RFU

Update from our roadshow of English Clubs from RFU Board Interim Chair, Sir Bill Beaumont

February 12, 2025 by Bill Hooper

Like me, I know you will have all enjoyed England’s thrilling win over France in the Guinness Men’s Six Nations last weekend and will be looking forward to the Red Roses participating in the Guinness Six Nations and a home Rugby World Cup.

I also recognise that while our national teams always attract the most attention and are used as a barometer for the state of English rugby, the present and future of English rugby is as much in the hands of you – our club administrators and volunteers, our players, match officials, coaches and parents – as it is in the hands of the 23 players in white at Allianz Stadium.

It’s been just over a month since I first wrote to you when I was appointed to the role of Interim Chair of the Rugby Football Union Board and addressed the call for a Special General Meeting (SGM).

In response to the calling of the SGM, I promised to hit the road on a nationwide tour to listen to the concerns, challenges and thoughts of the community game.

We are now around halfway through this nationwide tour. So far, we – myself, RFU President Rob Udwin; Bill Sweeney, our CEO; Steve Grainger, Executive Director Rugby Development; David Roberts, Chair of the Community Game Board; Malcolm Wharton, Chair of the Governance Review Group: Deborah Griffin, Senior Vice President and luminaries of our game such as Jason Leonard and John Inverdale – have held 11 roadshows, eight in person, three virtual and have attended five club visits between roadshows. Representatives of around 250 clubs have attended, and a further seven roadshows are due to take place between now and 20 February.

I thought it would be useful to share some insights we have heard so far. There have been three types of challenges raised – ones that have re-enforced things we were aware of and are addressing; ones we can address easily; and some we did not previously fully understand.

We have heard we need to improve our governance structures, to improve representation from the community game and ensure voices of the community game are heard and involved in decision making. This is something we want too and why we have a Governance and Representation Review underway, however, the feedback we have heard underlines the need for this work to be an absolute priority and for the work to be accelerated.

We hear loud and clear that the communications from the RFU to the community game have not been as clear or consistent as they could be. This letter aims to start to improve that, and I will be providing further updates once the nationwide tour is complete to reflect our desire to engage with you on the big issues facing the community game.

Many of you have mentioned competition structures. We recognise that clubs’ money and volunteers’ time are precious resources and that means there is a need for more decision making around leagues and fixtures at a local level. We will consider appropriate changes which do not compromise the competitiveness of the league system whilst giving greater flexibility around structures and regulations at local level.

Challenges to adult male participation were also raised. This is not a problem unique to rugby as a sport, nor to England as a Union. However, you look to us to lead and it is only right that this is a priority and we want to work with you to address this ensuring our sport stays strong.

You told us the Game Management System (GMS) is challenging and confusing for volunteers administering the game. We already have a significant improvement plan in train for this as part of our wider Digital Transformation strategy. However, we take on board this feedback and will accelerate this, re-enforce the importance of user groups and look to remove some of the lower priority functions within it.

You told us we need to do more to promote rugby in schools and help clubs engage with them and to support more universities to keep players playing. In response to the first of these we have already embarked on a major programme to take T1 Rugby into schools, giving teachers the confidence and support to introduce more young people to the oval ball and ultimately to help them into our clubs, whilst also committing to an investment into School Rugby Managers, locally based people helping to manage this. We have also heard some great stories of clubs doing this for themselves and we commit to engaging more with them to support their work. On Universities we are expanding the network of activators on university sites and will look to promote this more widely.

In respect of the pathways, we must allow young players to follow their dreams as far as they can through the player development groups and academy systems while also working with the Premiership to actively retain good players in the community game.

Finally, we have heard questions about the governance of the Union itself. Some related to financial performance or executive pay. I promised we would publish the findings of the independent Freshfields review on the bonus award, and we commit to doing so in full.

More often, however, we were asked: whether the RFU governance is fit for purpose, does the current system represent the views and concerns of Clubs. We have also heard the need to devolve more decisions – on competition structures, priorities, and resource allocation to a more local level, where the needs and solutions are best known.

Bill Sweeney and his team have a strategy in place – signed off by the Board and Council- to address these challenges, long before the SGM was called. In my letter of January 10, I mentioned those who had pushed for the SGM had done so without setting out an alternative vision.

As I wrote last month, “we all want winning men’s and women’s England teams, and this can’t happen without a thriving community game…If we work together, we will succeed.”

The listening exercise which we are in the midst of will, I believe, lay the foundations for future success for both the elite and community game.

Achieving a common understanding of a shared purpose and vision for the RFU we can all get behind – just as we would get behind the national teams – is as important for me as continuing the men’s first XV’s form into the Calcutta Cup.

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An Open Letter from Sir Bill Beaumont

January 13, 2025 by Bill Hooper

Dear Members,

Today the RFU Council ratified my appointment as Interim Chair of the RFU Board; it is a great honour to be taking on this role and I thank Council for their support.

I’ve had a busy few weeks engaging with the RFU Board and Council, and listening to players, volunteers, match officials and fans. From those conversations it is very clear the game wants and needs unity, and it is my priority to help to bring the game together.

Unity does not mean no challenge or debate. I hear and empathise with some of the concerns around the payment of a long-term incentive plan. I want to understand how decisions were taken, and it is right that an independent review of the process has been commissioned.  The review should be allowed to run its natural course, and I look forward to its outcomes.

This is a serious moment for the game of rugby in England. There have been demands for change without clarity on the real reasons why, or proposals for an alternative vision. There has been a call for a Special General Meeting (SGM) and we will respect the right of members to have their views heard.

Our sport has a long history of in-fighting and we sometimes lose sight of what is best for rugby as a whole. Whatever we do next, it needs to be for the good of the English game.

We need to listen and be supportive of one another. That is why I will be hitting the road on a nationwide tour of rugby clubs in January and February, so we can debate and agree a united way forward.

We also need to reflect on how hard the last few years have been. I can offer a wider context on that from my recent position as Chair of World Rugby. The impact Covid, inflation and a cost-of-living crisis has had on the game around the globe has been significant in terms of participation, confidence, and finances at every level. 

Objectively, we should ask whether English rugby, in the aftermath, was managed effectively. Having seen all countries wrangle the same problems, I can say with confidence in comparison to many other countries the RFU has come out of this period very well.

The RFU did not receive any government or World Rugby loans. It did, however, successfully negotiate support on behalf of community clubs, and facilitated professional clubs’ access to government loans, which ensured rugby received more financial support in England than any other sport.

There is much work needed to reset and come together as a united game, and I am committed to supporting that. In the short time I have been back in this role, I have also seen that rugby in England has lots of positives to build on.

The RFU has committed to an investment programme in the community game that will see more coaches, more resources for clubs, and accessible forms of rugby being taken into thousands of schools.

We are set to host the Women’s Rugby World Cup – a generational opportunity to get more women and girls playing rugby. Participation in the men’s game has also bounced back close to where it was pre-Covid.

When I’m on the road I will be listening to your feedback and input so do please sign up to join one of the sessions which will be announced in next week’s Community Game Update.

We all want winning men’s and women’s England teams, and this can’t happen without a thriving community game. I want us to have unity, and the stability required to deliver this. If we work together, we will succeed. If we work against each other, English rugby will not be the winner on or off the pitch.

England Rugby Mentor Award

January 9, 2025 by Bill Hooper

Are you a coach, referee, or volunteer passionate about growing the game? The England Rugby Mentoring Award is your chance to inspire others and make a real impact!

What You’ll Gain: – The skills to mentor and support others effectively. – Insights to help develop people across all roles in the game. – A nationally recognized qualification to advance your rugby journey.