RFU offers to devolve power in bid to save Sweeney

Grassroots clubs have been promised more control over community rugby as the Rugby Football Union (RFU) attempts to see off a coup against chief executive Bill Sweeney.

Sweeney, who is under pressure after his £1.1m compensation package was revealed in the RFU's latest accounts, will face a crunch vote on 27 March.

A majority vote against him by the 1,200 clubs and other stakeholders would rubberstamp a request that the RFU's board sack him "as soon as practicably possible".

However, the governing body has added a second motion to the Special General Meeting, calling for a review into how the community game is run.

The RFU says it expects the review will start a shift to "a regional structure where more decisions can be made locally, with greater flexibility achieved in competition management and devolved funding to help local decisions to be made to drive participation growth, aid player retention and support club sustainability."

Interim RFU chair Bill Beaumont, who, along with Sweeney, has been on a roadshow meeting club representatives, believes the chief executive's critics "do not represent the wider views of our game".

"A vote of no confidence risks sending the Union into paralysis and creating a costly leadership vacuum," he added in an open letter urging clubs to vote for a review and against Sweeney's removal.

The former England captain also reiterated that the board, with whom the chief executive's fate ultimately rests, support Sweeney staying in his post.

"Any decision relating to the employment of the CEO is the responsibility of the RFU Board and the Board unanimously supports Bill Sweeney remaining as CEO," he wrote.

"This support is based on his achievements to date, as well as his ability to deliver the RFU's strategy while being highly motivated to respond and react to what we have heard from you, our members."

The RFU has also revealed the first results of lowering the tackle height in the community game.

The botched roll-out of the law change in 2023 – when the limit on tackle height was initially set at the waist before being raised to the "base of the sternum" after uproar – has been another point made against Sweeney by his critics.

While it has reduced both the number and height of tackles, the change has increased the number of offloads.

However, ball carriers have started to lower their body height into contact and the number of concussions in the men's game has stabilised, after rising in the preceding decade, rather than decreasing.

"We had hoped that concussion numbers may start to fall, but we also understand that law change can take time," said John Lawn, the RFU's game development director.