SPORTS minister Hugh Robertson has urged the Rugby Football Union council not to be afraid of change as they prepare to debate sweeping reforms to the organisation’s governance structure.
The RFU board yesterday implemented a significant change to the England management and the 63 council members are now being asked to consider proposals to streamline and modernise their own body.
Robertson said the current structure is “like a throwback to the previous era” and not equipped to run a modern professional sport.
Nigel Boardman, a partner in the law firm Slaughter and May, will tomorrow present a 169-page report which recommends a smaller council with reduced powers.
Slaughter and May’s report recommends the number of council members elected from the community game be cut from 60 to 25, including five from under-represented groups.
Oxford and Cambridge Universities would lose their seats on the council. There would be one seat for the armed forces, instead of the Army, Navy and Royal Air Force being represented individually.
The report recommends two council seats for referees, an additional seat for the Rugby Players’ Association and the introduction of a new post of council chairman, a role currently performed by the RFU president.
Slaughter and May’s report also recommends changes to the structure of the RFU’s management board, removing the president from the table and proposing three independent non-executives. There are currently two.
