Rugby Football Union on verge of collapse before Rugby World Cup 2011
Former English Rugby Football Union (RFU) Chief Executive, Francis Baron, has stated that the English rugby ruling body is in utter disarray and is falling apart.
Francis Baron took office as the first chief executive of the RFU in 1998 and continued with his responsibilities until last year. He stated that the RFU is on the verge of “complete meltdown." Baron further added, "It is budgeting to lose £11m next year.
It is all without parallel in UK major sports and I never dreamt it could collapse so quickly."
Baron spoke with a major London daily and stated, “The union now has no performance director or elite rugby director; it has no chief executive, no human resources manager, no finance director, staff morale is destroyed and the government has expressed concern
over what it sees as slipping governance of standards.”
John Steele, who was the latest Chief Executive of the RFU, succeeded Baron last year after the former CEO stepped down. However, Steele’s tenure was short lived in the wake of controversies regarding his recruitment of England’s new performance director.
Steele had wanted to reign in the responsibilities of the performance director by limiting his power to only the Saxons. This was widely seen as the reason for Sir Clive Woodward walking away from his candidacy of the pivotal position.
Steele finally lost his job after all members present at an emergency board meeting voted against the embattled CEO last week. It was also confirmed by the board of directors of the RFU that John Steele had departed the union with immediate effect. Steele
barely managed to complete a year as the Chief Executive of RFU.
Prior to joining RFU as its CEO, Steele had a successful run as the Chief Executive of UK Sport for five years. During his tenure, Britain won enough medals at the Beijing Olympics to snag fourth place. Despite his commendable career profile, Baron was concerned
about Steele’s appointment as RFU Chief Executive. He believed that Steele did not have the necessary experience to supervise RFU effectively.
Baron pointed out that Clive Woodward, who was the former coach of Rugby Union of England, should assume the responsibilities of performance director because he is “ideal” for the job. Woodward coached English Rugby Union from 1997 to 2004 and under his
lead England was victorious in Rugby World Cup 2003 against the world champions, Australia.
With the departure of John Steele from the RFU, the former England coach, Sir Clive Woodward should make a return as suggested by Baron, as this will aid the English RFU from disintegrating completely. Baron deemed that Clive’s exceptional skill and vision
is responsible for the win in World Cup 2003 which should not be sidelined in acknowledging his true potential for RFU.
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