‘I’ve had enough of this political c–p that goes on’ – Bill Sweeney gives blunt verdict on calls for his dismissal
Bill Sweeney, the Rugby Football Union's chief executive.
Despite being under plenty of pressure to step down from his position as the Rugby Football Union’s (RFU) chief executive, Bill Sweeney has revealed that he will not be taking that course of action.
The RFU has agreed to hold a special general meeting, at which Sweeney will face moves to end his tenure, upon the completion of this year’s Six Nations.
Speaking on The Good, The Bad and The Rugby podcast, Sweeney revealed that he had initially wanted to defer his own controversial £358,000 bonus payment after there were calls for his removal.
The announcement of Sweeney‘s bonus payment was made while several redundancies were taking place at the RFU.
There is plenty of resentment in rugby circles due to the scandal which has already led to the resignation of RFU chairman Tom Ilube towards the end of last year.
Despite Ilube’s course of action, Sweeney remains defiant and defended the results of the RFU’s financial report although they suffered a loss to reserves of £37.9 million that has been attributed mostly to a lack of home matches for England during a Rugby World Cup year.
‘One of the things I’m most proud of’
Sweeney has occupied his current position since 2019 and revealed that the financial landscape was “one of the things I’m most proud of” as the RFU said it has “zero debt” and “£59 million of cash and £80 million of reserves”.
“I’ve definitely got the energy, [to carry on],” he told The Good, The Bad and The Rugby. “I mean, the easiest thing to do now would be walk away.
“The easiest thing to do now would be to say: ‘Right, I’ve had enough of this stuff. I’ve had enough of this political c–p that goes on. It’s worse than Succession. I’ve had enough of all that stuff. Why bother?’
“I can’t do that. I wouldn’t do that. It’s just unbearable to think I would just take that easy option out. We’ve got some great stuff that we’ve developed and we’re just starting to land into the game. I know what’s going on behind the scenes. I know who’s involved in it.
“So I’m not just going to walk away from those characters either. So I’m going to stick it out. If the board tells me to go, that’s fine. If they don’t tell me to go and they believe I’m doing a good job and I do believe I’m doing a good job, then I’ll stay.
“And if that means taking a load more stick and flack, then OK, I’ll stay. But then you’ve pointed out some of the things you’ve got to do better. You’ve pointed out how we’ve got to communicate better, be more transparent.”
Sweeney also gave a detailed account of the catastrophic communications mix-up over the lowering of the tackle height in January 2023, another incident which led to a negative response, and resulted in him having a publicity campaign in a bid to regain the trust of delegates ahead of the special general meeting.
“We’ve got a big job to do,” added Sweeney, who has informed figures in the community game that the RFU council has received plenty of plenty of criticism.
“I think when we go on the road, the worst thing we can do is have an evening somewhere in Yorkshire, and present for three hours. I think we’ve got to listen to what the grievances are.”
As the RFU board have done in meetings between the council and its staff, Sweeney justified the long-term incentive plan (LTIP) as a means of keeping together their executive after the Covid-19 pandemic.
He did made a request to to defer it until 2025 or 2027, but said “the problem is once you’ve declared an incentive program like this, it’s stated in your annual reports and it was done previously and you accrue for it year after year.
“And even if it had 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 the year it was taken.”
His LTIP bonus was awarded thanks to hitting several markers, including the performance of senior sides, which hinged upon a blended percentage that was aided significantly by the performance of John Mitchell’s all-conquering women’s team who won all 10 of their Tests in 2024.
That boosted Sweeney’s salary to £1.1 million for 2023/24, and he hinted that a furious backlash was not surprising to him.
‘Sport is about emotion’
“I’ve been the beneficiary of an LTIP before,” he said. “There’s one at Adidas. It’s very, very different working in corporate than in sport. Sport is about emotion.
“It’s about how do you go to a club and you’re arguing about or not arguing, discussing travel funding at 250 quid and then I’ve got this bonus. So it’s one thing to be able to live and work with the LTIP in the corporate world. It’s very difficult in the sports world.
“But this was seen as an exceptional circumstance, which obviously it was. I can’t imagine it will be repeated ever unless we have another Covid and the board felt it was, and by and large it actually delivered what it needed to deliver.”
While he wanted to defer the LTIP, giving it up entirely was not considered. “No, you don’t have to take it,” Sweeney added. “I mean, it’s contractually available. If the RFU chooses not to pay it, then it’s contractually promised to you.
“Now, I make my own payments to charity and I consider them to be personal. So, I think giving it all to charity, as a justification for why you’ve accepted the LTIP, I’m not sure that’s the right message.”
