Western Force officially dumped out of Super Rugby

[galumay]

galumay - im sorry if you thought it was personal. if anything its a generilisation of all aussies not personal to you.

Thanks, thats not the way I read it!

im sorry if i seem nasty but the reality is imo if super is to survive and be an awesome rugby product, then the way aus is trending they have to go.

I think we are both as concerned about the direction of Aus rugby, we just have a different take on it. No doubt if things dont change we will be gone from Super Rugby, my concern is that their demise will spell the end of Super Rugby and have a negative impact on NZ rugby overall, I realise you dont share that opinion, perhaps where we can agree is that Australia fielding competitive Super Rugby teams can only benefit the competition and Rugby in general, so our focus should be all working together (NZ, Aus & SA) to create that.

if u and the rest of aus rugby dont get a robust grassroots created then imo honestly aus will be out of super by the next broadcast deal.

...and thats the problem, easy to toss the "grassroots" term around, but in reality how can that be created with the realities of 3 other major winter ball sports taking a big chunk of TV rights, sponsorship, government funding, media attention, and attracting probably 80% of kids to their codes due to the success and profile of teams and players at the elite level. Its one of the reasons that the Force decision was such a stupid one - WA was the one state where NRL had no presence.

How do we 'create' grassroots rugby when its mainly a sport played in a small number of private schools? You cant very well force public schools to start playing it!

Thats what frustrates me about the term 'grassroots' rugby being thrown around as a panacea for Australian Rugby success at the Super and test level, its naive and suggests a lack of knowledge of the sporting landscape here.

Realistically given that the ARU is not going to take the slightest notice of you or me, the demise of australian Super rugby teams is more likely than not, that will also spell the end of the Wallabies as a Tier 1 or 2 rugby nation - I suspect thats a scenario neither of us would relish!

 

[galumay]

dupe post

 

[mania]

Thats what frustrates me about the term 'grassroots' rugby being thrown around as a panacea for Australian Rugby success at the Super and test level, its naive and suggests a lack of knowledge of the sporting landscape here.

and thats why aus rugby is doomed to failure. dont do the foundations properly and everything just collapses. check the NRL. their grassroots permeates all the way over to NZ. ask them how to start up a grassroots.

 

[Brigantine]

Can we stop going in circles with this "grassroots" shouting match? We get it already!

BTW when the NRC kicks off, where's the thread? Is it worthy of it's own forum under "ITM (NPC) Cup" and "ASBA Currie Cup", or just hide it somewhere in "General Rugby Union" like the Argentina's club games?

Will the developments with the Western Force affect Perth Spirit's season at all?

 

[TRF_heineken]

Can we stop going in circles with this "grassroots" shouting match? We get it already!

BTW when the NRC kicks off, where's the thread? Is it worthy of it's own forum under "ITM (NPC) Cup" and "ASBA Currie Cup", or just hide it somewhere in "General Rugby Union" like the Argentina's club games?

Will the developments with the Western Force affect Perth Spirit's season at all?

if there is enough interest, we could create it's own subheading. Otherwise it will remain under general rugby like other minor tournaments.

 

[RoosTah]

Things are only gonna get worse from here:

WA government threatens to bankrupt ARU
The Western Australian government is looking at suing the Australian Rugby Union for more than $100 million over the decision to axe the Western Force.

Premier Mark McGowan says the state government is getting legal advice and the options include suing for restitution, which would bankrupt the ARU, or suing for reinstatement.

"I think the ARU doesn't understand exactly what they've done to Western Australia and the amount of money and the amount of support that's been invested in this team," he told ABC radio on Monday.

The premier said $17 million was spent on new headquarters for the Western Force and $1.5 million for a road safety sponsorship deal.

He said $95 million was also spent on nib Stadium, which the Perth Glory soccer team uses too.

Thousands of fans rallied on Sunday, with billionaire backer Andrew "Twiggy" Forrest again slamming the ARU's move to cull the Force as lacking financial merit and even hinting the Force could play elsewhere if unsuccessful.

Rugby WA is expected to learn on Wednesday whether it will be granted the right to appeal the ARU's decision in the NSW Supreme Court.

The other two teams culled from Super Rugby for next season, South Africa's Cheetahs and the Kings, have survived by joining Europe's Pro 14 competition.
http://www.smh.com.au/rugby-union/wa-government-threatens-to-bankrupt-aru-20170821-gy0o9q.html

 

[Car]

So much about this being the easier and cheaper solution then...

 

[Bruce_ma gooshvili]

Can we stop going in circles with this "grassroots" shouting match? We get it already!

BTW when the NRC kicks off, where's the thread? Is it worthy of it's own forum under "ITM (NPC) Cup" and "ASBA Currie Cup", or just hide it somewhere in "General Rugby Union" like the Argentina's club games?

Will the developments with the Western Force affect Perth Spirit's season at all?

I doubt there is demand here although personally I'll be curious to see how the Fijian side goes. Give it a couple of years and we can open an NRC thread in the Tier2&3 sub-forum.

If it's good enough for Italy...

 

[InsaneAsylum]

Apparently Twiggy is meeting with the ARU board today. stay tuned

 

[smartcooky]

Things are only gonna get worse from here:

"Thousands of fans rallied on Sunday, with billionaire backer Andrew "Twiggy" Forrest again slamming the ARU's move to cull the Force as lacking financial merit and even hinting the Force could play elsewhere if unsuccessful."

OK, so my earlier semi-serious tongue-in-cheek suggestion that the Force might look to join the Japan Top League wasn't that far off the mark.

 

[smartcooky]

The ARU board should all fall on their swords, and then the stakeholders of Australian Rugby (the boards of the five franchises?) elects a new board, which promptly reverses the decision of the old board to axe The Force, and then moves to amalgamate the Brumbies and the Waratahs, perhaps under a new name (Kookaburras?)

TBH, I don't know what ACT is even doing in the competition. To me, it seems like having a Wellington team in Super Rugby as well as the Hurricanes. Senseless and pointless.

Amalgamation of these two teams means that no-one would lose out completely, some players will not make the combined squad, but the good ones will do OK, Canberra and Sydney would each have less home games, but I don't think that matters in the grand scheme. At least the pathways for players in ACT will still exist which is more than can be said for WA..

 

[Brigantine]

Really, the worst thing ARU could do now is to keep arguing about which team should be cut.

If they do what they can to let the other 4 franchises spend all their energy on improving their performance next season, and if things work out, then in about 4 years there will be more options and everyone will have a better solution. The Force can come back.

The best thing ARU could do now is help WA find somewhere else to play in the meantime to keep things alive there. Top League is actually a good idea.

 

[Car]

So they ARE thinking about a new competition. I wonder which countries might be good enough for it? I can't believe they rejected that offer, though.

http://www.espn.com.au/rugby/story/...e-budge-force-axing-help-develop-asian-league

 

[Brigantine]

A $50 Million guarantee to cover the Force's financial performance... Generous for sure.

To be fair, we already knew it wasn't about the Force's financial performance. It's about responding to fan feedback across SANZAR against the 4-conference format. ARU have no good options, and it was only by a stroke of genius that South Africa avoided this fate too.

[ARU] are apparently willing to help Forrest create an Asian rugby competition for the Force to participate in. [...] This will be based in Western Australia, with a focus firmly on the Indo Pacific region and a time zone that WA shares.

Indo-Pacific... well sure in say 15 years Singapore, Malaysia, Sri Lanka will probably have worthy pro teams, but until then, this only makes sense (for WA) if they're secretly talking about Japan, and maybe Hong Kong, Korea and Siberia. But they really couldn't have said it any more clearly that this is NOT about Japan. I can only imagine it being like Argentina XV in the Americas Rugby Championship, or USA South XV in the Americas Rugby North competition - i.e. an amateur WA XV in the 2nd division of Asian Rugby. After RWC 2019 it might include Hong Kong and Korea after all as Japan joins TRC or 6N.

Better than nothing I suppose, and the Force will eventually be back in SR in a future better-managed expansion.

 

[Bruce_ma gooshvili]

It is slightly crazy talk in my opinion from this man. If the Top League don't want the Force then they have no realistic backup options in terms of competitiveness and / or financial sustainability.

 

[Hound]

...and the Supreme Court appeal was dismissed.