What is the RFU Council?
With elections currently taking place, there will be some new members joining the RFU Council this summer.
The Council represents the views of the members who elected them. They channel feedback and information between their clubs and the RFU. They also make some decisions on behalf of the RFU, putting in place regulations and policies relating to the playing of the sport. Importantly, they also provide monitoring and oversight of the Board on behalf of the game as a whole.
The Rugby Football Union Council of 62 members is drawn from many different backgrounds and walks of life. All have devoted years to the sport and most have been voted in by those who know the impact of their efforts on rugby and their communities.
Council members come from across the nation, mostly from geographic areas made up of a single county, or group of counties, depending on the number of local rugby clubs in the area.
These are geographic Constituent Bodies (CBs). Others include the likes of the Schools and Students Unions, the three Armed Services, Referee Societies and the Oxford and Cambridge Universities, who each have their own representative. There are also representatives from the professional game, including the Rugby Players’ Association, and Premiership and Championship clubs.
For the most part, however, Council members are voted for and appointed thanks to the skills and experience they bring to the game. They are elected for terms of three years, and are eligible for re-election. Each serves a maximum of nine years, with extensions for those elected to the Board, the Presidential team or to international representative roles.
CBs notify clubs, and individuals, in advance of forthcoming elections to allow a wide range of candidates to put themselves forward. Anyone can stand for election to the Council once proposed by one full voting member rugby club and seconded by another. Their CB can also propose or second a candidate. Larger CBs elect two Council members, depending on the number of clubs in their constituency.
The RFU is keen to have a diverse range of talent to represent the game and the wider rugby community and encourages applications from female candidates and members of under-represented groups.
Candidates stand, as in any election, on their background, experience and motivation. Election is either by post/email, at a hustings meeting, or a combination of both, Covid having made online meetings more commonplace. If there’s a tie, the CB’s committee decides who they think will be best able to debate complex issues and communicate issues to and from the game, although a passion for rugby is fundamental.
Once appointed, Council members have an induction and a mentor who is already serving on Council and they are expected to devote around 25 days or more a season to the role. This includes around five formal Council meetings and other meetings, attending international matches and time spent with their CB and clubs. It is time consuming but many Council members combine it with their full-time jobs.
On an international match day at Twickenham they are often on duty hosting hard working volunteers from the game in their locality, and helping them to network and discuss progress and challenges with volunteers from other areas.
They may be wearing blazers when on official duty but they epitomise the dedicated rugby volunteers who roll up their sleeves and keep the game running across the grassroots. Many also bring to the role considerable professional knowledge, as well as experience in running clubs, competitions and rugby programmes.
Paula Carter
The Surrey representative on the Council, is also an RFU Board member and well placed to offer specialist advice. A rugby referee for a decade, refereeing matches from the London Premier Referee List, she has been on Surrey’s Disciplinary Committee, as well as sitting on panels handling disciplinary cases for the RFU, European and Premier Clubs rugby. Paula’s experience in the sport is in addition to an impressive professional CV. She has worked at the most senior level in British television companies and her consultancy roles include helping the Cabinet Office and advising a Parliamentary Committee and the Communications Regulator Ofcom.
Alan Milliner
Represents Cornwall, where rugby is a passion followed by Trelawney’s Army. He played for Cornwall and South West Police, as well as Truro, Penzance & Newlyn and Camborne clubs and his three children are all involved in rugby. He is a trustee of Cornwall Neighbourhoods 4 Change, supporting communities and individuals to make their lives better. A retired police officer, Alan is now CEO of White Gold Cornwall working with the vulnerable or at risk. He’s also Chief Information Officer for Cornwall’s Safer Stronger Consortium who help the disadvantaged or marginalised, as well as chairing the county’s Wooden Spoon, the children’s charity of rugby.
Louise Latter
The women’s and girls’ rugby representative on the Council, a former England player who also played for Harlequins, Wasps, Middlesex, South East Counties, and the South Division. She represented women and girls on the Middlesex Community Rugby Committee, before becoming their chair and joining the Middlesex Management Board. Louise is passionate about expanding the sport and maximising opportunities for everyone to enjoy rugby, having been a leading member of the three-year Unity project across 17 European nations before Rugby World Cup 2015. This saw her working in Russia to develop the game there.
Paul Candlish
The Durham representative on Council can often be found on the pitch refereeing matches, having qualified as a Level 5 match official after he was injured playing for Durham City RFC. Having begun playing rugby in school, he earned a place in the Durham Schools 19 Group before playing for his county senior team. For more than 50 years Paul has been much involved with Gateshead RFC, where they have been weathering the pandemic lockdowns and raising essential money through a Crowdfunder campaign to repair the clubhouse and kit out a fledgling women’s squad.
Peter Howard
The Leicestershire representative, is a former lawyer and a health care consultant who has lots of experience in effective corporate governance and committee work in health, education and sport. He was for many years an officer in the Territorial Army and played for Oadby Wyggestonian RFC, later becoming their chairman. Peter was also a panel member and later chairman of Leicestershire Disciplinary Committee, as well as serving on RFU disciplinary panels. He is a big supporter of women’s and girls’ rugby.
