A bonus scheme that saw Rugby Football Union chief executive Bill Sweeney receive an extra £358,000 in the same year the body reported losses and cut jobs has been defended by a former senior official.
Genevieve Shore, former chair of the RFU remuneration committee, says she feels “extremely comfortable” with the program.
Following a £742,000 pay rise, Sweeney received a total of £1.1 million for the 2023-24 financial year.
The remuneration packages for him and other executives sparked a grassroots revolt, calling for Sweeney to be fired.
Shore explained: “I believe the RFU board is run incredibly professionally and meets all FTSE 100 requirements [a collection of the UK’s biggest publicly-listed companies] standard.
“I think if the executive team has achieved the goals they set for them, that’s all you can ask for.”
Before she left the RFU in 2022, Shore was a member of the board that introduced a program known as the Long Term Incentive Plan (LTIP).
The LTIP has been designed to retain senior management during and after the Covid pandemic, with target-linked bonuses provided afterwards.
“I’m very pleased with all the management that took place at the time and the communication that took place,” said Shore, who is now chairwoman of Premiership Women’s Rugby.
“Of course I don’t know what happened after 2022, but I feel like everything was set and in the right place.
“I have worked on compensation in many organizations.
“Our challenge was, ‘Can we get out of Covid and keep this team through Covid?’
“LTIP did what it was supposed to do – most of the team stayed during this period.
“The executive team and board are tasked with developing a succession plan and ensuring a smooth transition following the LTIP.
“Either you strengthen the team or you change the team. This is always a very detailed decision that the executive team has to make.”
Former RFU chairman Tom Ilube, a member of the RFU remuneration committee which approved Sweeney’s recent bonus, he stepped down in December.
His departure came after confirmation that there would be an independent review of the LTIP program, which increased the pay of Sweeney and five additional executives.
