RFU Council decisions on Blackett Review

The Rugby Football Union (RFU) Council met today to discuss the findings and recommendations of the Blackett Review panel set up by the Council on 10^th June following the departure of John Steele to look into recent events at the Union.

The panel and its terms of reference were announced publicly on 15^th June and since that time have been working to establish the facts of the situation through interviews with the involved parties, analysis of media coverage, written submissions from other interested parties and assessment based on their expert knowledge. This has included over 65 face to face interviews or written submission, over 90 media articles and nearly 100 hundred RFU documents on which evidence their findings were based and recommendations made.

At the Council meeting there was wide debate on the recommendations and as a result of those a copy of the report will not be made public but an executive summary will be made available by the panel in a timely fashion.

The following decisions were reached:

• Martyn Thomas withdrew his nomination for Chairman of the Board at the AGM creating a ‘casual vacancy’
• Council appointed Paul Murphy, Senior Vice President and Member for Oxfordshire, to be interim Chairman. Murphy was  previously an RFU Board member and Chairman of Governance
• A Special General Meeting will be convened as soon as possible to elect a new Chairman
• The whole Board was given a vote of confidence by Council and will continue in their roles
• Martyn Thomas continuing as Acting CEO was endorsed by Council
• Other recommendations on governance and confidentiality will be dealt with at future meetings

Paul Murphy, elected Acting Chairman of the Board, said, “We were concerned that the reputation of the RFU had been damaged by the recent events which were played out so vividly in the media. We wanted to ensure that we put in place an independent panel capable of undertaking a comprehensive and expert review of what took place so we could learn lessons for the future and take the first step forward towards rebuilding that reputation. I would commend the members of the panel because that is exactly what we received. Their report was based on detailed evidence, was thorough and gave clear recommendations.”

Murphy continued, “In the end after lengthy discussion we have taken what we believe are the right decisions for the future of the game and the Union itself. These were difficult decisions and there was a lot at stake for us all but in the end we felt that we had to ensure our members, players, supporters and all other stakeholders could see we had taken firm action to address the issues and move forward.”

Judge Jeff Blackett who chaired the Review panel, added, “We are glad Council received the report in the spirit it was delivered. The panel worked tirelessly over the last 3 weeks to gather a huge amount of evidence and we felt our recommendations were valid and appropriate based on that evidence. As guardians of the game though Council had some important decisions to take and discussions were robust and emotive in that regard. I would like to thank my panel for a job well done and hope that as a game we can now draw a line under the events of the past few months and get on with rugby.”

Martyn Thomas, acting CEO, concluded, “This was a difficult day for the Union but at the end of the day this does now mean we can finally move on. I would like to thank Council for their support both in terms of me continuing as acting CEO and in my other roles. The most important thing was that we maintained stability for staff and our other partners and in the coming weeks I will be ensuring that we navigate to calmer waters and that we can get on with our core purpose of rugby. With RWC2011 upon us we have something to look forward to and I will ensure Martin and his team have all the support they need to be successful in New Zealand.”