Sport England will be “crawling all over the Rugby Football League” from now on following the recent structural overhaul at the governing body.
That is the view of Richard Cramer, a leading sports lawyer who compared the chaos to the “Wild West” and branded it a “flirtation with danger”.
The RFL has been asked to produce an action plan detailing how it will comply with Sport England’s Code for Sports Governance, with critical funding for the sport due to be released next month remaining in the balance.
Sport England has reportedly threatened to withhold the next instalment of a £16million funding package as a result of concerns over the RFL’s governance.
During a turbulent few months for the RFL the chair, Simon Johnson, and several other directors resigned from the board. That was followed by the return of the former chief executive Nigel Wood, initially as interim chair and now as senior executive director.
Sport England reportedly has concerns about whether the process which led to Wood’s return complied with the governance code and, during a meeting on Tuesday with the RFL, demanded assurances that the league will do so in future.
Leeds-based Cramer, of Arch Law, told Love Rugby League: “The problem for rugby league is that – with the huge drop in the last broadcast deal – it’s so reliant on Sport England funding.
“There have clearly been major concerns from Sport England over the constitutional structure of the RFL on the back of the recent changes made to the board.
“It felt like the RFL thought ‘right, we’ll boot out the old board, bring in a new regime and then worry about how Sport England might feel about it later’.
“Sport England are crawling all over the governing body and will not allow conflicts of interest to arise because there are very strict rules in place. A well-structured, disciplined organisation would have spoken to Sport England to check what their views were on it first.”
Crucially, Cramer believes the RFL will survive any financial penalty but warned their conduct will now be scrutinised by Sport England more closely than ever.
He added: “It appears that the RFL have survived any penalties against them by the skin of their teeth – although they’re not quite there yet. But that will be predicated on the basis that the RFL have given undertakings to get their act together – so they’ve had a reprieve.
“There have probably been some very strong promises given to Sport England because the RFL simply dare not commit any breach of their rules and obligations.
“It’s dangerous because the game is always struggling for funding anyway, but they may just have got away with this. But should a governing body even be in that position? It shouldn’t really.
“You’ve got to look at all the dynamics of who’s coming onto the board and ensure they all clean and healthy without any conflicts hanging over their heads.
“It does feel like the Wild West a little bit and a case of ‘we’ll abide by the rules as we go along’. But when you’re relying very heavily on Sport England funding, you’re flirting with danger.
“While they may just get away with this, Sport England will be watching over the RFL closely and what goes on there from now on will be heavily policed.”
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