Question time at Twickenham

GRAEME Cattermole, the former chairman of the RFU, has written an explosive letter to a member of the RFU council which lays bare the apparent financial inadequacies of the governing body.

- NICK CAIN

Cattermole says in the letter to Malcolm Caird, a council member for Surrey who has defended the current administration, that the RFU’s handling of the recent funding cuts to the Championship clubs (CC) has lacked transparency and been “disrespectful”.

He alleges that, in the process, the management board and its chief executive, Bill Sweeney, have failed to adhere to the RFU’s frequently heralded ‘core values’.

Cattermole says that the proposed reduction in the CC funding is nothing more than a “cost-cutting” exercise which the RFU has tried to represent as a consequence of the second-tier professional clubs failing to respond to an agreed series of five conditions.

He argues that no such agreement exists, and that this behaviour is unworthy of a national governing body.

Cattermole calls on the RFU to make fundamental changes – and warns that if the current board fails to act then it will be forced to.

RFU SHOWS NO RESPECT

His letter states: “The behaviour of the RFU management board and executive has been disrespectful to the CC and flies in the face of the regularly lauded core value by the RFU which is “Respect”. NO respect has been shown by the RFU towards the CC, its members and or its supporters.

“The RFU management board and executive need to be open and transparent in all their dealings with their members, which is not currently the case.

“Change is urgently needed and the current difficult period we are all witnessing points to the need for that change which is advocated by many commentators, clubs and individuals in the game.