The Rugby Football Union is set to cut more than 100 jobs related to the community game as part of an urgent “remodelling” of the governing body.
It has proposed that roles including community coaches and rugby development officers would be lost.
Sources have told BBC Sport it is not possible to achieve the necessary costs reduction by “tweaking” numbers, with “really tough” decisions required.
The ongoing consultation is expected to be completed by early September.
RFU chief executive Bill Sweeney wrote to the rugby community in July warning that the total number of redundancies could be 139, from a workforce of 580.
He said: “We are projecting a four to five-year recovery with cumulative revenue reductions around 20%.”
However, he said that one of the priorities for the organisation in future would be “supporting the community game and our member clubs – which are the life blood of our game”.
Individual consultations on redundancies are continuing, and further announcements regarding other roles affected are expected in the coming weeks.
Sources said that the grassroots game had not been “disproportionately punished”, but that the governing body was working out “how to do things differently”.
It is understood a series of webinars during the coronavirus shutdown have highlighted innovative ways that the RFU can provide support to grassroots rugby, while other areas of the business will be tasked with looking after the community game alongside other work.
Article courtesy of BBC Sport
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