Force Goooooooone

Stargazer

Some reactions:

http://twitter.com/Pekcowan/status/895916311351500801

Following today’s arbitration decision in favour of the ARU, and the subsequent announcement from ARU to discontinue the Western Force, RUPA CEO Ross Xenos has released the following statement:

“Today's is the darkest day in the history of Australian Rugby with the custodian of the game confirming their desire to end the tenure of the Western Force and abandoning the game's national footprint."

"The future of professional Rugby in Western Australia will now be the collateral damage of the decision making of the ARU and SANZAAR to expand Super Rugby to a convoluted and complicated 18 team structure against various advice and modelling received which explained the associated risks."

“Players, staff and their families at the Western Force have been put under unprecedented and, quite frankly, completely unreasonable duress throughout this ridiculous and destructive process."

“RUPA has and will continue to provide any support that is necessary for all players affected by the ARU's decision. We have staff in Perth and are in regular contact with all contracted players at the Force and their respective agents. RUPA will do whatever it takes to ensure that players' contractual rights are honoured and no player is unfairly disadvantaged by the ARU’s decision."

“The people of Western Australia have campaigned fairly, passionately and with integrity in order to show that the Western Force deserve to have a place in Super Rugby. That campaign has fallen on deaf ears. We understand that Rugby WA are considering their legal position from this point forward and we respect their rights to explore such avenues."

Out of respect for the players and staff at the Western Force, RUPA will not be making any further comment at this time.

NTA

@Higgins from memory, the guy in charge had them over a barrel so they paid him out and shut him up. Probably cost them a bit

Stargazer

On 9 September, the Wallabies will play the Springboks in Perth. Wonder how many people will show up.

NTA

@canefan Twiggy Forrest is still there and promising a lot, but maybe he saw the writing on the wall and used it for a bit of cheap publicity.

Rugger Quizzes

Completely wrong call. Western Australia had no league to contend with and was developing players. WA developed Wallabies. Rebels - can't think of a Wallaby from Victoria.

Wallabies go well and Aussie rugby thrives. Still 4 teams probably better reflect their depth, but Rebels should have been the team to go.

NTA

@Rugger-Quizzes And that's the thing: we'd better win some fucking games this year in gold or things are going to get sour very quickly.

taniwharugby

Force say they will take it to court

http://www.radiosport.co.nz/sport-news/western-force-to-take-aru-to-court-after-being-axed-from-super-rugby/

The Western Force are set to take the Australian Rugby Union (ARU) to court after being axed from the Super Rugby competition - and billionaire Andrew Forrest has vowed to back them.

The ARU won its arbitration hearing against RugbyWA on Friday, and immediately announced it would axe the Force.

But the saga isn't about to end, with RugbyWA releasing a statement saying it will consider launching urgent proceedings in the Supreme Court of NSW.

It will also consider mounting legal action relating to the circumstances which led it to enter into the Alliance Agreement last year with the ARU.
Forrest reaffirmed his pledge to do everything within his powers to save the Force, with the issue set to be fought out in the courts.

"We want leadership from the Australian Rugby Union, not cowardly litigation," Forrest said.

"But if they want to continue to fight us, we will happily take them on for as long as it takes.
"This (decision by the ARU) is like dumping the fastest improving athlete or the silver medallist from the Olympic swimming squad and leaving the worst performer in there.

"It is a ludicrous and unfair legal initiative by the ARU. This would only get through litigation and never logic."

The Force had grown confident in recent weeks they would survive the axe, but Friday's arbitration decision leaves them on death's door.

The Perth-based franchise finished second in the Australian conference during the Super Rugby season, and had nine players selected last month in an extended Wallabies squad.

Grassroots rugby in WA has also grown from strength to strength since the Force's 2006 introduction.

But if the Force's expected appeal fails, they will be left with no choice but to wrap up operations.

The ARU said the decision to "discontinue the Force's licence" was based primarily on financial outcomes.

ARU chairman Cameron Clyne said Australian rugby couldn't sustain five teams.

The Melbourne Rebels had been the other team on the chopping block, but they are safe.
The Victorian Rugby Union owns the Rebels after buying them from former owner Andrew Cox for $1.

"This is a sad day for rugby, especially for Western Force fans," Clyne said in a statement.
"We accept that there will be anger and resentment over this decision and we sympathise with those fans. We sincerely hope that they are not lost to the game forever.

"The decision to exit the Western Force from Super Rugby is not a decision to abandon the game in Western Australia.
"Western Australia will retain an important place in Australian rugby and the ARU will continue to support youth development programs and the community game in the West.

"There will be a clear pathway for young Western Australian rugby players to reach the highest level and represent the Wallabies."
The Force's best finish was in 2014, when they only narrowly missed the finals with a 9-7 record.
The Force made vast improvement this year under rookie coach Dave Wessels, unearthing a host of talented players who the franchise hoped would carry them to a title within three years.

"Whilst the board of RugbyWA is extremely disappointed with the ARU's stated position, with the support of the Rugby community and numerous WA business identities including Mr Andrew Forrest we will continue the fight to retain the Force in Western Australia," the Force said in a statement.

Rapido

Wrong one.

ARU are hopeless.

Crucial

At least the ARU have been honest in declaring it came down to money.

Fact is the ARU are deep in the shit monetarily and the biggest overhead with the least output is the one to go. Pity they didn't apply that thinking to the Wallabies players a while back.

pukunui

Yep, shit decision. The ARU need to start making rugby decisions not basing everything purely on money or their ship will sink completely.

I hope the Rebels don't win a game next year.

One positive to come out of this however is that we have avoided the farcical situation where the ARU suddenly decides they don't want to cut a side like has been regularly suggested since this all began.

Kruse

@Crucial said in Force Goooooooone:

At least the ARU have been honest in declaring it came down to money.

Fact is the ARU are deep in the shit monetarily and the biggest overhead with the least output is the one to go. Pity they didn't apply that thinking to the Wallabies players a while back.

I read that as a bit of a dig at the Rebels... suggesting they were forced into a shit decision by financial blackmail. Just trying to shift a little bit of the blame in some minds. Yellow.

Sneakdefreak

The Force are gone....giving the NRL a golden opportunity to expand to Perth and reap all the benefits.....

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NTA

ARU have pissed away about $13M on the Rebels since Day 1 according to some reports.

Force at least had a plan to have fans buy a share of the joint.

canefan

@NTA said in Force Goooooooone:

ARU have pissed away about $13M on the Rebels since Day 1 according to some reports.

Force at least had a plan to have fans buy a share of the joint.

Rebels will never overtake AFL and the Storm, it would have been easy to ditch them

barbarian

@canefan said in Force Goooooooone:

Rebels will never overtake AFL and the Storm, it would have been easy to ditch them

I think the truth was the opposite.

This decision had nothing to do with rugby, or even money. It was just about which team they could legally cut. The Rebels ownership deal gave the ARU no outs whatsoever, apart from buying back the team. Once it became clear that was never going to happen, they couldn't kick the Rebels out if they tried.

The Force, on the other hand, had a clause the ARU could enact. Which they have, to the detriment of our game.

While people are rightfully slamming Pulver now, the real errors were made years ago when these deals were done.

canefan

@barbarian I meant from a rugby POV. But yeah, looks like an epic fail by the ARU

ACT Crusader

@barbarian I guess the question is why those decision had to be made in the first place. There has been fault on many sides dating back a few years now.

Looking at the talent pool I think 4 teams is where Australian rugby is at. It's a tough decision but one that makes the most "sense" given the ownership arrangements. Very tough pill to swallow for fans etc, but Pulver hasn't been the only one that has made this bed.

Reducing Super rugby teams is a positive IMO, within the current SANZAAR model and TV deal.

Of course there are more structural issues that need to be addressed that go to the future of Super rugby but these short term decisions did need to be made. There will be a fallout no doubt.

Damo

I am pretty gobsmacked by this call. Almost everything points to the Rebels being more deserving of the axe but it's the Force that have to go.

I think this is a decision that will haunt Australian Rugby for years to come.

antipodean

@barbarian said in Force Goooooooone:

While people are rightfully slamming Pulver now, the real errors were made years ago when these deals were done.

It takes extraordinary incompetence to sell a franchise, the licence to operate and still provide financial support for another five years. Of course, this happened while Pulver was CEO...

antipodean

@Stargazer said in Force Goooooooone:

RUPA Response to ARU Decision

Following today’s arbitration decision in favour of the ARU, and the subsequent announcement from ARU to discontinue the Western Force, RUPA CEO Ross Xenos has released the following statement:

“Today's is the darkest day in the history of Australian Rugby with the custodian of the game confirming their desire to end the tenure of the Western Force and abandoning the game's national footprint."

"The future of professional Rugby in Western Australia will now be the collateral damage of the decision making of the ARU and SANZAAR to expand Super Rugby to a convoluted and complicated 18 team structure against various advice and modelling received which explained the associated risks."

“Players, staff and their families at the Western Force have been put under unprecedented and, quite frankly, completely unreasonable duress throughout this ridiculous and destructive process."

“RUPA has and will continue to provide any support that is necessary for all players affected by the ARU's decision. We have staff in Perth and are in regular contact with all contracted players at the Force and their respective agents. RUPA will do whatever it takes to ensure that players' contractual rights are honoured and no player is unfairly disadvantaged by the ARU’s decision."

“The people of Western Australia have campaigned fairly, passionately and with integrity in order to show that the Western Force deserve to have a place in Super Rugby. That campaign has fallen on deaf ears. We understand that Rugby WA are considering their legal position from this point forward and we respect their rights to explore such avenues."

Out of respect for the players and staff at the Western Force, RUPA will not be making any further comment at this time.

alt text

Did RUPA fight expansion..?

The Silver Fern

Force Goooooooone