Rugby Football Union chief executive Bill Sweeney will face calls for his sacking after a riot in the community game demanded a special general meeting on the night of the clash between the warring parties.
A total of 141 signatories were included in the letter sent to the RFU on Thursday, easily surpassing the 100 member clubs required to launch an SGM under the governing body's rules.
A statement released by the Rugby Football Referees Union (RFRU), which is leading the rebellion, revealed that the initial resolution being discussed at the SGM will include a call for the board to terminate Sweeney's employment “as soon as possible”.
RFU chairman Tom Ilube was the main target of the rebellion, but he stood down last month in response to an outcry over an executive pay and bonus scandal that has engulfed Twickenham.
RFU president Tom Ilube resigned last month
However, on receipt of the letter, the RFU claimed that it contained “a number of inaccuracies” and that it “does not comply with the relevant requirements and is therefore invalid as an SGM request”.
It also said the nine professional referees it employs had distanced themselves from the RFRU, with officials saying “we have not endorsed any of the statements or meetings they have proposed”.
A spokesman for the 141 clubs seeking a vote of no confidence in Sweeney hit back by insisting the RFU was using technicalities to avoid being called to account.
“The RFU can play as long as they like, but this is a mass movement of a stronger, united team,” the spokesman said.
“Thinking about rules about what is and isn't a valid complaint form is just delaying the inevitable.”
RFU reports published in November revealed that Sweeney received a salary of £1.1m for the 2023-24 financial year, made up of an increased salary of £742,000 and a bonus of £358,000.
Bonuses totaling nearly £1m were paid out to a further five executives, although the RFU reported an operating loss of £37.9m for the 2023-2024 period, the biggest ever recorded.
In addition, 42 staff were made redundant in September, the England men's team won just five of their 12 matches in 2024 and grassroots participation is falling.
Other areas of contention mentioned in the letter to the RFU are its excessive bureaucracy and mismanagement, the sacking of development officers, the “debacle” over the introduction of a new fighting height in the community game and the cost of sacking former England head coach Eddie Jones.
Eddie Jones was sacked as England manager in December 2022 after seven years in the job.
“What you are seeing is the result of years of frustration affecting every level of our game,” Chichester RFC chairman Paddy McAlpine said.
“Now it has erupted as a result of the anger felt by clubs when the executive was paid bonuses. Every club I know wants to see a change at the top.”
At an emergency RFU council meeting last month, it was declared that the organization had suffered a “tarnished reputation” due to the pay scandal.
Ilube oversaw his remuneration committee, which was responsible for introducing a long-term incentive plan (LTIP) bonus scheme designed to retain executives during the pandemic that caused unrest.
An independent audit of the LTIP scheme is carried out by a law firm.