Thomas Steps Down as RFU Chairman

Martyn Thomas has reportedly stepped down as chairman of the Rugby Football Union, however he will continue as acting chief executive at Twickenham, chairman of Rugby World Cup 2015 and as an RFU representative on the International Rugby Board.

Sunday's 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.

The 58-man Council, it is understood, have decided that Paul Murphy will serve as interim RFU chairman, pending a Special General Meeting when Thomas' permanent replacement will be decided.

That meeting, though, cannot take place constitutionally for 60 days.

It is also understood that a vote of no confidence in the RFU management board was defeated by a majority verdict.

It is reported that Thomas also agreed not to put his name forward for election as chairman during Sunday's RFU annual general meeting, which is currently under way at Twickenham.

It is also known there were dissenting voices within the Council over his continuation as acting chief executive before it was agreed he should continue in that role.

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 horribly 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.

The management board ousted Steele from his post at an emergency meeting in June 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.

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.

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.