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Good non-Kiwi imports have been signed in Super Rugby before (Mafi and Cubelli are 2 recent examples). There's plenty of good players in the world, and a limited number of high paying squad positions in Europe.

In my view a trans tasman comp would only be optimal if you have some form of talent equalisation throughout the entire competition. NZ have the greater depth of talent, Australia has the bigger population centres to support teams. Pretty easy to figure out how that should marry up if your...

I think it'll be more like what he has offered with Own the Force. He'll be willing to supercharge what the community, or at least what many others put in. I think he'll have other wealthy people ready to help if the vision is powerful enough. If you added up the net worth of all the rugby fans...

As I said, I'm fine with ending or reducing central contracts for these players. But many or most of those top players will head overseas, many already do. And I'd rather they be picked for the Wallabies (if their ability and form merits it) than not. If we're going to have financially...

How is this sustainable? It'd just lead to the further weakening of the Wallabies as more players will give up their eligibility in order to earn 2 or 3 times as much money overseas. I don't see how rugby can avoid becoming like soccer. There's too much money in European rugby - and it is...

It'll definitely be a huge boost for rugby in WA to go through this fight and win (in whichever way they win - and when you have a government and a stubborn multi-billionaire behind you winning has a high probability).

If Twiggy Forrest (and maybe Kerry Stokes as well?) is willing to help fund a new league this is what can make leaving Super Rugby less of a risk - if the ARU can work with him rather than fight him. Have our 5 current teams plus at least 1 more (and ideally 3 or 5 more, either new local teams...

Nah, new information should change views and decisions. There's nothing impractical or immoral about that. And the ARU still have the power of veto within SANZAAR.

I don't think people will boycott the game out of some personal vendetta against the individuals on the board. They will boycott the game because of disillusionment over their decisions and in many cases to play a part in forcing change. If you are very against the direction of rugby in this...

Well billionaires do spend exorbitant amounts of money buying and propping up professional basketball/baseball/American Football/soccer teams around the world. No point in having billions if you don't do cool and good things with it.

Just imagine there was a virtually empty stadium (say 5000 mostly South African fans), and 15,000 protesting Force fans outside the stadium cheering for the Wallabies while watching on big screens. That would truly embarrass the ARU, hit them financially, and give them no room to swing it as...

If there's a large crowd they can claim it's evidence that cutting the Force isn't going to impact support for the game in WA and that all is fine. I think if your aim was to hurt the ARU the only way to do it is financially. The most effective form of protest would probably be for thousands...

That's not what I meant. I think the part that cuts to the heart of the issue is the fact the ARU never publicly laid out the severity of the situation (and what they were leaning towards doing) and didn't give the unions and/or the rugby community a proper chance to fix it before making their...

This is the point that really cuts to the heart of the issue IMO. And I don't think it could only be seen in hindsight. Many of us were making this point early on in the thread (back in the last ice age or whenever this thread began) both before the decision to cut a team was made and...

I don't know, I doubt it. But in 2015 no one had any reason to believe the Force's existence was under threat (because the ARU continually claimed strong support for maintaining 5 teams) so I don't know why he would have felt any need to.

It's irrelevant, the fact is he offered it now. I've seen a lot of people bemoan the fact Australian rugby doesn't have a Frank Lowy type willing to get involved. Now we have someone equally wealthy willing to put considerable money into the sport without gaining any control whatsoever and the...

Hard to see any way forward without basically a coup and a complete rebuild (and probably rebrand) of the ARU.

Also, as much as Pulver deserves all the criticism he's getting, it does seem obvious that Clyne has been the true driving force behind this. Pulver hasn't been leading the ARU for months. The ARU with Clyne at the helm has no chance of restoring any goodwill. He must go.

Unbelievable really. Is there any other sporting body that would reject the offer of one of the richest people in the country to ensure the long term financial viability of the sport in a state? Forrest wasn't even seeking any personal control. This has the hallmarks of a decision made by...

Why is this arbitration decision taking so long? There were only 2 days of arguments. Is the arbitrator paid by the day?