worked in football and boxing with Joe Cordina and Liam Williams.
“For me it was all about trying to make a little bit of an impact with something of my own. The opportunity came for me to merge my company with a London-based agency called World In Motion.
“I had six very enjoyable years there building with them. That led me into working with professional golfers on the DP World Tour, so I’ve managed golfers, footballers, rugby players and boxers.”
Currently, Welsh rugby is going through some significant pain both on and off the field.
Both the WRU and its professional clubs are locked in negotiations over a new Professional Rugby Agreement which they hope will make the regions far more competitive. The players have been through the mill over the past two years from threatening strike action prior to Wales’ home Six Nations clash with England in 2023 to constant rumours of going down to three teams.
Agents like Bird are vital in ensuring the players are looked after and make the right career choices but he insists Welsh rugby needs to make some bold decisions. “Welsh rugby is as fractured as I’ve ever really known it,” he says. “As an adult I’ve only ever known Wales being successful.
“We aren’t in uncharted waters but we are in a time where nobody really thought we’d go back to but we are in it. I think at the moment we are seeing a game that’s under severe pressure financially and from a competition perspective.
“I think we now need to be really brave in what we are doing. I think what happens over the course of the next six to 12 months is going to be really crucial in how I think the game can go on to thrive, or we will stuck in this period with limited success.
“We are not winning games of international rugby at the moment but there’s a lot of talent in our game and there always has been. Wherever we go next we need to make sure we are making the right decision for the sake of everybody in Wales because it is our national sport.
“You only have to look across to how the FAW have got their act together in recent times. You’d almost be looking over at them in envy now if you were the WRU at the way in which they are running their business.
“They’ve got a fantastic manager in Craig Bellamy and are full of optimism again for the next World Cup. You couldn’t bet against them reaching it right now, that’s for sure. We’ve got a collective responsibility to try to make sure Welsh rugby gets back to where it should be.
“I’m sure we can get there but I just think we need to be brave, make some bold decisions and get behind those decisions.”
So, what bold decisions need to be made?
“I think the regions need to control their own destiny,” said Bird. “I understand a big part of the regions operationally comes as a result of the funding they get centrally from the WRU but they are businesses within themselves and I think they need to be responsible for the running of their own businesses.
“You need collaboration with the national team, of course, but the regions need to run as their own individual businesses and they need to be responsible for the decisions they make. Yes, I understand club and country always need to work together in terms of achieving an objective of making the national team strong.
“But for me the regions need to have their funding secured, they need to know where they are, they need to know how they can run their business and how they can start improving themselves individually for the betterment of Welsh rugby. For me that’s the key to this.
“Let’s get the funding secured and let’s have a pathway to know where we are all going to get to.”
Currently all four Welsh clubs are operating from a salary cap of £4.5m, which is set to go up next season.
When you consider the fact none of the Welsh clubs have been successful in recent years, along with the national side floundering, then the prospect of a bigger pay packet in England or France becomes more appealing. Bird insists nobody is hurting more than the players and that the majority are keen to stay in Wales as long as the offers are competitive.
“Your top players will always have the opportunity to leave Wales for top clubs where they can earn the best salaries,” he explained. “What I would say at the moment is there has probably been a bit more of a realignment in terms of our best players achieving those salaries in Wales.
“There is a genuine desire by the regions to keep their best players. If some of our best players want to go and play in the best leagues I don’t have a problem with that but I do think the money in France went through a period of huge growth in salaries.
“That happened as a result of fresh money being pumped into the game but I do feel as though if we get ourselves in order in Wales we can compete and match the salaries being offered in England for our best players.
“It’s going to take a lot of work and effort to get the salary cap raised to where it needs to be to be competitive. It’s not always a case of players wanting to leave, it’s because they have to leave as the offer is too good to turn down.
“You can’t blame anybody for taking a better offer to play elsewhere but I do feel Wales are trying to compete, certainly for some of our best players. I don’t think we are that far off but the regions need more clarity around where that salary cap gets to and how we can get there.
“The regions have got a collective responsibility if it’s given to them with the right budget and the right support from the WRU.
“I’m sure that with the people involved with running those regions they could do that. I just think with the uncertainty surrounding budgets needs resolving as soon as possible.”