Western Force 2017

[Ruggo]

I really have enjoyed the rugby the Force have played this year and the win/loss stats don't reflect the positive strides that have been made.

Their whole game has been reformed under Wessells. Quality technical forward play with a coherent backline. Of the five Australian sides it is fair to say they are the only Australian side to actually make improvements on the standard of rugby produced. The rest haven't shown much from a low base, unlike the Force who are actually making progress.

 

[Micheal]

I was thinking - is there any way to get a link on the home page to a page titled "GAGGERs who have committed to the Force"?

It could work as such:

Each individual sends Lee Grant or Cyclo or another mod proof of their purchase and the number of shares purchased. They also indicate to the mods their real name and we could have a list as such:

///

1. Mark McIntyre (Ruggo) 3 shares
2. Stephen Smith (Micheal) 2 shares
3. John Doe (amirite) 1 share
4. Jane Doe (Inside Shoulder) 1 share
5. Joe Bloggs (Shiggins) 1 share
----------
8 shares

Having committed $8,000 of their own money, Green and Gold Rugby stands by the Western Force.

///

Or something to that extent (excuse the terrible formatting).

That way only one trusted individual will deal with whatever information is shown on the confirmation of purchase, yet we will have a clear record of who has committed. This serves a few purposes:

1. Confirms that those who have said they have purchased have actually purchased
2. Encourages others to likewise commit.
3. Shows the ARU (GAGR is a decent cross-section of Australian rugby fans) that the community wants the Force to stay.

With a bit of momentum you could even get twf.com.au or reddit (/r/rugbyunion) on board and maybe even some of the players (past or present).

 

[RebelYell]

Actually Rebelyell, we've been wondering on twf and on facebook why we haven't seen a more concerted effort by the Rebel Army?

A very fair point. I think most Rebels fans didn't see a genuine chance of their side being cut until Monday. Now, as per my understanding, with every day that passes the balance slides closer and closer to 50/50.

My personal opinion is that since the purchase of the Rebels by Imperium in July 2015, a lot of the passion of the Club has died. The 'strategic disengagement' from the Victorian Rugby Union rubbed a lot of people up the wrong way, and undid years of positive promotion, engagement and genuine affinity with the club & schools community.

While Imperium belatedly did invest time and resources into those areas, it still doesn't come close to what the club did when owned by the VRU. Imperium recently purchased the Rebels U20s and Rising from the VRU, and since then have begun to promote those teams more, but the cynics haven't come back across. And to be fair, Imperium is a business so needs to make business-based decisions, but fans don't view their decision making process through that lens.

The reality is that memberships, attendances and passion in Melbourne is probably at the lowest in the Rebels' history which couldn't occur at a worse possible time, really.

Momentum is swinging towards the retention of the Force.

 

[NTT]

Me and the Famz are in for 5 shares. Go the Force!

 

[Omar Comin']

It's great to see the OwnTheForce campaign getting traction.

Couple of questions on it.

Are individual companies supporting this or being urged to support it as well? I'm thinking if the companies who forked out $50,000 for individual jersey sponsorships a couple of years ago all bought 50 shares that would make a big difference! And you'd think dozens of smaller businesses could buy a handful.

And on the other end of the spectrum is anything being done to allow people who can't afford to put in $1,000 to contribute as well? Maybe this can't happen for some reason but could Rugby WA or some other not for profit rugby body set up a fundraising page to buy as many shares as possible - allowing individuals to contribute any amount towards it? There must be thousands of Force fans and general sports fans in WA who can't afford or don't want to buy a full share, and also thousands of non Force fans who for the good of Australian rugby might be willing to throw in $50 or so. I'd certainly consider myself in the latter category.

 

[todd4]

I was thinking - is there any way to get a link on the home page to a page titled "GAGGERs who have committed to the Force"?

Also, anyone & everyone is encouraged to use the temporary avatar on here & also on their social media 'I am the Western Force'. Similar to the campaign 'I am Charlie Hebdo' .

 

[The_Brown_Hornet]

My family has chipped in for Own The Force, as have several of my parents neighbours. It helps that one of the Force executive team lives in the same building too and the old man knows Tony Howarth ;-)

 

[NTT]

It's great to see the OwnTheForce campaign getting traction.

Couple of questions on it.

Are individual companies supporting this or being urged to support it as well? I'm thinking if the companies who forked out $50,000 for individual jersey sponsorships a couple of years ago all bought 50 shares that would make a big difference! And you'd think dozens of smaller businesses could buy a handful.

And on the other end of the spectrum is anything being done to allow people who can't afford to put in $1,000 to contribute as well? Maybe this can't happen for some reason but could Rugby WA or some other not for profit rugby body set up a fundraising page to buy as many shares as possible - allowing individuals to contribute any amount towards it? There must be thousands of Force fans and general sports fans in WA who can't afford or don't want to buy a full share, and also thousands of non Force fans who for the good of Australian rugby might be willing to throw in $50 or so. I'd certainly consider myself in the latter category.

The shares are open to individuals and consortiums. There is a part payment system in place. I have seen multiple go fund me pages set up to fund share purchases.

 

[Killer]

I prob should have put this here, makes more sense I think

First post for a many year lurker at G&GR and also a Force supporter.

I think the criticism of the Force from a financial perspective is a bit unfair. AFAIK we have only hit the ARU up for 4.7mil? in 12yrs and had to hand over our licence to receive it. A requirement no other team has had to fill.

Then for what ever reason we are perceived to be habitually in need of financial support from the ARU and on the same level as the Rebels and others regularly needing assistance.
When in reality we had one bad situation in which we needed help and have since found a way to extract ourselves, Own The Force, and also secure our future needs.
But its seems that this is still not enough to satisfy some here.

After doing a quick search I found 2 articles on the Rebels covering the years 2013, 14 and 15. If I have read them right, and I do not have any inside info or are an expert in these areas, the Rebels received 15.8mil from the ARU?

http://www.theage.com.au/rugby-unio...ars-says-ceo-peter-leahy-20150421-1mq0f5.html

http://sportsbusinessinsider.com.au...sed-deficit-but-it-is-not-all-doom-and-gloom/

In addition a poster at TWF, General, indicates that the first private owner of the Rebels cost the ARU 12mil?

http://twf.com.au/showthread.php?t=38704&page=2&p=426088&highlight=#post426088 The top post.

Maybe there are informed posters who could confirmthese figures and the components of the 28mil loss that the ARU Chairman keeps going on about

Edit: sorry, the 15.8mil includes the expected min of 2mil loss for 2016​

 

[Jon]

I prob should have put this here, makes more sense I think

First post for a many year lurker at G&GR and also a Force supporter.​

​

I think the criticism of the Force from a financial perspective is a bit unfair. AFAIK we have only hit the ARU up for 4.7mil? in 12yrs and had to hand over our licence to receive it. A requirement no other team has had to fill.​

​

Then for what ever reason we are perceived to be habitually in need of financial support from the ARU and on the same level as the Rebels and others regularly needing assistance.​

When in reality we had one bad situation in which we needed help and have since found a way to extract ourselves, Own The Force, and also secure our future needs.​

But its seems that this is still not enough to satisfy some here.​

​

After doing a quick search I found 2 articles on the Rebels covering the years 2013, 14 and 15. If I have read them right, and I do not have any inside info or are an expert in these areas, the Rebels received 15.8mil from the ARU?​

​

http://www.theage.com.au/rugby-unio.ars-says-ceo-peter-leahy-20150421-1mq0f5.html​

​

http://sportsbusinessinsider.com.au.sed-deficit-but-it-is-not-all-doom-and-gloom/​

​

In addition a poster at TWF, General, indicates that the first private owner of the Rebels cost the ARU 12mil?​

​

http://twf.com.au/showthread.php?t=38704&page=2&p=426088&highlight=#post426088 The top post.​

​

Maybe there are informed posters who could confirmthese figures and the components of the 28mil loss that the ARU Chairman keeps going on about​

​

Edit: sorry, the 15.8mil includes the expected min of 2mil loss for 2016​

That's pretty much it. The Chairman is happy to throw the 28 million around, however he neglects to mention how it was distributed.
IMO trying to give off the indication that it was spread evenly. Which if said so overtly, would be a blatant lie.

Given that the main reason for this clusterfuck is financial security, isn't it about time we know where the money has been spent, and the balances that are underpinning the safe teams?
Time for all the cards to be put on the table, then the evidence and programs in place will speak towards why teams should go or stay.

It's one thing to be emotionally invested in a team. however you can't argue with cold hard accurate information weighted against this mysterious criteria

 

[Shiggins]

Has anyone seen the latest press release from the rebels. They have basically said they can't be cut and have urged the aru to immediately tell their fans that they can't be cut and the force are gone.

Sent from my SM-G928I using Tapatalk

 

[ChargerWA]

I read it as the first salvo in the negotiation for the Rebels license going back to the ARU. The chest beating about the Rebels family is par for the course at this stage.

But he has succinctly pointed out the ARU have sold him an asset that is not financially viable and the seller knew before hand and did not tell him. The upfront threat of legal action means they now know they are getting sued one way or another, might as well get the license back in the negotiation as well.

 

[amirite]

Has anyone seen the latest press release from the rebels. They have basically said they can't be cut and have urged the aru to immediately tell their fans that they can't be cut and the force are gone.

Sent from my SM-G928I using Tapatalk

I don't really this it was a case of "cut the force" as much as it was "you can't cut us".

I read it as the first salvo in the negotiation for the Rebels license going back to the ARU. The chest beating about the Rebels family is par for the course at this stage.

But he has succinctly pointed out the ARU have sold him an asset that is not financially viable and the seller knew before hand and did not tell him. The upfront threat of legal action means they now know they are getting sued one way or another, might as well get the license back in the negotiation as well.

That's a lot of subtext, I didn't read it that way. I actually thought it was fairly positive for fans of the Rebels, if slightly threatening to the ARU.

I more read it as "You must keep us contractually and give us our fair share of TV rights money".

 

[Rugbynutter39]

Posted this in where to thread but probably better here

-------------------
Ok here is a thought - if Force get culled...

Improve Sunwolves by playing games they normally would play in Singapore in Perth and allow recruitment / allocation of say 4-6 WA players for Sunwolves squad.

Ok would be better if Force had a team in itself and own right but looking at some better plan B's for WA rugby. Surely with poor performance of Sunwolves options like this WA rugby could look at and be in discussions with Sunwolves on as plan B's.

 

[amirite]

Posted this in where to thread but probably better here

-------------------
Ok here is a thought - if Force get culled.

Improve Sunwolves by playing games they normally would play in Singapore in Perth and allow recruitment / allocation of say 4-6 WA players for Sunwolves squad.

Ok would be better if Force had a team in itself and own right but looking at some better plan B's for WA rugby. Surely with poor performance of Sunwolves options like this WA rugby could look at and be in discussions with Sunwolves on as plan B's.

I just think it's too complicated. The Sunwolves owe us nothing.

I think IF the Force fold the answer is for the rest of the league to make an effort to keep an eye on the Perth Spirit pathway and for everyone to make sure they reward good local players with contracts.

There's probably an opportunity for one team (either Rebels or Brumbies in this hypothetical) to establish themselves as the natural landing place for WA players, in the same way the Brumbies were for Victorians once upon a time.

 

[ChargerWA]

Posted this in where to thread but probably better here

-------------------
Ok here is a thought - if Force get culled.

Improve Sunwolves by playing games they normally would play in Singapore in Perth and allow recruitment / allocation of say 4-6 WA players for Sunwolves squad.

Ok would be better if Force had a team in itself and own right but looking at some better plan B's for WA rugby. Surely with poor performance of Sunwolves options like this WA rugby could look at and be in discussions with Sunwolves on as plan B's.

Not interested at all. I'll never support another countries team over other teams from my country.

 

[Leo86]

Not interested in Sunwolves games

 

[brokendown]

Not interested in Sunwolves games

ditto

 

[chiraag]

Ditto

 

[NTT]

If the Force goes i will not be supporting the Sunwolves or any other Australian franchise.

As for our pathways funneling WA talent into another franchises, i think you are dreaming. The funding to the Future Force is conditional on the Force surviving and Perth Spirit being an entity falling under the RugbyWA professional pathways arm will almost certainly close down aswell. Also, the structures and funding needed to maintain the Spirit will disappear with the Forces professional structures and funding. Also, why on earth would we bother supporting the ARU when they don't support us?