Glad to see you avoided the references to RFL fat cats, there.

The board of directors of the RFL saw turnover increase 50.7% year on year in 2009. This is despite a £1m decrease in government funding. As the RFL is primarily concerned with growing the game rather than generating a profit, solvency is more important than operating profit and I would be more concerned if the RFL were trying to make a handsome net profit rather than investing in the game

I would suggest these figures demonstrate that our game has never been in better hands and we could do a lot worse than the current leadership team. In fact, I would go so far as to say we need to keep Lewis in charge of the game for as long as possible

Your lewis and i claim my fiver, You must be kidding, You can turn over 20m but if your loosing money you might as well turn over a quid,
not a bad gravy train io be on is it, but solvency ??? they lost money ie

Under s408 of the Companies Act 2006 the
company is exempt from the requirement to
present its own profit and loss account. The
loss for the financial period was £54,898
(2008: £69,867).


How much more have they claimed in expenses.. well only £34,800 There wage bill amounts to £5,293,265 not a bad gravy train io be on is it, Only thing they are investing in is there own pockets mate One of them earns more than the PM, we were up in arms when they were milking it

No, I'm not kidding

The sport of Rugby League is in a far better financial situation than it was 10 years ago and for the decades before that - and that situation is inclusive of the reward that Lewis and the other board members receive

It's a pretty simple equation - you can either pay professional people to properly run an organisation (and reward them or doing it) or you can let amateurs run it into the ground. I for one am glad it is the former

So your advocating taking a 30% pay rise whilst the company is making a loss,some business acumen that mate

I agree with that when you are discussing a commercial organisation with shareholders to pay but the RFL is not a profit making organisation - its remit is to run and grow the game of Rugby League

Based on the figures you quote, they made a 0.25% loss in 2009. This for me shows that the 50% increase in revenue was invested back into the game to continue growth

We can debate whether the management team deserve their reward and disagree on that but we can't use profit/loss as a way of judging the performance as long as the RFL isn't up to its eyeballs in debt (as it was)

depends if you are a company looking to make money or the RFL who is looking to grow the game! What would be the point in the RFL sitting on a pile of cash with the game crying out for qualified coaches, Referees, Development offices etc?

Without full profit loss accounts we can run round in circles, , i will suggest the increase in revenue is soley down to Sky to the tune of an extra £4.5 million Broadcast £7,401,386 in 2009 and £2,926,904 in 2008, Further detail of revaluation of assets is a bad move and if they hadnt done that another £400,000 would have hit the loss line, But you believe they earn it and i believe they are sucking the system like the perverbial leech

the RFL must be a profit making orgaisation,otherwise it would'nt be able to hand out £17million a year to the members of superleague europe limited.

The extra income was primarily down to an increase of £4.47m from tv, £1.56m from match income and £531k from sponsorship

Whatever the source of the increased revenue, somebody had to negoiate it - these boards are full of people critising the RFL and yet they have negotiated a 250% increase tv revenues

I agree that we can go round in circles so I will sign off of this discussion with saying that a 50% increase in revenue is pretty respectable and if we see that money pumped back into growing the game, I am sure we will continue to see our great game thrive... not something I was too confident of a decade or so ago

p.s. as for my business acumen, I do OK thanks

It's outrageous. I hear they wear suits at board meetings instead of sack cloth

Just on a point of pedantry, the RFL did not negotiate the contract with Sky themselves - the contract was negotiated on their behalf by IMG Media.

I would like them to publish their KPI's. It is a decent whack of money but for a $17million pound a year company running a 3omillion pound+ enterprise it isn't out of the ordinary to pay directors those sums.

You can't realise revauled assets in the income statement unless you sell them i.e. profit on disposal - so your 400k is a red herring.

It has an effect on the balance sheet only via an increase in the reserves.

As a few other people have pointed out "Speedy" has shown a gross lack of knowledge in accounting and business acumen in his/her bold statements taking some headline figures out of context and backing them up with inaccuracies.

The RFL is the most professionally run organisation in its lifetime at the moment in my opinion, and it's a shame some people can't see this. Fortunately many of the people that matter do see this, which for example is why Sport England have given us record high levels of funding this year that almost put us on a par with rugby union. Using an independent agency to broker TV contracts on incentive based contracts is another example.

And finally can people please try and understand that the RFL is a break even operation and should therefore aim to make a small profit/loss each year as evidence that all funds are being reinvested back in to the game effectively by giving it to the clubs, development officers etc, and indeed to top quality administrators as well. A quick look at recent results shows this is consistently the case.

Nothing to do with a certain Mr Lewis being involved with Sport England......oooh how could I suggest such a thing

I don't remember Maurice Lindsay, or any other past RFL head honcho, being in a position to help ensure tens of millions of pounds of public funding went to rugby league. In fact, I seem to recall the RFU had Dickie Jeeps there for many years, when amateur RL got nothing and RU clubs got handouts even though they weren't following Sports Council policies on being open to everyone.

More evidence that the current admin is doing an exceptionally good job in certain areas.

So what?

If we're in a position of power, then use it. And when I say that I don't mean like the MPs expense scandal which is morally wrong. The majority of the money is earmarked to fund increased participation in our sport at community level. If Mr Lewis had a hand in us getting that £30 million then good on him.

I bet total contributions to Championship and Champ 1 clubs totals no more than a million pounds, I think that sums up my views on the OBSCENE salary and the eagerness to send RFL monies out of this country. I am sure someone will put me right though.

Perhaps they are on performance related pay - record financial performance by the RFL this year.

I don't have an issue with it and I doubt the salaries are exorbitant when compared to their equivalents within other major UK sports.

Go on sherlock, show me where i have taken figures out of context

just to help they are [url=http://www.therfl.co.uk/clientdocs/RFL%202009%20Annual%20Report.pdfHere.....[/url

1 Accounting policies
The following accounting policies have been applied consistently in dealing with items which are considered material in relation to the organisation’s financial statements except as noted below.
Basis of preparation
The financial statements have been prepared in accordance with applicable accounting standards, and under the historical cost
accounting rules, modified to include the revaluation of land and buildings. Under s408 of the Companies Act 2006 the
company is exempt from the requirement to present its own profit and loss account. The loss for the financial period was £54,898
(2008: £69,867 )
5 Directors and employees 2009 2008
Staff costs (including directors): £ £
Wages and salaries 4,753,673 4,257,471
Social security costs 423,593 386,668
Other pension costs 115,999 91,019
–––––––––– ––––––––––
5,293,265 4,735,158
–––––––––––––––––––– ––––––––––––––––––––
Average number of employees (including directors): 2009 2008
Number Number
On field staff 35 24
Administration staff 150 127
–––––––––– ––––––––––
185 151
–––––––––––––––––––– ––––––––––––––––––––
The aggregate emoluments of the directors 2009 2008
amounted to: £ £
Remuneration 462,458 354,217
Contributions to money purchase pension schemes 32,774 22,137
–––––––––– ––––––––––
495,232 376,354
–––––––––––––––––––– ––––––––––––––––––––
The higher paid director received £204,010 (2008: £175,171)
remuneration, and contributions to money purchase pension
schemes of £24,774 (2008: £9,179).
The number of directors to whom retirement benefits Number Number
are accruing are:
Under money purchase pension schemes 2 2
–––––––––––––––––––– ––––––––––––––––––––
6 Profit on ordinary activities before taxation 2009 2008
Profit on ordinary activities before taxation is
stated after charging: £ £
Auditors’ remuneration:
Audit of financial statements 17,000 15,000
Other services - fees paid to the auditor and its
associates for tax compliance and advisory services 3,500 5,000
Depreciation and other amounts written
off tangible fixed assets:
Owned 140,724 155,989
Leased 62,593 69,867
Hire of other assets - operating leases 12,831 12,831
–––––––––––––––––––– ––––––––––––––––––––
7 Other interest receivable and similar income 2009 2008
£ £
Bank interest 77,010 226,203
–––––––––––––––––––– ––––––––––––––––––––
RFL Annual Report 2009
46 Financial Statements 47

that two things i stated, prove me wrong, what cant speak cant lie

I need to ask you... do you think that the RFL is an organisation who's measure of success is profit as with a commercial organisation?

The RFL shouldnt be profit minded, but it should not be a loss leader either, my statement was in relation to the salaries that the Directors have a pay award of 30.5%, one of them earns more that the PM, Now given the current climate where we have clubs in trouble the RFL should be using moneys to assist in some way to help them, im not suggesting for one minute they say here's 50 grand, but in some other helpfull way.
Its a disgracefull obsene pay rise, I bet the admin staff didnt recieve any where near that

How on earth is the RFL a loss leader?

if the RFL shouldnt be profit minded, the fact it didnt make a profit is irrellevant, the fact it invested record amounts in grass roots RL is.

The fact that lewis and co are successful at what they do is the reason they get paid what they get paid.