The crisis at the top of English rugby erupted on Thursday evening as grassroots rebels broke cover to demand Bill Sweeney be sacked, only for the Rugby Football Union to reject a petition for a vote on their under-fire chief executive’s future.
The collective, which includes 10 second-tier Championship clubs, various refereeing bodies and lower-level clubs from across the country, had called for the RFU board to dismiss Sweeney “as soon as practicably possible”.
Sweeney’s £1.1m compensation package, which coincided with record financial losses for the governing body and a round of job losses, topped their list of complaints.
The rebels have the support of 152 clubs and bodies, well clear of the threshold of 100 needed to trigger a Special General Meeting and a vote on Sweeney’s future.
However, the RFU swiftly dismissed the call for a summit meeting of their near 2,000-strong membership and a final confrontation over Sweeney, claiming the no-confidence motion lacked the necessary signatures.
“The letter contains a number of inaccuracies,” the RFU added in a statement. “It does not comply with the relevant requirements and is therefore invalid as a requisition for an SGM.” The organisers of the motion now plan to resubmit their paperwork and insist they will force the issue to a vote.
“The RFU can play for time all it likes, but this is a mass movement by a stronger, united team,” said a spokesperson for the collective.
“Splitting hairs about the rules of what is or isn’t a valid complaint form is merely postponing the inevitable.
(BBC sport)
