English rugby braces for pivotal vote that will decide its future

Telegraph

5 hours ago

On Saturday, the British and Irish Lions make their bow on Australian soil while England settle in Buenos Aires ahead of a Test series against Argentina that begins the following weekend.
But back in Birmingham, away from the spotlight, is a potentially pivotal day for the future of rugby union in this country.
There, at the Rugby Football Union's annual general meeting, members will vote on a set of proposals designed to address the unrest that resulted in a special general meeting three months ago.
Bill Sweeney, the chief executive, survived a vote of no-confidence in March, but the same summit delivered a strong mandate to expedite governance reform.
The Whole Game Union, a body spearheaded by Alistair Bow, from Nottingham RFC, and Paddy McAlpine, of Chichester RFC, has tabled 11 resolutions in an effort to secure meaningful change and requires 66 per cent approval for them to be passed.
What changes are being proposed?
The resolutions include a desire for the council to be able to approve the union's annual strategic plan, as well as its budget and business plan. The thorny issue of directors' pay, which sparked outrage across the game, would be addressed with the implementation of a published 'people and pay policy', which members could comment on and influence.
As a whole, the Whole Game Union's mission statement is to 'put members back at the heart of major decisions' and 'restore strategic control' to an elected council.
A letter to members, seen by Telegraph Sport, lists six reasons why reform has become essential, including the removal of development officers on the ground and reduced investment, in real terms, into the community game.
What does it mean for the grass-roots game?
At the heart of this campaign is the belief that the RFU executive and board have neglected amateur clubs in favour of a focus on the elite game. It is felt, for example, that £33 million per year was committed to Premiership clubs 'without meaningful consultation with members'.
Jeff Blackett, who served as RFU president between 2020 and 2022, has been an adviser to the Whole Game Union and backs the proposals. 'The difficultly is that the game has been struggling to become professional since 1995 and the governance structure has not really caught up to where we are today,' he said this week.
'The professional game and the grass-roots game are two different beasts and it is very difficult to have one organisation in charge of all of it. Our concern is that the senior executive and the board have only concentrated on the elite game. The community game is dying on its feet, unfortunately; numbers are down, clubs are down and fixtures aren't fulfilled.
'It's a watershed moment and these proposals are meant to redress the balance, to put some of the power back into the council, acknowledging that the council has to be reformed itself to be more accountable to its membership, so that the big decisions can be scrutinised properly.'
How could it affect the RFU council?
The RFU council has been branded as bloated and archaic, with Blackett describing the 2016 Sport England governance code as a 'final nail in the coffin' that reduced its power. An independent review recently labelled it as 'dysfunctional' and advised that it should be scrapped entirely.
However, the Whole Game Union argues that this consultation document 'lacks transparency and ambition' and would only create a system 'where members will have less ability to scrutinise the executive and the board'.
'One of the criticisms of the council is that too many of its members are people who have done great jobs for CBs [constituent boards] and are effectively given a reward of going up to Twickenham and having nice seats to enjoy their latter years in rugby,' Blackett added.
'There are people like that, but there are also many good people. The Whole Game Union would have council more accountable to the game. One of the resolutions is for the nominations committee to write a report on each council member that will go back to their constituents. They also want to make the council smaller, because it's difficult to have meaningful debate with 60-odd people in a room, and make it so members feel an attachment to those council members.
'What we're trying to do is to restore democracy. The friction comes because it is also a multimillion-pound business and the board also has to have the ability to run that. We've got to get the balance right.'
Could this impact rugby's funding?
The Whole Game Union has also addressed the RFU board's criticisms of the resolutions. It disputes, for instance, that reform would cause Sport England to remove funding from the RFU and decline to support the hosting of international tournaments such as World Cups.
Blackett suggested that the image of the Whole Game Union as disruptive upstarts is grossly unfair. 'The RFU position is that they're a bunch of rebels and malcontents,' he said. 'They're not. They are people with a genuine interest in making rugby a great sport again and none of them are in it for personal gain.'
His endgame would be for the RFU board to oversee both the professional and grass-roots game: 'The way I see it is that the board would delegate a good chunk of money to both and effectively urge them to manage it in accordance with business plans they have put forward.
'I do think it's important that the whole game stays together. And the professional game is the Premiership and the Championship. I think there has been real, valid criticism that the Championship has not been properly supported by the RFU and that needs to be put right as well.'
Voting has been open for a fortnight or so, meaning many members will have made up their minds. Blackett would urge any stragglers to give themselves an opportunity to lend their voice to a critical debate.
'The RFU is a members cooperative and every member should have a voice on major issues,' he said. 'The trouble in the past with AGMs is that fewer and fewer people have turned up and things go through without proper scrutiny.
'It's absolutely vital that members look at the merits of this and vote. And, of course, I would urge them to vote for the resolutions that will ensure the future of our game.'