RFU’s Bill Sweeney refuses to apologise for taking £358,000 bonus

Bill Sweeney has revealed he is determined to stay on as the Rugby Football Union’s chief executive until 2027 – even if he loses a forthcoming vote of no confidence – and refused to apologise for accepting a £358,000 bonus amid record losses and redundancies.

Sweeney also distanced himself from the appointment of Steve Borthwick as England head coach two years ago – the most significant decision during his tenure – on the eve of a make-or-break Six Nations campaign that could pile more pressure on the embattled chief executive.

Sweeney will face a vote of no confidence on 27 March – 12 days after the final round of the Six Nations – after a group of grassroots rebels including more than 150 of the RFU’s members joined forces to trigger a special general meeting. The rebellion was sparked after it emerged in November that Sweeney was paid £1.1m, including a £358,000 long-term incentive plan (LTIP) bonus, while five other executive directors shared close to £1m amid 42 redundancies and the RFU’s record loss to reserves of £42m.

While RFU members will vote on whether Sweeney should stay in March, the ultimate decision lies with the board, who will take the result into account before deciding whether to sack him. It is said he has the full support of the board but the rebels believe a simple majority would force their hand. Even without a majority, if there is a significant vote in favour of Sweeney leaving his position may appear untenable, but the 67-year-old has insisted he has no plans to resign.

“I’ve never thought about stepping down,” said Sweeney. “I saw something about it being timed until the end of the women’s World Cup [in September] because I was getting a bonus for the performance of the women in the World Cup, that’s nonsense.

“I believe we’ve got a lot of powerful initiatives that we’re putting into the game. I’m certainly committed to go through to the end of this cycle, which is the end of 2027. I think there’s unfinished business here and I’m the right person to see it through. That’s why I haven’t considered stepping down.”

Sweeney said he understood the backlash to the timing of the announcement of his bumper bonus and said he would have preferred to defer the payday until either 2025 or 2027. “Of course I understand [the optics],” he added. “And that’s why I felt, that’s why I had a preference for it to be deferred. So I absolutely get why there was a lot of concern and a negative reaction. I don’t think there’s a need to apologise for it. Again, I’ll go back to: it wasn’t my decision to create an LTIP. I don’t think it’s my personal responsibility to apologise for something that’s been put in place in that manner.”

England begin their Six Nations campaign with a daunting trip to Ireland before home matches against France and Scotland. The expectation within the RFU is that England win four out of their five matches but their recent form under Borthwick has been disappointing with just two wins - both against Japan - from their last eight matches. A poor start to the Six Nations would see the pressure on Borthwick, and by association Sweeney, grow. Borthwick has a meagre 50% win record since taking over with both Felix Jones and Aled Walters resigning in quick succession last summer.

Asked if he feels tied to Borthwick’s performance on the basis he made the appointment, Sweeney said: “That would be the perception but it wasn’t my personal decision, it wasn’t me saying ‘Eddie [Jones has] gone, I want Steve Borthwick’, it’s the panel, the experts in rugby come together they discuss it, they look at options, they go to the succession planning work, they’ll get down to a shortlist and make a recommendation in terms of who they think. I can be part of the conversation but they’ll make a recommendation of who they think should be the next head coach.

“We have an ongoing process which is a succession planning part of the company and we have a whole range of coaches, not just the head coach, but in all aspects of coaching, and that’s continually reviewed in terms of where are they, what do we think of them, and we need that, and England should always keep that going forward but we don’t have somebody automatically in mind at the moment. After every tournament, you have a review. But we don’t have a contingency plan. There’s no financial contingency planned.

“I don’t think it was shambolic. I can give you very good reasons why. Did we think Aled Walters was going to go? No. Did we think Felix Jones was going to go? No. We thought they were going to stay longer. We’d all like stability, of course you would. But I’m not saying it’s shambolic. Things like this can happen, personal decisions can happen.”