Wednesday’s Rugby News has no more Force, but maybe a new competition for them to play in (soon), *the* spreadsheet finally revealed and Cheika’s thoughts.
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Force Finale?
The coup-de-grace has come. Hopefully.
Several thousand hours after it would take the ARU 48-72 hours to cut an Australian team, the NSW Supreme Court has upheld the ARU’s case and put us out of our misery. If you’re a legal nerd you can find the judgement over here.
Started 12 years ago, the Western Force never made the Super finals – something which probably won’t be valued much anymore in a couple of years’ time. However, their presence in Perth attracted a hardy couple of thousand fans, several thousand new juniors and a handful of Wallabies (as well as shoulda-been-picked Wallabies) along the way.
Understandably, a lot of people are quite distraught at this ruling. One of them was talisman Matt Hodgson.
“We will always be known as the Force,” Hodgson said (via rugby.com.au). “We will always represent WA, we will always wear the blue proudly and we will always wear the gold as well.
“We always want to represent what we have done here in the last 12 years, we don’t want to forget what we have done, we are just pushing forward as a club and as a unit.
“We may not be called the Force, they might take that away, we might send them a bill for it but we will always be known as the Western Force and as long as Western Australia is in our name somewhere we will be proud to put that on.”
Hodgson, like everyone else, finds the way the ARU communicated during the whole saga the worst part.
“Again, today, they’re not here,” Hodgson said.
“No one has called me, no one has talked to meI thought I did good for the sport for 12 years, representing and captaining my country and no one has spoken to me about this.
“A phone call would be nice, a reason would be even nicer again.
“Apparently there is a Test match on this weekend that both of them will be watching so I am free Friday night if they want to come over for dinner and we can talk about these decisions.”
I’ve waited 140 plus days what’s another 48- 72 hours. https://t.co/eabWazL6Sx
— Matt Hodgson (@matthodgson678) September 5, 2017
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IPL of Rugby
Newfound Force benefactor Twiggy Forrest wasted no time in backhanding the ARU, telling all and sundry that he’ll make a separate, private rugby comp to put the Force in. This new comp, Twiggy plans, will have teams from Hong Kong, Singapore, and the Pacific Islands. This comp will have six teams, with Forrest planning to release further details in a couple o’ days.
Andrew Forrest’s team and structure to set up the new comp @rugby_podcast pic.twitter.com/9s9JMgxf4k
— Ben Yeates (@ben_yeates9) September 5, 2017
“Let me assure you, this is not a great day for the ARU, this is a great day for Australian rugby,” Forrest said, according to the SMH. “Discussions have commenced across the world and within our own state and country to ensure this competition starts and starts strongly.
“We will include strong and deeply powerful players, broadcasters and fans of rugby all across the Indo-Pacific region where some 60 per cent of the world’s people live. This is the beginning of the new Force, this is the beginning of the new Indo-Pacific competition and I am delighted to be an instigator of it.
“Out of great disappointment comes greater opportunity. It will involve key countries across the Indo-Pacific region who have approached us or have publicly stated their deep conviction to rugby.
“I’d like to start it with an international game which is yet to be announced and you may be assured I don’t let the grass grow under my feet, so it will be as soon as possible and much faster than the ARU could ever organise.”
As much as the ARU rejected Twiggy’s offer of ($10m-) $50m (to the Australian Rugby Foundation), the ARU might actually be eyeing off this newfound league as their get-out-of-Super card.
Forrest also intimated that he and the legal boffins hanging around the Force might look into another case in the High Court (although you can’t say the two previous failed cases won’t help their case).
Meanwhile, Jim Tucker of the Courier Mail has his doubts about the concept.
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Spreadshit
The ARU have whipped out that special spreadsheet that, among other things, contained the secret recipe of KFC, the location of the jade monkey, and the ARU’s finances.
According to this spreadsheet, the ARU would go bust in Q3 2019 if they had kept 5 teams on.
At a press conference yesterday afternoon, ARU chairman Cameron Clyne whipped out the figures that supported the ARU’s decision to cut a Super team.
(click on the images to get full-screen ones, or visit this page for all the info)
The documents show a few interesting things, like the fact the Rebels got $12m more in funding than the Force, and that the Victorian government’s offer of $$ for international games was definitely a factor in keeping the Rebels.
The ARU also said they do plan to keep on supporting the Perth Spirit and other WA rep teams.
(all of the above is thanks to this rugby.com.au article)
At this press conference, Clyne, who obviously went through the pleasantries of apologising to Force fans, lamented how everything had turned out.
“One of the frustrating things here is that there’s been a lot of opportunities for RugbyWA,” Clyne said (via Fox Sports). “Obviously we stepped in there and bailed them out 18 months, two years ago because no-one else came forward.
“I’m really, I guess, frustrated and disappointed that there was obviously a desire late in the piece to provide support.
“I just don’t understand why RugbyWA didn’t contact Andrew Forrest in April. This would have been maybe a far different outcome.
“I’m also a bit bemused as to when we wrote to RugbyWA on August 2 before we made our decision saying ‘what is your best and final position?’ that they didn’t come back with anything substantive.
“I guess I feel for the rugby fans in WA. I particularly feel for the player group, but I guess I’m also really frustrated that there were so many opportunities where we engaged and unfortunately we had to make a decision …
“I really say ‘where was it on August 2, where was it in April and where was it when we bailed them out 18 months ago?’”
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WBs To Do Perth Proud
Michael Cheika is adamant his charges will go out and put on a performance to make Perth proud, given that it’s really the very least his team can do.
“It’s a difficult time but the one thing we can do without trying to take anything away from the sadness that’s being felt here from that regard is to go out there and show how much we want to play for Western Australians out on the field on Saturday and for the lads from the team that are inside the Wallabies as well,” Cheika said, according to rugby.com.au.
Cheika also had special praise for Matt Hodgson, saying “I made him a captain of Australia one time because he is a passionate player and he represents so well.”
Asked about whether Twiggy’s half-brainfart new competition would mean to international eligibility, Cheika shrugged.
“It’s a bit of a stretch at this point to be thinking about those things,” he said. “You’d never say never, obviously, powerful men, they can make things happen.
“You’ve only got to go back and look at the different things like World Series cricket and Super League and in a way the way professional rugby started as well.
“They’re the plans of one person obviously but as far as trying to calculate any possible ramifications at this point, that’s still a little bit of crystal ball gazing.”
Meanwhile, both TPN and Adam Coleman also fronted the media. Both were adamant that, while they were disappointed, they were raring to go up the guts and into the Springboks on Saturday.
“It’s sad that, I know there’s external factors, but it’s pretty sad to know that it won’t be there,” said TPN.
“I want to reward them for being such a big help in my career by giving them (a good performance), I know it shouldn’t be a windup for a Test, but this’ll definitely be emotional for me just because they’ve been a big help in my regard and I want to reward them, hopefully putting in a performance they can be proud of.”
Coleman:
“Having that support network of my family and having the boys around, I think it’s really helped me,” he said.
“You’re so used to running out there in the blue jersey, and it makes it very special when you run out in the gold jersey. Every time is special but playing in your home environment in front of your friends and family that don’t really have to travel that far, it’s definitely very special.”
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