England squad ‘disappointed’ at size of RFU chiefs’ bonuses

The England squad is understood to be frustrated and disappointed at the size of the bonus payments made to senior figures at the Rugby Football Union that have led to a revolt by the governing body’s council members and widespread anger among employees and players.

RFU chair Tom Ilube and Bill Sweeney, the chief executive, could face a vote of no confidence after Telegraph Sport’s revelation on Wednesday that one-off bonuses paid to five executives totalled almost £1 million this year, in addition to Sweeney’s £1.1 million salary – despite the governing body suffering a record of loss of £37.9 million.

It is understood that two groups of council members have already begun moves to gain the necessary support for a call for an emergency council meeting in an attempt to topple Ilube and put pressure on the governing body’s board to sack Sweeney.

The anger centres on both the size of Sweeney’s salary, which the RFU annual report revealed on Monday had risen by 8.5 per cent and included a one-off performance-based payment of £358,000, but also the payment of extra bonuses to five executive directors.

Those payments were from a long-term incentive plan (LTIP) that was offered during the pandemic, when the executive team took temporary 25 per cent pay cuts. The revelation that the total payments of £1.3 million – on top of their salaries and annual bonuses – were tucked away in footnotes at the back of the annual report has angered RFU staff and council members.

It is understood the news has also not gone down well within the England squad, given that the players accepted a 25 per cent cut in match fees throughout 2020 to play their part in the game’s response to the pandemic.

Sue Day, the RFU’s former chief financial officer, who resigned earlier this year to join the Football Association, did not qualify for an LTIP payment because she left before it was paid out, but still received an effective golden-goodbye bonus on top of her annual bonus, which meant her salary increased from £509,000 to £554,000.

While it is understood that Claudio Borges, the RFU’s executive director of engagement and business growth, was also included in the LTIP scheme despite joining in June 2022 when the pandemic was over, his bonus was paid on a pro-rata basis.

“A big deal was made at the time about how they were taking a cut for the good of the game, but the bonus they received just three years later was many multiples of the money they lost,” said one source. “It is as if they were trying to hide it. People lost their jobs, and others took cuts without the need for a big bonus to work through Covid.”

Across the two years there was a voluntary loss in remuneration for the executive team of over £1 million, this is said to have covered six months of salary reductions, no bonus for one year and a reduced bonus in the second year.

Twickenham staff ‘incredulous’

Another source said staff within Twickenham had been left “incredulous”, given that the governing body had announced 42 redundancies in September. “It is hard to take,” said one source.

One senior player also spoke of the frustration at the size of the payouts despite the fact that Wasps, Worcester Warriors and London Irish had gone bust and Premiership players had been forced to take 25 per cent cuts on fixed-term contracts during the pandemic.

The governing body’s rules state that a vote of no confidence in Ilube requires a two-thirds majority to sack him. Sweeney could also face a vote of no confidence, though his fate is in the hands of the RFU board, that is said to be fully supportive of him.

“During the pandemic, the executive team took deeper and longer salary cuts than the rest of the organisation along with a reduced bonus,” said RFU chairman Tom Ilube, who is a member of the remuneration committee.

“The [LTIP] put in place post-Covid recognised the material and voluntary reduction in remuneration, despite an exceptional increase in workload, while also incentivising the executive team to remain in post to deliver against challenging multi-year targets.”

Last year Telegraph Sport revealed that 30 members of the 65-strong RFU council had signed a letter outlining a series of fears, claiming the board was “providing insufficient leadership, controls, and scrutiny over the performance of the RFU executive”.

The letter also claimed the governing body was likely to make substantial losses equating to £161 million over the next nine years.

The accounts revealed that the Allianz naming-rights deal for Twickenham, which is worth £100 million, runs over for 13 years, not 10 as initially reported.

The RFU was approached for a comment.