The IRFU are far more generous when it comes to paying Television Match Officials than their English counterparts, according to a report in The Times (UK).
The English RFU has three TMOs working in the men's Six Nations and pays them a match fee of £500 pounds (€580), the report said.
Whereas the IRFU pay their TMOs €1,400 per Six Nations fixture, while in Australia a TMO will earn more than £1,000 per international fixture.
The newspaper also reported that Claire Hodnett, England’s sole TMO in the ongoing women’s Six Nations tournament, was not being paid match fees by the English RFU, the biggest and richest union in the sport.
Hodnett, who works as a solicitor for Warwickshire County Council and takes time off to fulfil her duties as a TMO, had her expenses covered by the RFU for games she officiated in Scotland and Ireland but did not receive match fees.
The report said the Scottish Rugby Union pays its TMO more than £500 a game in the women’s Six Nations.
“While we’re making great strides in the development of the women’s game in England, and it moves towards being fully professionalised, this is an area we hope to address with the support of World Rugby and the Six Nations,” an RFU spokesperso said.
World Rugby pays unions an annual fee to train referees on its behalf, but the global governing body allows each union to decide its own pay structure, leading to disparity in how TMOs are paid.
Hodnett, who has refereed at two women’s World Cups, is paid £230 per match in the English Premiership, the same as her male counterparts.
