Scottish Rugby chief Mark Dodson paid close to £1 million after doubling his earnings

Scottish Rugby Union chief executive Mark Dodson was paid £933,000 - a rise from £455,000 the previous year - as revealed in annual accounts which were registered with and published by Companies House today.

SRU chief executive Mark Dodson's pay more than doubled to 933,000 last year. Picture: SRU/SNS

The combined total paid to the four executive directors at the union, which also includes chief operating officer Dominic McKay, rose from £1.13m to £2.246m as bonuses were released as part of a 'Long-Term Incentive Plan' following a record turnover of £61 million. Companies are required to disclose the earnings of its highest-paid director.

In 2018, Dodson was awarded a contract extension to 2023 around the time of the loss of an employment tribunal launched by sacked director of domestic rugby Keith Russell, the father of star Scotland stand-off Finn. The judge in that case was damning in his criticism of Dodson during his ruling.

Scotland failed to progress from the pool stage of the Rugby World Cup last year, losing to Ireland and hosts Japan. Ahead of the latter defeat, Dodson hit out at World Rugby's lack of a contingency plans as the game in Yokohama was threatened with cancellation. That led to disciplinary proceedings from the world governing body which ended up costing the SRU £70,000.

As a point of comparison, the Welsh Rugby Union (£90.5m turnover, £49.9m surplus, 358 staff) paid its highest earning director £351k in total (including bonus and other benefits) last year. The highest paid director of the Scottish Football Association for year up to 31st December 2018 was £376,169 (turnover £37.5m)