Martyn Thomas resigns as chairman of the Rugby Football Union (RFU)
Martyn Thomas has withdrawn from the prestigious office of the Chairman of Rugby Football Union (RFU) in the wake of the demand put forward by the RFU’s disciplinary officer, Jeff Blackett.
This decision was enforced in lieu of the dissolution of contract with John Steele as the former chief executive of RFU by Thomas which lead to the publication of a report. However, Thomas will continue to perform his duties in the capacity of Acting Chief
Executive, until permanent arrangements in this regard are not made.
While discussing this move Thomas spoke, “This was a difficult day for the Union but at the end of the day this does now mean we can finally move on.”
This action was implemented in the wake of report, formed by five members under the chairman ship of Jeff Blackett, which was published last month. The report discussed in detail Steele’s unjustified resignation by Thomas. The details of published report
created disturbances all over and were talked about in detail with the members of the RFU council, during the emergency board meeting called on Saturday, July 9.
Regarding that 52-page long report, which was handed in on Friday, July 8, at 5 p.m., Thomas mentioned that with the short time before the council meeting could commence at 8 a.m. it was a huge task “to get members to read it through, take it all in and
deal with the issues raised in it.”
A board meeting was convened on Sunday, July 10, in Twickenham when Thomas assured his resignation from the Chairmanship of RFU. However, Thomas was deprived of the warm welcome for the extension of tenure as RFU’s representation as CEO. Although it is believed
that Thomas did not resign because of the accusations hurled at him in the report, but it was due to the fact that he was holding up two offices that of the Chairman and the acting CEO of RFU, which felt inapt to him personally.
Further he stated, “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.”
Until the new appointment has not been made for the RFU Chairman, Paul Murphy, the future RFU president will fill up for this position temporarily. This permanent appointment will be made by October.
Along with Thomas, nine members of the managerial panel have also lost their subsequent positions just nine weeks prior to Rugby World Cup 2011(RWC 2011) this September, in New Zealand. This is raising concerns for RFU, as they are still on a look-out for
a performance director, with no Chairman and CEO at hand.
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