David died suddenly on 3 July at the age of 78 and will be remembered as a great servant to both South Wales Police, Bridgend RFC, where he was a board member and stadium manager, and the WRU.
He became secretary at South Wales Police RFC in 1985, having previously supported the club as kit-man and bus driver, and was still in office when the club celebrated its centenary in the 1991-92 season.
By then they had been crowned champions of Heineken League Division 2 and were playing in the top-flight of Welsh rugby and producing many international players for Wales.
He toured to the US, Canada and Hong Kong with the club and saw the team win the British Police Cup in 1981, 1983, 1984 and 1994. He join two other huge figures from the rugby club within the force onto the WRU in Rod Morgan, who was chairman of the Welsh selectors, and David East, who had been Chief Constable and briefly became the WRU Secretary.
After his initial Police training in Bridgend, he was posted to Barry Police Station, where he did his probationary training. He quickly moved onto the Traffic Department, where he remained for the next seven years before leaving the force to run a poultry business.
He returned to the force two years later and was posted to Porthcawl. At this time, he met and married his wife Lynn, who was a civilian employee at HQ.
After a stint in Porthcawl CID he moved on to Bridgend and was moved into the Press Office at police HQ. He retired from the force in 1993.
He became a member of the WRU in the late eighties when he succeeded David Loveluck as one of the two representatives of District D, in conjunction with Ron Jones. He sat on the Technical and Regulatory committees before going on to become chairman of both the League Management and the Game Policy Committees.
He was the tour manager on the Wales trip to Canada and the Pacific Islands in 1994. He stepped down from the WRU shortly afterwards.
He will collate the items and list them in his role As many of you will know, Dai is a long-standing supporter of Bridgend RFC. He was Secretary of South Wales Police RFC, has been a WRU District Representative and served as a Member of the main WRU Committee.
In retirement he helped Bridgend RFC through some tough times. He was a board member of Brewery Filed Ltd, a company director of Bridgend Ravens Rugby Club and for a while was stadium manager at the Brewery Field. He later became the memorabilia officer of Clwb Rygbi Penybont ar Ogwr Ltd.
Fondly remembered in rugby circles throughout Wales, he was recently one of the guests of honour at the 50th anniversary gathering for the Welsh Rugby Writers’ Association. As Secretary and Press Officer for the South Wales Police club, he was hugely instrumental in promoting the team and the force and became a great friend and ally of the media.
The WRU would like to record its thanks to David Rees for his service to the game and pass on sincere condolences to his wife, Lynn, and the rest of his family and friends.
