He began by running through a UK Sport biography of Steele - or the Tinman, as he was known around Franklin Gardens - and detailed his record for Northampton (record points scorer on 425 after seven years there as fly half) and England (a squad member, he played for England A). It went on to say how Steele took over from Ian McGeechan as director of rugby at Northampton, overseeing the most successful period in the club's history which culminated in a Heineken Cup victory in 2000, and added that during his tenure the club had emerged as a profitable business after being floated on the stock market, and that the ground had been re-developed to a high level. Steele, it added, was a former Sandhurst-trained Royal Artillery Officer with six years' military service who had captained the Combined Services team.

John Steele's remit in sport now extends to a post as chair of the English Institute of Sport

The answering post concluded: "I don't know about you, but surely a guy with that kind of background is better being the top guy in the RFU than some blazer? I hope he has the ability to shake things up a bit..."

Steele did indeed demonstrate that ability. The reforms he announced in January 2011, which included a demotion of the then rugby director, former England fly half Rob Andrew, precipitated an internal struggle that split the RFU asunder and eventually resulted in Steele being ousted.

The then chairman Martyn Thomas - who stepped down from his role later that year - added that "the defining moment where things had started to go wrong" had occurred when Steele had cancelled Sir Clive Woodward's interview for the newly created position of performance director without contacting either him or the other member of the panel, former England captain Bill Beaumont.

Sir Clive Woodward's interview at the RFU was controversially cancelled by John Steele

Sir Clive and Steele went back a way - the latter was director of the England Rugby Board when the former was guiding England to their World Cup victory in 2003 as head coach.

"My time at the RFU was slightly bruising at the time," Steele told insidethegames. "But I am very proud of the reforms I began there which have been continued since I left.

"I think Stuart Lancaster is doing an excellent job with the England team. I think there is a lot more sharpness and commercial acumen in the RFU nowadays, and it is doing a particularly good job in terms of working in partnership with other bodies and organisations.

"In the past some have seen the RFU as being arrogant. But I don't think that is the case nowadays. I think Ian Ritchie is doing a very good job as the new chief executive, and I am looking forward to watching England do well in the 2015 World Cup.

"Effecting change is different in any environment, especially when you are working in an area where there are a number of vested interests. I felt some things were not being done in the right way.

"I knew what I was doing at the RFU was high risk. But I will do what I think is right. I would rather have gone after a year having made an impact than spend 10 years sitting safely. Do I regret the stand I took? Definitely not."

A subsequent review into the issue by Jeff Blackett, a High Court judge, concluded that "trust had broken down" within the Union, and that Steele should not have been dismissed by the board at their meeting on June 9.

"I didn't speak much to the press at the time, so it was fantastic for me to hear that a review chaired by a High Court Judge had concluded as they did," Steele said. "I did feel vindicated."

After travelling such a rocky road, Steele - who took up his position with the Youth Sports Trust in January last year - now finds himself on a smoother, broader highway as he combines his two latest roles, the latter of which he has taken over from Steve Cram, who stepped down as EIS chair this June after 10 years in the post. He is relishing the challenge.

"The closest parallel to it I can think of is when Sue Campbell was chair of the Youth Sports Trust and chair of UK Sport at the same time. It was not quite the same.

"People like Sue had a big influence on me in the way she manages to work with a range of different sets of organisations and people. And working with people like Dave Brailsford and Peter Keen was also a great experience. But in the end there are as many leadership styles as there are leaders.

"My job is now 95 per cent Youth Sports Trust and five per cent EIS, where I am a non-executive director. I am there to help and support the national director, Nigel Walker, and his board.

"I am privileged to be able to support athletes at both ends of the competitive spectrum - young talents emerging, and elite athletes gearing up for the 2016 Rio Olympics.

"I believe sport changes lives. I see every day the positive impact it can have on young people.

Cyclists in the points race at the Olympic Velodrome at the Sainsbury's School Games last year

"I feel very lucky in terms of the range of experiences I have had within sport, starting as an athlete and then as a coach, and then working as director of England Rugby during the 2003 World Cup. I have seen sport from so many different angles.

"Having had some experience of governance in the funding area is hugely helpful to me in the areas I am now engaged in. As far as the Youth Sports Trust is concerned I want to ensure that the Government and the wider public are made constantly aware of the benefits sport has on society. We need to show a broad range of Government departments that there are a broad range of benefits to sports, which also concern health and education."

After joining UK Sport as chief executive in July 2005, Steele presided over one of the most dynamic changes of sporting morale.

"Fifteen years ago we said 'We will never win the Ashes," he explained. "We just don't do that. Occasionally we will win a few Olympic medals. But we are just good old mediocre UK, nearly men, good losers.'

"But look what has happened since. We have won the Ashes. We have a Wimbledon champion. We have a football team that is heading towards the World Cup on something of a high and a rugby team also headings towards their World Cup with confidence.

"In a time of austerity, sport is giving a nation a sense of pride and belief."

And one of the key elements of this shift, Steele believes, is the way in which systematic funding has been set up through the National Lottery to support sport up to and including elite levels.

"Australia made funding cuts around sport, thinking that success would continue under its own momentum. But they are going through a trough at the moment."

He is careful not to overstate the influence of sports administration and funding, but adds: "Leadership and governance in sports anywhere will never win medals. But if it is poor and dysfunctional it creates a glass ceiling for athletes that will prevent them winning medals.

"Our intention is to make sure that young athletes are supported by good governance. There is a duty of care on everyone involved in sports administration to ensure that sportsmen and women have the maximum of support to reach their full potential, and whatever level that may be."

He makes no pretence that life at the Youth Sports Trust has been easy in an environment that was turned upside down by the Government's announcement in 2010 that £162 million ($259 million/€189 million) of ring-fenced funding for national School Sport Partnerships was to be cut.

"For school sports and PE, 2010 was a big milestone - for the wrong reasons," Steele said. "We at the Youth Sports Trust had to re-think what we were about when those proposed cuts to school spending were announced.

"Since then the whole landscape has readjusted and fragmented. The investment in school sport announced in the wake of London 2012 - £150 million ($240 million/€175 million) a year for two years - is clearly very positive, and we need to make sure that money is spent in the right way to make a big difference.

"Things are much better than they were - but it has been a hard few years in terms of funding for PE and school sport."

As the Shadow Sports Minister, Clive Efford, commented when the new funding package was announced in March: "This money is extremely welcome but we would be in a much better situation had the Government not taken away £162 million ($259 million/€189 million) from the SSPs in 2010 and left the structures that were in place to crumble."

John Steele believes the London 2012 Olympics has created what he calls
a "London generation"


Steele believes that London 2012 has created what he calls a "London generation", adding, "They are people who will have the experience of London 2012 in their hearts and minds for the rest of their lives.

"But the legacy from those Games should not just be about coaches and athletes, it should be about making sure that sport and activity are being embraced by the whole of our society.

"We have an obesity epidemic in this country. One in four young people going into primary school are obese, and one in three leaving it. There is also a rising level of diabetes among young people.

"But sport is also linked with emotional wellbeing. And it plays an active role in promoting educational and academic achievement. The old adage of 'mind, body and spirit' is so true."

Switching attention to the elite end of his work, Steele described expertise as being "the lifeblood" of the EIS.

"We have got people in there who can make a difference to coaches and competitors," he said.

"I am delighted to take on this new role at the EIS a critical time for British sport as it looks to build on its tremendous successes in recent years. As a nation we are now amongst the best in the world at preparing our athletes for success on the global stage and I am proud to be involved in this process."

Britain's performances in the Beijing and London Olympic cycles exceeded expectations, but Steele warns against expecting the total to continue rising at the 2016 Rio Games.

"It has been calculated that having home advantage in a Games produces on average a 20 per cent increase in medal performances," he said.

"No nation has ever followed up a home Games by taking more medals.

"So to target more British medals than London in Rio is to target something that has never been done before, and anyone setting such a target is probably not understanding the intricacies of home advantage.

"From the EIS point of view we are seeking to offer athletes and coaches the maximum of medical and technical support as they head towards Rio. What I would personally like to see in Rio is a broader range of medals in more sports to show it's not just a case of relying on the usual suspects of cycling, rowing and sailing."

Steele himself remains passionately committed to sport, and its deeper benefits.

"Sport has given me my sense of values," he said. "My character has been moulded on various rugby pitches, and I am glad about that. Sport has played a big part in my development and understanding, and I have never lost hold of those values."

"You do become a bit shrewder as you get older. You learn from your mistakes. You never stop learning, in fact. The only constant in this business is change itself."

Mike Rowbottom, one of Britain's most talented sportswriters, covered the London 2012 Olympics and Paralympics as chief feature writer for insidethegames, having covered the previous five summer Games, and four winter Games, for The Independent. He has worked for the Daily Mail, The Times, The Observer, The Sunday Correspondent and The Guardian. His latest book Foul Play – the Dark Arts of Cheating in Sport (Bloomsbury £12.99) is available at the insidethegames.biz shop. To follow him on Twitter click here.