The meeting that could rip English rugby apart ...Middle East

The Rugby Football Union is holding its first special general meeting (SGM) for 25 years on Thursday with Bill Sweeney, the chief executive, facing a vote of no confidence.

The SGM of the RFU’s 1,500 or so members is being held in The Live Room at Twickenham (aka Allianz Stadium), and simultaneously online, with a 5pm kick-off.

The meeting was called by the requisite 100-plus members of the RFU and the first of two resolutions is of no confidence in Sweeney, with a call for the RFU Board to terminate his employment.

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This will be introduced by Paddy McAlpine, who is chairman of Chichester RFC and one of four co-chairs of a loosely-formed rebel collective named the Whole Game Union (WGU), comprising clubs from the second-division Championship down through the leagues, and a number of constituent bodies including the Rugby Union Referees’ Society.

A second, counter resolution, from the RFU Board, seeks the members’ approval of “the acceleration” of a review of governance and representation that started last May under Malcolm Wharton, a former member of the RFU Council and RFU Board.

It is likely to recommend devolving more RFU decision-making to local and regional bodies. This resolution appears aimed at heading off any accusation of the SGM ratifying the status quo.

The trigger was the RFU’s annual report in December, which revealed the detail of a three-year long-term incentive plan (LTIP) for six of the governing body’s executives, led by Sweeney, who received a £358,000 top-up to his £742,000 salary, ostensibly for sticking with the RFU through the Covid pandemic and meeting the majority of an internally-agreed set of performance targets.

The news exploded like a grenade as it accompanied the RFU’s annual losses of almost £38m, 42 redundancies, plus a losing England men’s team.

The LTIP had previously been buried at the back of annual reports; now it emerged just after journalists had been briefed that Sweeney and others including England coach Steve Borthwick would forfeit part of their bonuses in 2025 over the national team’s results.

Bill Sweeney congratulates Jamie George after his 100th England cap (Photo: Getty)

The eye-catching figures quickly became rolled up by protestors into existing resentment over issues from the cost of sacking previous England coach Eddie Jones and the botched announcement of a new tackle height in the community game, to a flawed player-registration computer system and cuts to grassroots development officers.

The RFU’s chairman Tom Ilube swiftly resigned. Now Sweeney is in the cross-hairs.

What did the RFU do next?

Sweeney and the RFU’s interim chair Sir Bill Beaumont embarked on a nationwide roadshow – which the WGU point out would not have happened without their revolt – at which they are said to have met “over 550 members and 800 representatives”, although the press were not invited.

Beaumont argued the RFU had come through the pandemic “very well” in comparison with other unions, and Sweeney says he is “intensely proud” of the RFU’s financial position, with zero debt, £61m cash and £83.6m reserves.

Former RFU chief executive Francis Baron has painted an alternative picture of a worsening position over the next few years.

There are manifold roots to the challenges of player welfare, falling participation – rugby journalist Paul Bolton has counted 700 walkovers in men’s senior matches this season – and the way the RFU’s income, now including private equity, is divided.

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The RFU’s £30m-a-year funding of community rugby is already half what it used to be as a percentage of RFU investment, and less than the £33m a year Sweeney recently signed off to the 10 Premiership clubs under the Professional Game Partnership.

Alistair Bow is another of the WGU co-chairs, and chairman and majority shareholder of Nottingham RFC, one of the Championship clubs aggrieved by huge funding cuts and their belief the Premiership is effectively ring-fenced, with no club promoted since Saracens in 2021.

Bow told The i Paper this week: “Sweeney has ripped the heart out of this league”. He also pointed out criticism of English rugby’s governance goes back to a DCMS select committee in November 2022 when Sweeney was accused of being “asleep on the job” over the demise of Worcester Warriors and Wasps.

Bow is scathing of the RFU’s communications (although Beaumont says change is already under way in this area) and the Wharton-led review which Bow says is “a waste of time – the RFU marking their own homework”.

Bow’s main charge is that RFU executives have “built a corporate body that doesn’t represent the true status of a members’ organisation”.

He added: “It’s a £170m business – a small business, in reality. It needs a chief executive who is passionate about the game, that’s run a business relative to the size we’ve got, but also who’s worked with volunteers on a daily basis.

“The chief exec and the chair need to be seen and they need to be heard, not hidden behind closed doors.”

Is Sweeney in danger of being ousted?

The SGM cannot remove Sweeney directly – that is in the remit of the RFU Board, and they have previously indicated full support, so logic suggests it would need a substantial anti vote to change their minds.

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The WGU say they can count on 150 to 200 votes, and are waiting on how many others they have persuaded. Sweeney told a recent The Good, The Bad & The Rugby podcast: “If the board tells me to go, that’s fine. If they believe I’m doing a good job – and I do believe I’m doing a good job – then I’ll stay.” He has a notice period of 12 months.

Bow says: “The RFU chairman [Ilube] took the right route. He [Sweeney] should do the right thing and resign anyway.”

Beaumont has told the membership: “To force our chief executive to step down… risks creating a costly leadership vacuum and I believe it would be a huge mistake at a time Bill is leading vital negotiations on a range of areas and when he has led the game through some of its toughest periods and helped it to emerge in a financially strong position.”

What comes next after Thursday?

The WGU has already lined up a second SGM, calling for the removal of the RFU Board, and a third gambit which is a blueprint for a re-structured RFU to be debated at the summer’s annual general meeting (AGM).

This would stand separate to the Wharton review. The mood music in the sport hints at a separation of the running of the professional and amateur games.

Bow says: “Regardless of which way Thursday’s vote goes, if members of the RFU have engaged in any way in this process, it is a start. They realise now they have got a voice. My view is if they read the press and what people like the WGU have put out, there is no way they cannot support change at the RFU.”

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