Remember this phrase? “Respect the will of the people and get behind your country”. Of course that was about Brexit, but it could equally apply to the recent failed vote of no-confidence in the Rugby Football Union’s chief executive officer Bill Sweeney. Will the defeated individuals pursue this course of action? It seems not, as there are already rumours of persistent further motions until one succeeds.
Here are some facts to counter the months of damaging spin. This was never about Sweeney’s salary and bonus. If it had been there would have been demands for the other six directors similarly remunerated to also resign, along with all members of the committee who awarded the contracts. The malcontents engaged a former sports journalist to head a covert campaign of selective and anonymous leaks to the press. They claimed it was about the good of the English game. The truth is that it was nothing more than a demand by the Championship clubs for more cash and a demand by some RFU Council members, particularly a section of referees, to go back to the days when the governing body was wholly run by ‘57 old farts’.
You might have thought that having lost so decisively those who campaigned for the motion would have the decency to slip quietly away, but no. Alistair Bow, the chair of Nottingham, now claims their actions were essential for getting the RFU to listen to the grassroots game. This propaganda has several problems.
First, the vote shows that the will of the grassroots is not what the dissenters claimed. Second, the RFU had already lined up a fully independent governance review under Sir Hugh Robertson, only for the Council to demand they effectively marked their own homework by having an internal review headed by Jeff Blackett. Third, I, the RFU, and a substantial majority of grassroots rugby, have listened; we just do not agree. The two things are different, no matter how you argue otherwise.
The vote failed because no cogent and positive case was presented by the opponents. What about the following questions: Given the annual funding gap between Premiership and Championship clubs is £17.5 million against £1.5 million, why should the RFU fund that £16 million gap 12 times over? From where is that money to come? Do you propose to take it from the RFU’s support for the Premiership, which is vital to fill the Allianz Stadium, or are you going to take it from the recently guaranteed £300 million investment into the grassroots game? Why is it sensible to back a proposed spend that dwarfs that of rugby league’s Super League, without their crowds or multiple, worldwide broadcast deals? Finally, where are your business plans to address all these crucial issues?
Answers from the malcontents – nothing, zilch, nada – just a statement from Simon Halliday saying they wanted a body that listened and fairer funding; platitudes that mean little.
