THE RFL will hold its next board meeting tomorrow (Tuesday) after the recent turmoil at the governing body, which has seen the resignation of its Chairman Simon Johnson as well as three other directors following a threat by the clubs to table a no-confidence motion at the RFL Council meeting earlier this month.
Johnson resigned when it became obvious that the motion, proposed by Leigh Leopards’ Derek Beaumont and seconded by Batley Bulldogs Chairman Kevin Nicholas, had enough proxy votes lined up to unseat him and the meeting was postponed.
His fellow director Sandy Livesey had resigned in January, while two other directors, Cherrie Daley and Julia Newton, resigned their positions as from Friday 21st March, but not before nominating a slate of new directors to take their places.
The clubs, however, objected to the fact that those nominations had been made without them having been consulted and it now appears that the RFL will row back on some of those nominations, while the Implementation Committee that has been established by the clubs to carry out a strategic review of the RFL before reporting back to the clubs at the July Council meeting will go ahead with its work.
The turmoil at the RFL was amplified by the publication of an article in The Guardian newspaper on Friday that repeated allegations of a culture of misogyny at the RFL in recent years.
League Express invited the RFL to respond to those allegations and to reveal more details about the number of complaints registered, with the RFL saying: “The RFL and RL Commercial have engaged with staff in a variety of forums since the receipt and publication of a letter earlier this month, and has taken independent external advice in terms of any next steps that may be required.
“This is in response to general comments in the letter, rather than complaints about any specific incident or individual.
“We will investigate and act on any formal complaints that are made, in order to ensure our behaviours, culture and language are always held to a high standard.”
League Express understands that the priority for the RFL, after establishing its new board of directors at Tuesday’s board meeting, will be to turn its attention to the situation at Salford Red Devils, with a view to taking steps to ensure that the club can continue to operate at least until the end of the season.
New RFL director, Nigel Wood OBE, has spoken of his desire and determination to find a quick solution to Salford’s protracted and very public financial issues as the highest immediate priority.
“Everybody in the sport wants a healthy, vibrant Salford, and clearly we haven’t got one currently,” said Wood.
“It’s a very regrettable state of affairs for all concerned, but particularly the employees and supporters. Whatever the process of the takeover undertaken at the time, the reality is that the financial injection needed has not materialised, not yet at least.
“There will be time to review all that later, but right now the primary concern is the sport’s duty of care for all employees affected and also the commercial reputation of the Super League, at time when there has been so much to celebrate.
“To be clear, the responsibility for running all clubs lies with the directors and the senior officers of those clubs, no one else, so I presume that they have taken the appropriate advice.
“The easiest route to calmer waters is for the ownership group to put in the money that regularises and stabilises the club.
“If they aren’t prepared to do that, I expect the RFL will seek to take such appropriate steps as exist under the rules to protect the welfare of all employees and, as far as possible, the integrity of the competition.
“This issue is already taking an enormous and disproportionate amount of executive RFL time to attempt to navigate, at the expense of other priorities.”
