Bill Sweeney, the Rugby Football Union chief executive, and chairman Tom Ilube will face a motion calling for them both to be dismissed at a special general meeting following a revolt from the grass-roots of the game.

The revolt, which is in response to the salary and bonus scandal, is understood to have been spearheaded by the RFU’s own referees’ union.

It has garnered enough support to force Sweeney to call an SGM in what represents the biggest grass-roots challenge to the governing body’s leadership since the early days of professionalism in the late 1990s.

The last SGM called by the RFU was in April 2005, when Martyn Thomas was elected as chairman of the governing body ahead of former England head coach Jack Rowell in what was regarded as a grass-roots revolution.

As of Wednesday, the Rugby Football Referees’ Union, which is a national constituent body within the RFU, had written support from 187 members across the country, having joined up with the 12 Championship clubs who were separately calling for an SGM.

Rule 9.4 of the RFU states that the governing body’s chief executive must call an SGM if at least 100 members give written notice. The RFU must then notify its membership 14 days after it has been received and call an SGM within 45 days.

Significantly, it is understood that the motions to be put to a vote are to be expanded from a review of the handling of the crisis to motions calling for both Ilube to be dismissed and for the RFU board to dismiss Sweeney.

RFU may hold landmark meeting during Six Nations

With written notice expected to be served before the end of the week, the RFU faces the prospect of staging an SGM at Twickenham before the end of the Six Nations.

It is understood the board of the RFU have been consulting with the RFU’s head of legal, Angus Bujalski, to ensure that the submissions are technically correct and meet all the governing body’s SGM stipulations.

The revolt has been triggered by the furious reaction across the game to revelations that Sweeney was paid £1.1 million last year, including an extra bonus of £358,000, while five other executive directors shared a bonus of close to £1 million against a backdrop of 42 redundancies and the RFU’s record loss of £37.9 million.

“If there was one way to unite the game, it is the anger at the RFU executive,” said one insider. “Referees have a unique position in the game to maintain law and order and uphold the values of our game. We often like to sit in the background but sometimes you have to take centre stage and to stand up for what is right. That is our responsibility.

“The calls for the SGM reflect the mood of volunteers up and down the country and it is a good litmus test of the feeling of anger.

“The egregious size of the salaries and bonuses paid to the executive directors was the tipping point. If the game was flourishing, if participation numbers were through the roof, England were performing well and the community game was feeling well supported and the Championship clubs were being well funded, then it might have been different. But everyone is looking at a long list of mistakes and saying that is not an indication of high performance and asking why are we rewarding them with such high sums of money?

“We are seeing support from Cornwall to Durham, from Kent to Lancashire and Yorkshire. It is right across the game, from clubs at level nine and 10 to the RFU Championship. The game is united in its anger.”

Telegraph Sport revealed the full extent of the remuneration of the salary and bonus payments made to its executive director team, which rose from £2.8 million last year to £4.9 million, which included “the payout of the long-term incentive plan [LTIP] which accounts for £1.3 million and the increase in executive directors”.

This was paid despite the governing body having been forced to make 42 redundancies in September and implement cost-cutting measures to staff and reductions to funding for the Championship and grass-roots game, as well as nationwide frustration at the performance of the England men’s team, the handling of the introduction of the tackle height law change, declining participation numbers and management of former England head coach Eddie Jones.

The RFU said LTIP bonuses for executives were introduced in 2021 in recognition of the “material, voluntary reductions in their remuneration during Covid despite the significant additional work required to run the organisation during those times”.

The executive team took a six-month 20 per cent cut to their salary at the start of the pandemic, and no annual bonuses were paid out, and the size of the largesse of the payouts this year angered the England squad and Premiership players, who had all taken 25 per cent pay cuts in 2020 without any recompense.

On Tuesday, 11 of the 14 National One clubs became the latest section of the game to revolt, calling for an independent root-and-branch review of the management of the game in England, which they claim is “not fit for purpose”.

The National One league is the third tier of English rugby, below the Premiership and Championship, and the list of clubs demanding the overhaul include two of the RFU’s founding clubs, Blackheath and Richmond. Rosslyn Park also joined the call.

The move comes ahead of an emergency council meeting on Wednesday that was called by RFU president Rob Udwin in an attempt to diffuse the situation amid the threat that more than 20 council members were demanding a vote of no confidence in Ilube.

There has also been an angry reaction from the England squad, Premiership players, Championship clubs, former RFU chairmen, and across the grass-roots game, groups who all had to endure cuts during the Covid pandemic.

An RFU spokesperson said: “We will respond to any potential meeting requisition if and when it is received in the appropriate format.”