Bill Sweeney, the embattled chief executive of the Rugby Football Union, comfortably won a vote of no confidence at Thursday night’s special general meeting.
With 708 members of the RFU voting in the meeting at the Allianz Stadium, Sweeney received 466 votes against the motion to dismiss him as chief executive. There were 206 votes to remove him, led by the Whole Game Union, and 36 abstentions.
The final decision on Sweeney’s future lies in the hands of the RFU Board, but with the chief executive having received 65.82 per cent of the vote, putting an end to his tenure seems unlikely.