Former RFU remuneration chief defends Bill Sweeney’s bonus payments amid rebellion
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Sweeney remains under serious pressure after uproar around the paying of a bonus of nearly £400,000 in a year that the RFU made a significant loss. The former chair of the Rugby Football Union’s remuneration committee has defended the process that led to Bill Sweeney and other executives being paid significant bonuses.
![[Bill Sweeney (right) remains under severe pressure]](https://static.independent.co.uk/2022/12/19/13/SEI138093213.jpg)
Chief executive Sweeney has been heavily criticised after receiving a bonus of nearly £400,000 in a year in which the RFU made a record loss of £38m, with chair Tom Ilube stepping down amid a furore over pay. The bonus paid to the former British Olympic chief swelled his annual earnings to £1.1m, and came as a result of a Long Term Incentive Plan (LTIP) agreed after the Covid pandemic.
![[Tom Ilube stepped down as RFU chairman in December]](https://static.independent.co.uk/2024/12/20/17/7cf3a3308626ebb839fdf3c6688ba6f5Y29udGVudHNlYXJjaGFwaSwxNzM0ODAwOTU5-2.62420608.jpg)
The RFU are reviewing executive pay after widespread uproar over the figures, which came after Sweeney met or partly met a number of criteria. An attempt to force a special general meeting on Thursday, co-ordinated by the Rugby Football Referees’ Union (RFRU) and involving Championship clubs, claimed to have the support of far more than the required 100 clubs.
However, the attempt was batted away by the RFU, who suggested that the rebels had not complied with the relevant requirements to action such a meeting, and the letter received contained “a number of inaccuracies”. Genevieve Shore was chair of the remuneration committee that agreed to the LTIP, which rewarded a number of executives who took pay cuts during the pandemic.
