Where to for Super Rugby?

[Killer]

gotta love your commitment

Still no change.
Here is Jodi Hodgsons view of todays EGM from Facebook.

Clyne it's another day & you are regurgitating the same excrement as you have for months. So there was a vote today & the majority have supported the idea of cutting a team. Not surprising given the make up of the ARU is heavily in favour of the teams not in the firing line. But the problem remains that even with this support you are still neglecting the facts of the situation. The ARU signed an agreement that keeps the Western Force in the Super Rugby competition until 2020. You have a privately owned Melbourne Rebels that you don't have the power to oust. So you stupidly short listed two teams you couldn't forcefully remove & told the world it would take less than 72 hours to determine which would go. 72 long days later you still haven't got any closer to completing the task. But please continue to shift blame onto the teams for stalling the process by simply defending their legal rights. Sir this cluster is squarely due to your ineptitude not anything else. So if it is still agreed that the ARU should remove a team, which team will you choose? The Waratahs, Reds or Brumbies? You have the power to remove any of these 3, not the other two. So if you are so desperate to remove a team & they have supported you to do it, get it done. It will certainly improve each of the other teams to have this injection of Wallabies across the other teams. But I can't see that flying can you? Instead we are 72 painful & stressful days into a mess of your own creation. 72 days where over a hundred families have been unable to plan for 2018. 72 days where recruitment of the Force & Rebels has been critically compromised to a point of extinction for the 2018 season. 72 days since the fans & sponsors have been able to simply enjoy supporting their team. With budgets getting done now how do the sponsors dedicate funds to the Force or Rebels at the moment? How do players take the gamble to sign on with these teams when they might not exist? Or is this all part of the plan to ultimately reduce down to 3 teams from the beloved home lands of rugby in Australia? I wouldn't put it past you. You think you are going to save $6 million dollars a year by cutting a team. Sirs you have lost this ten fold in sponsorship, memberships, playing stocks, good will & grassroots support. All this drama is incredibly premature & shortsighted given that in 2020 the new broadcast deal needs to be renegotiated so the structure of the competition will likely drastically change then anyway. Why go through the pain & related costs twice? What is there really to gain? Where is the strategic planning? Where is the critical thought behind this mess? I can't see it either. Tomorrow will be 73 damning days since this kicked off Clyne & Pulver. What exactly have you achieved to date?

 

[Quick Hands]

Wayne Smith's take on it:

The emergency general meeting of the Australian Rugby Union failed to divert it from its course of culling one of Australia’s five Super Rugby teams.
The meeting, which came about when the Victorian Rugby Union and the Rugby Union Players Association combined forces to force the ARU to explain its position, was not expected to produce any fireworks, with the NSW and Queensland Rugby Union declaring right from the start their support of the ARU’s policy of reducing its Super Rugby component to just four teams.
Curiously, even though the Rebels are one of the two teams on the chopping block – along with the Western Force – the Melbourne franchise also are understood to have backed the ARU policy to defeat the two resolutions attacking the reduction.
The third resolution, to set up an advisory Super Rugby Commission to advise the ARU, wasn’t decided upon, although a motion was passed to facilitate a wider discussion about it.
As expected, there was no move against ARU chief executive Bill Pulver. The meeting’s support of the ARU stand vindicated him to a degree, although it will only be a relatively brief stay of execution.
His contract is due to expire in February, and clearly the ARU intends to leave him in place until either he has culled a team or been defeated by the legal and/or arbitration process that the Force, in particular, are banking on to save them.
Once this interminable saga, which has now gone on for more than 70 days since the ARU first announced a decision would be made within 48-72 hours, comes to an end it is almost certain the ARU will move Pulver on.
Either way, he is in a no-win position – either he is the man who cut an Australian Super Rugby team or he is the man who promised to do so but couldn’t.

 

[Quick Hands]

Bill, where are you?

 

[Quick Hands]

 

[James Pettifer]

Still no change.
Here is Jodi Hodgsons view of todays EGM from Facebook.

Just hitting a like button doesn't signify how much I agree with her statement and the passionate way she puts forward her argument.

Thank you for sharing that.

 

[The_Brown_Hornet]

Well said Jodi. Like James, I couldn't like that post more.

 

[half]

^^^^^
+99999999999999 to the power of 9999999999999

 

[oztimmay]

Lifted from the latest Wayne Smith piece.

The Rebels are becoming increasingly confident that they will escape the axe.

The only way that they believe the ARU could close them down is by buying back the licence from the Imperium Group and then shutting the franchise down, something which owner Andrew Cox insists he will not be a party to. Indeed, Cox was overseas yesterday and did not attend the meeting.

Confidence, with a Capital Q. Then again, Coxy is no longer the CEO, so I'd imagine Baden would attend, together with Tim North from the VRU.

As for the Force, chief executive Mark Sinderberry claimed afterwards that nothing has changed as a result of the meeting.

“We’re still continuing with our legal challenge and we’re still very confident in our position.”
While RugbyWA was able to cast a vote yesterday, the Force were not given one on the ground that the ARU bought back its licence in March last year. Some participants in the meeting were also concerned that voting was done not on a show of hands but in secret and the votes were not revealed. This is, however, standard procedure at the ARU.
The ARU broadly discussed the unbudgeted $28 million which, it says, it was forced to spend on Super Rugby over the last four years to prop up the clubs. But no detailed questions were asked of ARU officials.

Nor was the claim made by defenders of the Force, who insist it was mainly invested in the Melbourne Rebels, even debated.

Hopefully clears up the confusion about who got to vote, and who voted for what. Hint - it was a secret ballot.

Looks like the mystery of the $28 million spent on Super Rugby discussed was not discussed, nor was it likely tabled for discussion.

Link: http://www.theaustralian.com.au/spo...t/news-story/2c665d1ae3a569b36bc7195f41beac65

 

[andrewM]

The fact that people are referring to Alison's research in the mainstream media is a great effort. I wonder which of them will continue what she has started?

 

[liquor box]

Lifted from the latest Wayne Smith piece.


Confidence, with a Capital Q. Then again, Coxy is no longer the CEW, so I'd imagine Baden would attend, together with Tim North from the VRU.




Hopefully clears up the confusion about who got to vote, and who voted for what. Hint - it was a secret ballot.

Looks like the mystery of the $28 million spent on Super Rugby discussed was not discussed, nor was it likely tabled for discussion.

Link: http://www.theaustralian.com.au/spo...t/news-story/2c665d1ae3a569b36bc7195f41beac65

I would have been surprised if it was a show of hands.

In a situation where you are supposedly determining decisions for the good of the game and not to keep your mates happy then it would make sense for the vote to be secret. This way decisions should be on fact and not feelings.

 

[BLR]

I would have been surprised if it was a show of hands.

In a situation where you are supposedly determining decisions for the good of the game and not to keep your mates happy then it would make sense for the vote to be secret. This way decisions should be on fact and not feelings.

When has this process been based on facts?

 

[chiraag]

I think using the word process is pretty generous also

 

[half]

HHHHmmmm EEEErrrrr AAAARrrr OK how to explain . The twist in this post is at the end.

When soccer went belly up, they had some things we don't, Their players were spread in reasonable numbers across all states. Soccer had a massive player base.

Soccer had SBS talking to the ethnic community.

Soccer planned their bankruptcy. believe it or not they did. Those that wanted change appointed a new head of the old Soccer Australia in Nick Greiner [former NSW premier] and he appointed a charted accountant to be the CEO.

They actually cancelled a couple of Socceroo Australian matches which bled their finances.

Johnny Warren was on commercial radio and commercial TV a lot and expressing soccer values. Johnny Warren and Frank Lowy were very close friends and Warren asked Lowy to take over.

Lowy said not in its current position I need it shut down so I can start again.

So Greiner sent Soccer Australia broke and into Bankruptcy, Lowy took over and got a loan from Howard, and SBS praised Howard as did Johnny Warren across the commercial networks.


The twisty bits :-

We don't have an SBS nor do we have a Johnny Warren, nor arguably a Frank Lowy [with massive government influence].

Meaning if the ARU go belly up, over this or IMO when all 6 SA sides move to Europe, I don't see a Federal government helping hand and I don't see our media developing the ground work for this to occur.


Not only don't we have a plan "B" to replace Super Rugby we appear to not have a management plan in place if we loose Super Rugby revenue.

rant over ...

 

[wamberal]

Errrrr. I think this point has been made a few times. We are staring at the abyss.


To say that we "arguably" do not have a Frank Lowy is kind of ingenuous.


We definitely do not have a Frank Lowy. How much did Lowy pour into soccer? Thirty million?

 

[Inside Shoulder]

How much did Lowy pour into soccer? Thirty million?

No i think thats what you and me poured into hosting their world cup

 

[half]

Wam

You asked how much did Lowy put in you suggested 30 million.

The amount was ZERO in dollars. Lowy guaranteed a loan from the Federal government of 13 million dollars.

Lowy said Football cannot survive if it needs my money. What our code [soccer he was talking about] was new systems, controls etc.

The rules the refs etc . No Lowy said the NSL systems where shit, so was the concept of so many ethnic based teams. He called the competition and its management out for being inept, inward looking, with too many old boy networks. He arranged for it to be bankrupted then kicked all the boot lickers out, kicked out all the hangers on, kicked out all but if we just do this..

He appointed a former Union CEO then poached AFL's number 2, and then offered just released Gallop from League a job. He essentially appointed top sporting professionals to run his business.

FFA have made the teams below the A-League not confident in their code but outwardly pro-active today where the soccer community is demanding FFA involve the entire community and it looks like all happening within four to five months.

If rugby is the game they play in heaven, then Jesus wept when he read this and said why did those rugby folk not do the same. Papworth is but he is actually coping it in the neck because he is doing it..

As I said Jesus wept when he read this and said if this was Gordon, Eastwood, Randwick, Newcastle etc.

The outgoing Association of Australian Football Clubs (AFFC ) chairman Tom Kalas says the organisation’s first general meeting in July is an historic moment for Australian football.

The 110 NPL club members that make up the AAFC will hold their inaugural Annual General Meeting next month where members are expected to ratify the organisation’s new Constitution.


“They play a crucial role within the football framework developed by FFA and implemented by the state federations. The AAFC is charged with representing them in their dealings with the governing bodies.


“We are of the view that a second division is essential for the future, long-term development of the game, as well as for Australia to meet FIFA and AFC requirements.

 

[Strewthcobber]

The Lowy family owns 10% of Westfield so you could prorata out the sponsorship dollars the company has invested if you wanted to.

Of course, the real value Lowy brought went beyond dollars. It was his time and reputation as well as his independence, willingness and ability to cut through the vested intrests.



Sent from my D5833 using Tapatalk

 

[half]

The Lowy family owns 10% of Westfield so you could prorata out the sponsorship dollars the company has invested if you wanted to.

Of course, the real value Lowy brought went beyond dollars. It was his time and reputation as well as his independence, willingness and ability to cut through the vested intrests.



Sent from my D5833 using Tapatalk

Nail Head, Bingo, Spot On.

Lowy essentially kicked out the vested interested and they are still screaming, he totally changed many of their structures, systems at all levels. New ways to select players for national teams.

He was a dictator if ever there was one, he totally smashed the old guard and all their interest groups.

His changed the media in how his new football against old soccer was presented.

Their is no doubt his influence at government and at international level i.e. getting Australian into the Asian Football Confederation, lost for words but big, huge, massive, mega don't even come close.

My point to Wam is the only real difference between soccer of the NSL times and today is the management structure that Frank lowy has set up. Meaning good management and strong and visionary leadership do make a big difference.

 

[Rugbynutter39]

I feel slightly depressed...why because I get the need to cut a Super Rugby team as supporting a flawed model which can't sustain (Read: Super Rugby)....financially for rugby in this country where given so down on crowds etc - finances whilst already stretched would now be diabolical.....

And why depressed....as believe it will be Force cut by default where WA offers biggest growth potential market wise (with fantastic results at grass roots level etc achieved) and fact I have ZERO confidence ARU has PLAN B for WA rugby in view of what I see as inevitable decision will be to cut the Force (due to Melbourne's owner, Cox, not willing to sell his licence). Note, not saying Rebels should be cut but just commenting on where at that leads to such an unfavourable long term outcome (re: short term finances which have to be acknowledged is important).

If WA rugby declines from here...I will never forgive the ARU and this is from a Tahs supporter, but rusted on rugby supporter first and foremost.

 

[RedsHappy]

Lifted from the latest Wayne Smith piece.


Confidence, with a Capital Q. Then again, Coxy is no longer the CEO, so I'd imagine Baden would attend, together with Tim North from the VRU.




Hopefully clears up the confusion about who got to vote, and who voted for what. Hint - it was a secret ballot.

Looks like the mystery of the $28 million spent on Super Rugby discussed was not discussed, nor was it likely tabled for discussion.

Link: http://www.theaustralian.com.au/spo...t/news-story/2c665d1ae3a569b36bc7195f41beac65

"No detailed questions were asked of ARU officials (by delegates to the EGM)".

What a spineless bunch of supine fucking gutless jelly babies that lot of our supposed elite State RU representatives are.

As if the highly relevant, screaming-out-for-answers questions that needed urgent addressing to the ARU were not blindingly obvious.

Clyne so pompously proud that the meeting was 'very civil and respectful'.

The local sitting members of the Lawn Bowls Advisory Committee would probably be more forthright in addressing their Board than our State RU representatives as they tip toe deferentially and meekly around Clyne and Pulver.