Jeff Blackett may leave Rugby Football Union
Judge Jeff Blackett, the chief disciplinary officer of the Rugby Football Union (RFU), is reportedly considering leaving his office after Martyn Thomas, the former Chairman, stepped down and threatened Blackett with legal proceedings.
Thomas’ threat came after Blackett had published a 52-page report in which Thomas’ decision pertaining to John Steel’s resignation was condemned. Steele had not even finished one year with RFU before he resigned from the Chief Executive’s office on July
10.
In the wake of the report responsible for creating waves in the RFU board, Thomas has taken up as acting chief executive and will be shouldering the responsibilities of the Rugby World Cup 2015 board, ignoring the questions and criticism hurled at him in
Blackett’s report.
The 52-page long report discussed in detail Thomas’s demeanour during Steel’s dismissal, which lead to upheaval in the RFU board and was condemned by many.
The full version of that report was published last week and showed that it talked about how Thomas has had inclinations towards Sir Clive Woodward for the performance director’s office. This had lead to Steele’s unexpected resignation in an emergency board
meeting.
Hugh Robertson, the sports minister, spoke about the upheaval at RFU and said, “I have been clear that I want all sports bodies to have the best possible governance structures. Recent events have proved that clearly is not the case with the RFU.”
That damaging report from Blackett concluded with an emergency board meeting which requested that nine RFU board members, including Thomas, resign. This unexpected turn of events angered Thomas and he bashed Blackett by saying that he will file a law suit
against him for publically humiliating him through the report.
The previous RFU board’s structure will be retained until a new appointment of CEO is not made. It is also expected that the RFU board will undergo improvements in time so that a much better operational set-up is achieved.
While addressing a council meeting, the intentions of Thomas, regarding pursuing legal action against Blackett was disclosed by one of the attendees. It was conveyed to Karena Vleck, the head of the legal department of RFU, by Thomass lawyers in the case
the report went public. However, the decision regarding withholding the report from going public was undertaken not by Blackett but was reached by the members of the meeting.
As stated by a spokesperson for RFU, "The council meeting was a private and confidential meeting and all parties agreed to be bound by those terms. As such it would be inappropriate to comment on the events of the meeting and matters arising. It would be
disappointing if members have broken that agreement but the RFU will not formally do so."
According to sources it has been verified that the report was withheld because it was not properly reviewed by the RFU board, owing to the busy Saturday and early morning meeting on Sunday. This episode has left RFU in complete disarray with the Rugby World
Cup approaching fast.
Tags: