Rugby: Thomas quits as RFA chairman

Martyn Thomas has stepped down as chairman of the Rugby Football Union.

The move followed a four-hour meeting of the RFU Council, which broke up at Twickenham around midday after discussing a review panel's 52-page verdict on the organisation's hiring and firing of its former chief executive John Steele.
Thomas, though, will continue as acting chief executive at Twickenham, chairman of Rugby World Cup 2015 - which will be staged in England - and as an RFU representative on the International Rugby Board.
The 58-man council have decided that Oxfordshire RFU council member Paul Murphy will serve as interim chairman, pending a Special General Meeting when Thomas' permanent replacement will be decided.
Thomas said: "This was a difficult day for the Union but at the end of the day this does now mean we can finally move on. I would like to thank Council for their support both in terms of me continuing as acting CEO and in my other roles.
"The most important thing was that we maintained stability for staff and our other partners and in the coming weeks I will be ensuring that we navigate to calmer waters and that we can get on with our core purpose of rugby.
"With RWC2011 upon us we have something to look forward to and I will ensure Martin (Johnson) and his team have all the support they need to be successful in New Zealand."
Murphy, who will hold his role until a Special General Meeting can be arranged to appoint a new chairman, praised Blackett's panel for the manner in which they had handled their review.
He said "We were concerned that the reputation of the RFU had been damaged by the recent events which were played out so vividly in the media.
"We wanted to ensure that we put in place an independent panel capable of undertaking a comprehensive and expert review of what took place so we could learn lessons for the future and take the first step forward towards rebuilding that reputation.
"I would commend the members of the panel because that is exactly what we received. Their report was based on detailed evidence, was thorough and gave clear recommendations.
"In the end after lengthy discussion we have taken what we believe are the right decisions for the future of the game and the Union itself.
"These were difficult decisions and there was a lot at stake for us all but in the end we felt that we had to ensure our members, players, supporters and all other stakeholders could see we had taken firm action to address the issues and move forward."
It now means that less than nine weeks before the 2011 World Cup kicks off in New Zealand, the RFU has no permanent chairman, no permanent chief executive and are still searching for their first performance director.
The performance director job, a role created by Steele's review of the organisation earlier this year, had been thought to be tailor-made for England's 2003 World Cup-winning mastermind Sir Clive Woodward.
But during the course of a bungled RFU process, Woodward reaffirmed commitment to his current employers, the British Olympic Association.
Judge Jeff Blackett - the RFU's disciplinary officer - headed a five-man panel's detailed investigation surrounding the arrival and departure of Steele at Twickenham. Blackett's 52-page report is expected to be made public later.
The review panel also comprised RFU council members Geraint Ashton Jones and Malcolm Wharton, plus Andy Reed, chairman-elect of the Sport and Recreation Alliance, and Vic Luck, formerly general manager of IBM UK.
They were due to probe everything from Steele's recruitment to the board's loss of confidence in his leadership and the process leading to the termination of his contract.
The botched recruitment process for the performance director position, which played such a key part in Steele's downfall, was also due for scrutiny, in addition to the board's governance.
It is thought the panel interviewed more than 65 key figures and took on board the conclusions of an earlier review of the performance director recruitment process, conducted by RFU chairman of governance Peter Baines.
The management board ousted Steele from his post at an emergency meeting last month after deciding his position had become untenable.
According to Thomas at the time, Steele had lost the confidence of the board and key stakeholders in the game.
Thomas was elected chairman of the RFU board of directors in April 2005. He had been elected to the RFU council four years earlier, representing Nottinghamshire, Lincolnshire and Derbyshire.
In 2007 he became one of two RFU representatives on the IRB and Six Nations Committee.