The former chief executive of the Rugby Football League Nigel Wood will be paid more than £300,000 as part of his severance package from the game’s governing body – almost a sixth of the total losses of more than £2m which the RFL incurred last year.
The RFL will publicise its 2017 accounts after all 38 professional clubs have attended the sport’s annual general meeting this month, but the Guardian has seen details which reveal the significance of Wood’s exit payment after agreeing to step down as CEO.
Listed in the directors’ remuneration section of the accounts is confirmation that Wood received a provision for loss of office totalling £328,840. The majority of that sum will be paid this year, though it is included in the RFL’s accounts for last year after the decision was made to part company in advance of the year end.
Detailing the extent of the remaining payment, the accounts state: “Further to the agreements made between N Wood and the Board in 2017, N Wood left the RFL on 31/01/2018. An agreement was made that N Wood would receive £288,963 in 2018. This amount has been accrued in the 2017 accounts to be paid in 2018.” Wood has already received the remainder of the sum.
The accounts also reveal that all the RFL’s non-executive directors – including the former Football Association chief executive Brian Barwick – received wage increases in 2017. Barwick, who agreed to join the sport in 2013, was paid £81,550, almost £1,000 more than he received in 2016.
The total remuneration of the chief executive’s senior management committee is £905,000, a significant increase on 12 months earlier, when the committee received £674,000.
The RFL on Monday announced the appointment of Ralph Rimmer, currently the interim CEO, as Woods’s permanent replacement.
The RFL also announced last week that a reduction in the valuation of Odsal Stadium, which the governing body bought in 2012 to safeguard the future of the former Super League champions Bradford, also significantly contributed to their extensive losses.
The stadium was bought six years ago and was valued at one stage in excess of £1.3m. However, following a depreciation in value of more than £200,000 and a re-evaluation adjustment of £372,361, the site is now valued at £750,000.
