Former England rugby head coach Sir Clive Woodward has torn into RFU chief executive Bill Sweeney for accepting a huge payday despite the sport’s governing body posting huge losses.
Sweeney was paid a basic salary of £742,000 and bonuses of £358,000, totalling £1.1million for the 12-month period ending in June this year. But the RFU posted massive operating losses of £37.9m in the same accounts, sparking concerns over the size of Sweeney’s wages, and particularly the bonuses that were triggered.
The numbers left a particularly sour taste for Woodward, who coached England to Rugby World Cup glory in 2003.
“What I find totally unacceptable is when business leaders take home fat pay cheques at a time when the company they work for is underperforming,” he wrote for The Daily Mail.
“I would have no issue with Sweeney taking home such a sum if the RFU was performing to the best of its ability on and off the field. But, simply put, it is not. And that makes Sweeney’s salary incredibly difficult to understand.
“I am sure I am not the only one who thinks it is an insult to the wider English rugby public at a time when our great game continues to struggle with monetary issues.”
The RFU’s finances suffered partly due to a lack of matches at Twickenham across the time covered by the accounts, with the men’s team playing there four times and the women’s team only once during a year when the men’s World Cup was staged in France.
A loss was always likely to be made on that basis, but Woodward has called on the RFU to take action rather than ‘accept’ that their coffers will take a painful hit every four years.
“The RFU has been quick to say they expected to make a loss for the past year as it’s something that routinely happens in World Cup years,” he wrote. “They insist their finances are overall in good health. I understand that World Cup years mean fewer games at Twickenham and there is more expense in having the team in camp for longer.
“But again, I would question why in World Cup years – when more attention and eyeballs are on the sport – are the RFU not making the most of that opportunity? Why are we happy to accept that every four years, English rugby will make such losses?”
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