Cuts halt £50m plan for artificial grass pitches

Grassroots rugby in England is braced for another major blow as part of the Rugby Football Union’s brutal cost-cutting, with the £50million investment in artificial grass pitches – one of the landmark legacies of hosting the 2015 World Cup – to be shelved as part of the review of its capital spending, The Daily Telegraph can reveal.

The news comes after the Telegraph revealed on Saturday that the governing body is in the process of making up to 75 employees redundant in a cost-cutting exercise, with the majority of job losses – 40 – to come in the rugby department, which includes development officers and grassroots coaching staff.

There are mounting tensions at Twickenham that the grassroots game is to be hit hardest by the cuts while the £30 million-per-year budget for the senior England side is being ring-fenced despite the losing streak that has stretched to five Tests.

At the time, the RFU’S artificial grass pitch programme was heralded as a centrepiece investment after the governing body was boosted by a record £27 million windfall from hosting the World Cup, despite England’s early exit.

However, the massive overspend on the redevelopment of the East Stand at Twickenham, which has reached more than twice the original budget of £40million, as well as well as tough market conditions and the expansion of RFU staff in the build-up to the 2015 World Cup, has forced the governing body dramatically to reduce its cost base.

Sources claimed last night that issues over the allocation of pitches, with concerns that clubs were renting pitches out to other sports in order to raise funds rather than grow participation, and concerns over injuries sustained by playing on them were also behind the decision to review the spending.

“The selection process has been a shambles,” said one Twickenham insider. “Some constituent bodies have not had any pitches while others have had several and some clubs don’t have the funds if the pitches have to be relaid every eight years.”

The RFU’S original plan was to invest in 100 artificial pitches across the country in a bid to boost participation in the club game, in what was heralded as the biggest single investment in the grassroots game by the governing body.

The move followed the decision by the Football Association to invest £260million to build 600 allweather 3G pitches.

Clubs have been able to apply to have an artificial pitch if they meet a number of strict criteria and own the freehold, or at least a long-term leasehold, on the land.

It is thought that at least £15million has already been invested in the programme, but it has now been halted just three years in.