How a 'tone deaf' decision plunged the RFU into crisis

Anger over the payment of a large bonus at a time of financial strife has imperiled the governing body’s chief executive

- HARRY LATHAM-COYLE

It has been a week of uproar within English rugby union. Last Monday saw the publishing of a set of accounts and an annual report that have drawn ire and frustration at all levels within the game.

There are various strands at which to tug, but much of the furore has been related to the salary of one man. Bill Sweeney was appointed as chief executive of the Rugby Football Union (RFU) in 2019, stepping in after his predecessor, Steve Brown, resigned following the reporting of a record loss amid widespread redundancies.

The latest accounts show a loss of nearly £40m, higher than during Brown’s tenure, while over 40 people were made redundant across the organisation mere months ago. Amid this landscape, Sweeney pocketed £1.1m, with a performance-based bonus of £358,000 accentuating an already swelling salary of £742,000.

The headline figures come as part of a three-year Long Term Incentive Plan (LTIP) agreed upon by the organisation’s renumeration committee during the Covid pandemic. In that difficult time, Sweeney and other executives agreed to defer bonus payments for a period of three years, leading to a larger lump sum paid out in the 2023-24 financial year. A group of six individuals shared a bonus pot of £1.3m, while outgoing financial officer Sue Day was given what has been phrased as a “golden goodbye” payment having departed to take up a role at the Football Association (FA).

It is fair to question why these were ever offered, and certainly why they were accepted in a year where the broader economic picture is so concerning. Shorn of some of the Twickenham matchdays that make up more than 80 per cent of income, the RFU always forecasts a significant hit to finances in Rugby World Cup years – but a record loss only adds to the financial frets that grip much of professional rugby union.