RFU rebels vow to fight on after attempt to remove Bill Sweeney is blocked
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A grassroots rebellion has accused the Rugby Football Union of “postponing the inevitable” after the governing body rejected an attempt to force the removal of the chief executive, Bill Sweeney, amid the pay and bonuses scandal. On another remarkable day at the RFU, a group of 141 members from across the country called for a special general meeting and a vote of no confidence in Sweeney, only for the union to declare the motion invalid on bureaucratic grounds.
![[Bill Beaumont]](https://i.guim.co.uk/img/media/513826b896a75986db03a0a733ba5c963155e600/0_186_2419_1906/master/2419.jpg?width=445&dpr=1&s=none&crop=none)
The rebels – who later said their support had grown to 152 members – demanded an SGM no later than 28 February and said they were calling on the board of directors to “terminate [Sweeney’s] employment … as soon as practicably possible”. The threshold to call for an SGM is 100 clubs, so the rebels were confident they would succeed in forcing a vote but the coup has failed, at least temporarily, on the grounds that “it does not comply with the relevant requirements”. The rebels are expected to resubmit their motion and consider the setback a minor obstacle but the procedure to call for an SGM is notoriously bureaucratic and a similar putsch failed during the tackle-height debacle in January 2023.
A spokesman for the group calling for an SGM said: “The RFU can play for time all it likes, but this is a mass movement by a stronger, united team. Splitting hairs about the rules of what is or isn’t a valid complaint form is merely postponing the inevitable. It would surely be better for the RFU to respect the wishes of more than 150 members – so far – who seek to invoke their right under Twickenham’s own regulations to hold the administrators of the game to account at a special general meeting.”.
