How Andrew ‘Twiggy’ Forrest’s new competition will change rugby forever (on-line header)
Shaking a fist at the old guard (hard-copy headline)
Nick Taylor - The West Australian - Saturday, 7 March 2020
Global Rapid Rugby is set to challenge the sports old world order in the biggest shake-up since the game turned professional 25 years ago. It’s trailblazing, bold and brassy with razzmatazz and law changes designed to produce a faster, free-flowing, fan-friendly game.
It’s likely to have the same effect on the Australian stripey blazer brigade as former England captain Will Carling did when he called the English establishment “57 old farts”. The old farts sacked Carling.
No doubt there are some stuffed shirts that would like to see the back of mining magnate Andrew Forrest. But that won’t happen because of the fatal error made by Rugby Australia three years ago. RA snubbed Forrest when he offered the cash-strapped body $70 million to keep the Force alive after they decided to axe the club ahead of the Melbourne Rebels. Big mistake.
Just as US millionaire Victor Kiam, former owner of the New England Patriots, famously said he liked Remington shavers so much that he bought the company, Forrest said he liked the Force so much that he bought them their own competition.
He is unlikely to reveal what the project — with its million dollar prize pool — is costing but there are suggestions he is already investing more than $100 million to ensure GRR is a success — and couldn’t RA do with a few of those dollars right now?
When asked in the early days about the cost, Forrest said: “Personal cost is time and energy but it’s hard to pronounce a cost. Whether it’s going to be a profit or a loss, I don’t know.”
It has taken three years for GRR to gain a foothold, overcoming plenty of RA roadblocks, as it morphed from World Series Rugby in 2018 and the Showcase Series last year. And as Super Rugby loses its lustre, international governing body World Rugby is watching GRR with interest. WR (World Rugby) has long wanted to boost its presence in the Asia-Pacific region. GRR and Forrest are doing that for them — free.
Force legend and former captain Matt Hodgson, the emotional face of the team when it was axed, is now GRR’s head of rugby. His final game, on July 14 2017, was a momentous occasion. The Force smashed the Waratahs 40-10 at nib Stadium in their last Super Rugby match and in his 140th game for the club Hodgson scored a try and kicked his first penalty.
What happened next sent a tsunami through Australian rugby as Forrest strode on to the pitch and told the players he would back them all the way in their battle for survival.
Two months later Forrest ripped into RA with venom and Hodgson failed to hold back the tears when the final blow was landed and the NSW Supreme Court upheld RA’s decision to axe the Force. Those memories are still raw for Hodgson but he can smile now, proud of what “team Twiggy” has achieved.
The Force will be joined by China Lions, a joint venture with New Zealand’s Bay Of Plenty union, Malaysia Valke, backed by the South African Currie Cup club Valke, Fijian Latui, Manuma Samoa and Hong Kong-based South China Tigers in the new competition.
“I knew I’d always be involved in rugby but I had no idea what it would be,” Hodgson said. “To be able to forge a pathway for local talent and have an opportunity to do it across the islands and Asia is pretty special. I pinch myself some mornings. If I could have written a dream job it would be this. It’s pretty exciting, pretty impressive from where we started in 2018 with seven exhibition games to launch a full tournament. I never doubted we could do it but I actually didn’t think we’d be this far advanced.”
Hodgson said the hardest part was meeting supporter expectation. “They want to know why we just didn’t go ahead full bore and that’s a fair question, but there’s a lot of boring behind-the-door stuff that takes time,” he said. “That’s something I learned going from the field to going behind a desk. We are an unknown product, a brand new entity entering a world of tradition. There were difficult processes to go through. We had to do it slowly, learning to navigate and build relationships as we went, and we’ll continue to build into the future. There were red flags and roadblocks along the way but we came up with ways to adapt and get the show on the road. We have a great relationship with World Rugby. We both want the same outcome.”
Hodgson is happy with the spread of teams and their progress to self-sufficiency while still investigating new markets for next season. We’ve got the mix right,” he said. “Financial support will continue for a limited time but we are trying to create a tournament where teams have a product they can sell themselves. We are educating them on how to grow the game. It’s going to be a long burn for some, but revenue will go back to them over time.”
(Provided in full here as still behind a pay-wall)
