RFU: Bill Sweeney bonus defended by former senior official

The bonus scheme, which gave Rugby Football Union chief executive Bill Sweeney an extra £358,000 in the same year the organization hit losses and cut jobs, has been defended by a former senior official.

Genevieve Shore, the former chair of the RFU’s remuneration committee, says she is “extremely happy” with the system.

With an increased salary of £742,000, Sweeney was paid a total of £1.1 million in the 2023/24 financial year.

Compensation packages for him and other executives have sparked a grassroots revolt. with calls for Sweeney’s firing.

Shore said: “I think the RFU board is incredibly professionally run and befits any FTSE 100.” [a collection of the UK’s biggest publicly-listed companies] Standard.

“I think if the leadership team has achieved the goals they set, that’s all you can ask for.”

Before she left the RFU in 2022, Shore served on the board that launched a program called the Long-Term Incentive Plan (LTIP).

The LTIP was designed to retain senior executives during and after the coronavirus pandemic, with targeted bonuses at the end.

“I am extremely pleased with all the governance that took place at the time and the communication that took place,” said Shore, who is now executive chair of Premiership Women’s Rugby.

“Of course I don’t know what happened after 2022, but I feel like everything was prepared and in a good place.”

“I have worked in compensation in many organizations.

“Our challenge was, ‘Can we come out of Covid and keep this team through Covid?’

“The LTIP did what it was supposed to do – most of the team stayed during this period.”

“The job of a leadership team and board is to build a succession plan and ensure there is a relatively smooth transition following an LTIP.”

“Either you get back in or you change your team. This is always a detailed decision that a leadership team has to make.”

Former RFU chairman Tom Ilube, a member of the RFU remuneration committee that approved Sweeney’s recent bonus, resigned in December.

His resignation came as it was confirmed there would be an independent review of the LTIP program, which increased the salaries of Sweeney and five other executives.