{"id":200816,"date":"2026-06-09T09:58:51","date_gmt":"2026-06-09T09:58:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/tahrir2day.com\/news\/2026\/06\/09\/rfu-council-member-resigns-over-alphonsi-post\/"},"modified":"2026-06-09T09:58:51","modified_gmt":"2026-06-09T09:58:51","slug":"rfu-council-member-resigns-over-alphonsi-post","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/tahrir2day.com\/news\/2026\/06\/09\/rfu-council-member-resigns-over-alphonsi-post\/","title":{"rendered":"RFU council member resigns over Alphonsi post"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

Rugby Football Union council member Matthew Smith has resigned after posting discriminatory criticism of television pundit and England World Cup winner Maggie Alphonsi.<\/b><\/p>\n

Smith, who represents Warwickshire on the 62-strong body, asked “can someone please explain to me WTF does Maggie Alphonsi know about men’s rugby?” in a Facebook post during coverage of France’s 48-46 win over England in March.<\/p>\n

This month Smith was stripped of the perks of his position for seven months, which includes tickets to England games, free meals and travel expenses.<\/p>\n

Smith removed the post, accepted the charges against him and, after receiving his punishment, sent a letter of apology to Alphonsi.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

Alphonsi, who won 74 caps for England, said she felt let down by Smith’s punishment.<\/p>\n

The RFU does not have the power to remove council members, who are volunteers elected by their clubs rather than RFU employees.<\/p>\n

A Warwickshire RFU statement read: “We would like to announce that Matt Smith has resigned from his position as chair of Warwickshire RFU, in light of a recent disciplinary process.<\/p>\n

“We want to be clear that we take issues of sexism and misogyny seriously.”<\/p>\n

On Monday the Women’s Leadership Collective wrote to the RFU calling for a change in its policy and to dismiss Smith.<\/p>\n

The open letter said the punishment, following a three-person disciplinary panel, showed “a significant disconnect between the RFU’s stated commitment to zero tolerance of discrimination and the perception of how those principles are applied in practice”.<\/p>\n

The RFU stipulates a “zero-tolerance approach” to discrimination and harassment and forbids public comment that could damage the game or the union’s reputation.<\/p>\n

The letter from the Women’s Leadership Collective read: “We had hoped this case would demonstrate the RFU’s leadership in addressing sexism and misogyny within rugby.<\/p>\n

“Instead, it has highlighted areas where further development of policy and process may be required.”<\/p>\n

The RFU council – famously described by then England captain Will Carling in 1995 as “57 old farts” – has unpaid positions but they come with hospitality benefits which, for England men’s Tests, are worth several hundreds of pounds for each fixture.<\/p>\n

In response to the letter, RFU president Deborah Griffin said: “I can assure you that the disciplinary process relating to this case was both robust and independent.<\/p>\n

“While due process matters, so too does what we do next. We are not standing still on this issue.<\/p>\n

“We are taking deliberate action to strengthen how we address sexism and misogyny across the game and to ensure that our values are consistently upheld in practice, not just in principle.”<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Rugby Football Union council member Matthew Smith has resigned after posting discriminatory criticism of television pundit and England World Cup winner Maggie Alphonsi. Smith, who represents Warwickshire on the 62-strong body, asked “can someone please explain to me WTF does Maggie Alphonsi know about men’s rugby?” in a Facebook post during coverage of France’s 48-46 […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mi_skip_tracking":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[49],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-200816","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news"],"yoast_head":"\nRFU council member resigns over Alphonsi post - Tahrir News<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/tahrir2day.com\/news\/2026\/06\/09\/rfu-council-member-resigns-over-alphonsi-post\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"RFU council member resigns over Alphonsi post\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Rugby Football Union council member Matthew Smith has resigned after posting discriminatory criticism of television pundit and England World Cup winner Maggie Alphonsi. 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