Friday rugby news has: The OwnTheForce campaign officially up and running, Skelton getting savaged across the ditch, The ARU getting savaged by Bob Dwyer, and a very familiar face returning for the Blues.
OwnTheForce shares officially available
After announcing their prospectus on the 29th March, the Western Force have officially made their shares available to the public for people to buy. After getting over 4600 pledges with their OwnTheForce campaign, fans can now officially buy shares in the club.
The official statement says: “We are delighted to announce that from today, the offer to buy shares in the Western Force Owners is live.
“Now is the time to act, the ongoing uncertainty surrounding the structure of the Super Rugby competition and the future of the Western Force is a cause for concern for all Western Australians. Your support of the Own the Force campaign demonstrated to Australian rugby that there are passionate rugby supporters in Western Australia and Rugby in Australia is far more than an East Coast sport.
“But we must act now to convert that passion to ownership to demonstrate the financial viability of rugby in our state.”
Judging by the events on their Facebook page, it’s looking like a decent number of supporters are putting their money where their mouth is. Head to owntheforce.com.au or westernforce.thereachagency.com for more information.
Skelton savaged!
Willie Skelton has been on the end of a vicious spray by the Kiwi media (or more specifically, NZ Herald columist, Chris Rattue) for his decision to sign a two year deal with English club Saracens.
In a ruthless article, Rattue labelled Skelton “another loser”, commenting that Australian Rugby was falling apart, and in typical fashion, compared Skelton’s actions to the patron saint of New Zealand, Richie McCaw, who turned down offers to play overseas in favour of playing for the All Blacks.
“Skelton is a lump and a chump. He has so much potential, not only for his own career, but to help re-shape the Wallabies who are always desperate for forward power. But he was 140g worth of uselessness a lot of the time.”
“When the going got tough Big Will got going, to English club Saracens as has been announced, putting him out of Wallaby calculations.”
“To steal the famous John F. Kennedy line, Skelton always looked like a bloke who asked what his team could do for him, rather than the other way around. Now we’ve got proof.”
Waratahs coach Daryl Gibson has admitted that while he is disappointed with Skelton’s departure, he hopes Skelton will go out with a bang this season and step up for the Waratahs.
Dwyer calls for ARU clean-up
Former Wallabies coach Bob Dwyer has demanded that Bill Pulver and the ARU board resign over their “total lack of leadership in the game.”
Citing both problems at the elite level and the declining numbers at grassroots, Dwyer criticised the policies of the ARU, and believed that the Australian rugby public agreed that they should go.
“The game is not only the Wallabies, the game is not only Super Rugby. The game is all those who play and support the game. After all, the people who play and support the game are the ones who fund the game.”
“If you go to all those people, you go to all those junior clubs, all the country clubs, all the district clubs in Sydney and Brisbane and Melbourne and ask them what they think about the leadership of the game, I guarantee you… you’ll get five per cent support for the leadership.”
Dwyer also criticised the ARU for their dismissal of a Roy Morgan poll indicating that there were only 55,000 registered rugby players in Australia.
However, he also believed that Australia can sustain five Super Rugby teams, believing that recent poor performances is due to the coaching. He argued that there should be more investment in coaching education, saying that in the past it “worked like a charm.”
Sonny Bill’s Back… Again.
After rupturing his Achilles at the Olympics, Sonny Bill Williams will make his long awaited Blues debut on Saturday night against the Highlanders.
The code-hopping kiwi has announced that he is feeling stronger, faster and smarter, but says that his own personal expectations are modest for his first game back in a while.
“I feel like I’ve gotten a little bit faster — I’ve just been diligent in my preparation, and I’ve been diligent every day, making sure I tick those boxes because there’s a lot of them to tick. It’s been a long journey, but I’m itching to get back out there now,” SBW told Fox Sports.
“I’m not going out there to set the world on fire, but I’m going out there to work hard and just be competitive.”
Well, judging by the fact he’s a dual international who has won has won two Rugby World Cups, a Super Rugby title with the Chiefs and NRL premierships with two different clubs, just being competitive sounds, dare we say it… a bit uneventful. Considering it’s a Kiwi derby, of course it will be completely, totally, utterly uneventful (!)
