These RFU pay-cuts should be permanent

THE decision by Eddie Jones to follow Bill Sweeney and the rest of the RFU’s top tier executives in taking a 25 per cent pay cut to his estimated £750,000 annual salary is welcome news.

- NICH CAIN

However, while the England head coach, and the RFU, are making an appropriate gesture to share some of the financial pain unleashed since the coronavirus epidemic led to a sporting lockdown, we should not lose sight of the astronomic salaries being paid by English Rugby Union’s governing body.

What it shows is how far the culture of fat-cat pay packets has taken root in our sport during the professional era, going rapidly from acceptable levels of remuneration in coaching and administration to overblown levels that are not commensurate with either the finances of Rugby Union, or the responsibilities involved in the job descriptions of those concerned.

According to RFU chief executive Sweeney, the England coach “immediately agreed” to the reduction, which, for the record, is in the region of £187,000.

Set against this, it should not be forgotten that Jones’ role is in some respects part-time, given that he has access to the England squad only during Test windows – which usually amounts to less than five months a season.

If you take Sweeney’s contribution to the pot, based on 25 per cent of salary of around £710,000 – which is the figure paid to the former RFU chief executive, Ian Ritchie, in 2017 – the joint cuts to the salaries of the England head coach and his RFU manager, amount to around £365,000.