Martyn Thomas blasts ‘scandal’ of RFU blazers’ spending

The failure of the RFU to act on the recommendations of the Slaughter and May Report to end the lavish blazer culture at Twickenham, which costs a massive £1.6m a year, has been labelled a scandal by Martyn Thomas, the former RFU board chairman.
Thomas believes that the radical report is in the process of being shelved by the RFU Council, the 60-strong body of amateur backwoodsmen who have most to lose if the recommendations are implemented.
This is because their jamboree of free international tickets, travel, accommodation, wining and dining, and expenses for themselves, and their wives and girlfriends, is under threat.  Thomas argues that the  amateur clubs, whose interests the county-based representatives of the RFU Council are meant to represent, are largely unaware that they are being financially disadvantaged due to the sheer cost of keeping this block of amateur administrators in the regal manner.
Thomas, speaking exclusively to The Rugby Paper, said: “Turkeys don't vote for Christmas, and the RFU Council will not vote themselves out. This has to be reformed now. For instance, the annual £1.6m spend on the Council would enable floodlights, which cost c.£45,000, to be installed at 35 clubs a season.
“Some funding could also go towards drainage or clubhouse improvements, with all the implications those facilities have in encouraging participation.”
Thomas says the only way  amateur clubs will get the funding currently being siphoned off to the Council is if they take action at an AGM or SGM to ensure that the Slaughter and May report is implemented.
“This report was finished in November 2011, and it is a scandal that a year later not a jot has been done. It was due to be discussed again this month, but has now been put back to January 2013. It is clear  the Council's aim is to stall the process before parking it for good.”
Thomas says the report accurately identified the RFU Council as an anachronism.
“The purpose of the RFU Council in the amateur era was to assist the RFU Executive in managing the game, but we now have a professional staff of over 500 at the RFU to do that. The skill set does not exist within the RFU Council to assist in running the international or professional club game, and therefore the costs it incurs cannot possibly be justified.”
NICK CAIN