The 12 Championship clubs have unanimously backed a vote of no confidence against Bill Sweeney and Tom Ilube, the Rugby Football Union's chief executive and chairman respectively, in a fresh blow to their leadership amid the governing body's ongoing salary and bonus scandal.
In correspondence sent to RFU president Rob Udwin on Friday, the dozen clubs across English rugby's second tier threw their weight behind a growing grass-roots revolt which began with 20 council members pledging their support for an emergency council meeting that would allow for a no-confidence vote in the senior leadership team.
Nottingham chairman Alistair Bow has separately urged Sweeney and Ilube to "not drag this out to a special general meeting" which echoes a proposal backed by the Rugby Football Referees' Union to "resign immediately and hand back their bonuses". Bow told Telegraph Sport that the game in England had been "destroyed" during the pair's tenure and the Nottingham chairman has called for a public inquiry regarding mismanagement within the RFU's "disgraceful" leadership.
The news comes after three former RFU chairmen, in correspondence seen by Telegraph Sport, called for the union's executive to step down after doing "enormous and irreparable damage" to the organisation. The positions of Sweeney and Ilube were said to be "untenable" by Martyn Thomas, Graeme Cattermole and Brian Baister after almost two weeks of revelations regarding bonus payments and salary hikes.
According to the RFU's latest financial report, Sweeney was paid £1.1m last year, including an extra bonus of £358,000, and Telegraph Sport revealed last week the full extent of the remuneration of the salary and bonus payments made to its executive director team.
This expenditure rose from £2.8m last year to £4.9m and included "the pay-out of the long-term incentive plan which accounts for £1.3m and the increase in executive directors". Earlier this year, the RFU made 42 redundancies and in 2023-24 posted a record loss for an English national governing body, of £37.9 million.
Additionally, Telegraph Sport learnt that up to 10 members of the RFU senior leadership team - below the executive directors who were awarded the controversial long-term incentive plan (LTIP) bonuses - were handed promotions to become directors. They were subsequently included on the directors' bonus scheme that offers bonus payments of up to 25 per cent subject to targets being met.
"We have asked for a vote of no confidence in Tom Ilube and Bill Sweeney - and we will be urging other clubs to support us in calling an SGM [special general meeting]," Bow told Telegraph Sport.
"I have been very vocal since Sweeney arrived. The game has been destroyed during his tenure, with fundamental decisions which have not been addressed. Removing funding to the Championship clubs. He said we had not met our KPIs [key performance indicators].... which were non-existent. Since, we have had the poor communication around the tackle height - a disaster - totally unfair funding across the game, four clubs have gone bust, and he has been described by our own government as 'asleep at the wheel'.
"He was asked whether the game was in a good place during that select committee and whether there was any risk of other clubs suffering any financial harm. He said 'no'.
"He was aware that clubs were suffering.
"He should not drag this out to an SGM. Him and Tom Ilube should resign immediately and they, as well as all the executives, should return their bonuses, which should be re-distributed to the community game. It is disgraceful leadership. I would also like to see - and will be pushing for - a public inquiry into how Bill and Tom have managed the game. The RFU is in such a poor state and they feel that they can reward themselves with a bonus in a record loss year while making redundancies. That was the icing on the cake.
"We are not going to get the RFU back on its feet quickly. This is going to be a long haul. But if we have the right leadership at the RFU and they appoint the right advisors then we stand a chance of rebuilding the game that we love. It needs a complete overhaul. I do not believe the current governance within the RFU is fit for purpose and it needs examining from top to bottom. I feel guilty that we did not deal with this sooner. We have allowed the game to fall into decline."
Bow also accused Sweeney of "turning his back" on English rugby's second tier by promising a more accessible promotion-and-relegation criteria to the Premiership and not delivering.
"He promised to install a fair promotion-and-relegation system," Bow added. "Over two years ago, he sat with me and Conor O'Shea, at a Nottingham home match against Bedford, and he said to me, in front of others: 'We will get this sorted. We will get the minimum standard criteria reduced to 5,000 capacity [for a promoted club].' That would have enabled Ealing to go up if they had won the league. He turned his back on that. What he says in public is one thing, what he then goes back and does within the confines of his ivory tower is completely another matter.
"We, as Nottingham, are not prepared to see this game get dragged into the gutter."