Rugby Football Union CEO Bill Sweeney convincingly survived a vote of no-confidence at Twickenham on Thursday as a grass-roots revolt failed to get close to the majority of votes necessary to trigger his removal.
The motion to remove him got 206 votes, with 466 against and 36 abstentions.
The members have spoken…
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Bill Sweeney remains RFU CEO. pic.twitter.com/5Izy7VXxMm
A counter-motion presented by the RFU that would give the community game more independence to run the game at local level was supported by 554 votes, with 127 against and 24 abstentions.
The no-confidence motion was brought by the Whole Game Union (WGU), which was set up by the Championship and Rugby Football Referees’ Union (RFRU) as a backlash to the revelations last November that Sweeney had earned £1.1 million through a salary of 742 000 and a long-term incentive plan (LTIP) bonus of 358 000.
Six other RFU executives shared a bonus pot of £1.3 million. These payouts came as the RFU announced record losses of almost £40 million and after the governing body had made more than 40 people redundant.
RFU chairman Tom Ilube resigned soon after the accounts were published and former England captain and World Rugby head Bill Beaumont stepped in as an interim replacement.
Sweeney and Beaumont then went on a nationwide roadshow of clubs, giving the RFU's side of things while listening to members' complaints.
An independent review last month said that the bonus scheme was "appropriate and well-reasoned", although it was also critical of the RFU's communications.
After little over an hour of debate on Thursday the voting - both in-house and remote - revealed that Sweeney was safe.
"I am pleased to see such a decisive outcome," Beaumont said. "I trust those who supported the motion will honour and respect the result.
"We are listening and we are taking action. This is not a time to argue, but to pull together. The time for division is past. Now is the time to unite behind an opportunity to renew English rugby.
"Let us put behind this period of in-fighting and modernise the union. Let’s get back to focusing on the many positives in our game."