CHIEF EXECUTIVE’S OPERATIONAL REVIEW

This was a successful year financially thanks to Twickenham’s busy match schedule and the increased capacity of the stadium.

Increases, largely from ticket sales, hospitality and catering, brought record revenues of £103.7m and record operating profits of £28.1m. Our net worth also increased by £12.6m to a new record level of £134.6m.

Critical to the finances of the whole game is the success of the England team. During the year we have taken additional action to get England back on track. Further changes were made to the England management team following the poor results in the autumn. The Elite Rugby Department, responsible for all the elite playing matters, was established under Rob Andrew, who joined the Union last September.

For the Rugby World Cup campaign the RFU made available to Brian Ashton and his team all the resource and facilities requested, providing exactly the same support as we did for Clive Woodward and his squad in 2003. We wanted to give them our total support and every opportunity of performing at the highest level. This the England squad did with a remarkable performance climbing from underdogs to World Cup finalists with memorable and heartstopping games against Australia and France. The country was once again gripped by rugby fever. Tens of thousands of fans travelled to France to support the team in this enormously enjoyable tournament. In the Stade de France final England were eventually defeated 6 – 15 by an excellent South African side in a very close and hard fought contest. The England squad can be rightfully proud of their achievements.

They came within a whisker of pulling off a unique double of back to back World Cup wins. The country and the game can also be rightfully proud of them.

The Way Forward project, initiated in 2006, aimed to address the fundamental, long term problems affecting England’s performance and, as a result, the financial health of the whole game. The project involved the most comprehensive research and analysis of professional rugby undertaken anywhere in the world and produced invaluable information about the issues within the professional game and the changes we needed to make to restore England to the top of world rankings. I am most grateful to my colleagues on the project team of Rob Andrew, Nick Eastwood, Martyn Thomas and Paul Vaughan, together with our consultants LEK, for the many hours of work put in and, indeed, to all who contributed and those who completed the detailed questionnaire online. The Way Forward project also enabled negotiations to be recommenced with Premier Rugby Limited and created the climate to achieve a successful conclusion to those negotiations.

Dialogue is fundamentally important and I believe that our comprehensive Way Forward project and six years of roadshows has put us in the forefront as a consultative national governing body. This communication brings first-hand opinions on how the RFU administers its business and allows us to make changes addressing the issues raised at local level.