English rugby chief Bill Sweeney defends bonus as critics call for his head
Bill Sweeney, the embattled president of the Rugby Football Union (RFU), insists he tried to defer his controversial bonus but has defended his acceptance of the six-figure payment.
Sweeney is facing a vote of no confidence after the bonus took his overall pay to £1.1m in 2023-24, a year in which the RFU made 42 staff redundant and an operating loss of £38m.
“I knew it was going to be a major problem, quite a way before it was done,” he told podcast The Good, The Bad and The Rugby.
“I wanted to defer it, so I said, ‘Why are we paying this in ’23-24? Why don’t we defer to ’25 or ’27?’
“The problem is, once you’ve declared an incentive programme like this, it’s stated in your annual reports, and it was done previously, you accrue for it year after year.
“Even if it has been paid later, it still has to be announced and it still has to be taken in that year, so that wouldn’t have changed.”
Sweeney defended his decision to accept the £358,000 bonus on top of an increased salary of £742,000. Other RFU directors also shared in almost £1m more of bonuses.
“It’s a contracted commitment. You don’t have to take it…it’s contractually available,” he added.
“We didn’t request an LTIP [long-term incentive plan], we had no say in the quantum of it, no say in what the amount should be.
“Giving it all to charity as a justification for why you’ve accepted the LTIP… I’m not sure that’s the right message.”
Bill Sweeney: RFU is still fit for purpose
Sweeney, whose fate hinges on a special general meeting after the upcoming Six Nations, defended the RFU’s stewardship of a game that has seen three top clubs go to the wall.
He conceded that the governing body needed some changes but also pointed the finger at other stakeholders in the domestic game.
“I do think it is [fit for purpose] but I do think there are changes necessary,” he said.
“I don’t think applying the same structures we’ve in the RFU now that existed when the game went professional in ’95 and prior to that [works].
“I suppose the question would be, ‘Is the RFU fit for purpose or is rugby fit for purpose?’ If you look at the various stakeholders, are they all working together in the right way? That’s another bigger question.”