Rugby/England: 139 redundancies at the RFU, £107m in "short-term" losses

"To ensure we have a sustainable RFU we have announced to colleagues that it is proposed that the total number of roles across the organisation will reduce by 139," said Bill Sweeney, chief executive of the Rugby Football Union, via a message on the organisation's website, published on 06/07/2020. "The RFU employs approximately 600 paid staff and helps to train and support more than 60,000 volunteers," says the body on its LinkedIn account.

"Our detailed scenario modelling shows there may be a short-term impact of £107m (€118m) in lost revenues and we also know there will be a much longer-term effect. We are projecting a 4-5 year recovery with cumulative revenue reductions of around 20%," said the CEO.

The Rugby Football Union (RFU) posted a turnover of £213.2m (€237.8m) for the financial year 2018-19, an increase of 23.7% compared to 2017-18 (£172.4m, €194.6m). Operating profit for 2018-19 was £14.9m (compared to a loss of £24.4m in 2017-18) and the net profit allocated to reserves (after reinvestment in amateur rugby) was £3.9m (compared to a loss of £30.9m the previous financial…