Reading Wayne Smith’s article in today’s Australian – where his sources tell him that the Force being ditched from Super Rugby is a forgone conclusion – gave me a bad taste in my mouth.
This was the similar sort of bad taste in my mouth that I felt at the way Ewen McKenzie and Di Patston were treated a few years back. You cannot tell me that the leaking of this right at the time when the Western Force has been trying to raise funds through it’s ‘Own the Force’ share scheme was entirely coincidental.
It comes across as the sort of dirty, grubby trick that puts me off wanting to associate with rugby in this country.
Admittedly the ARU did refute it the first time Smith broke the news, but apart from that it has done nothing to assure Force or for that matter Rebels or Brumbies fans, that their team will not be dropped.
Bill Pulver’s response to very apt criticism by his predecessor John O’Neill, that the ARU should have fought harder in the interests of all Aussie teams to prevent the current Super Rugby schemozzle, was that “We don’t always make decisions exclusively for the good of Australian rugby. On occasion you make decisions for the good of all rugby.”
Pulver’s statement sums up the dismissive attitude to Force, Rebels and Brumbies players and fans, with the ARU offering no comfort whatsoever that it has their backs. In the case of the Force, the ARU’s attitude has taken the shine off a season where things are looking up on the field for that franchise and it has cast a shadow over the entire Aussie conference.
Moreover, had the ARU let it be known early that it was going to fight for all the Australian franchises, the sort of toxic leaking that Smith has published would get no traction.
What this all tells me is that for all the vacuous virtue signalling that it has engaged in since the 2014 fiasco – by appointing a former sex discrimination commissioner to the ARU Board – the ARU has learned nought about how to treat people when the going gets tough. The organisation has zero authenticity and that is not an organisation that I feel the need to financially contribute to, unless it pulls it’s socks up – and quick smart.
This year my planned rugby consumption was a Fox Sports subscription, a three-game Reds membership, the Brisbane Wallabies Tests and to try to get along to a game or two of Brisbane City in the NRC.
I have recently dropped Fox, the Super Rugby is such a shambles that I am not enjoying it, so I just follow the Reds games that I don’t attend at the pub, and plan to attend an extra game or two with what I save on pay TV.
Now, if an Aussie team is dropped I will not be attending the Wallabies Tests this year, instead I will spend the money I save on extra Reds and NRC games. I would sooner see my dollars going directly into Queensland rugby than into the ARU’s pockets.
I am sorry that this would mean that I wouldn’t be able to support the Wallabies in person, but those players are good enough not to suffer financially. Moreover, I am sure that they would understand the fans making a statement about the ARU throwing their mates and the supporters in one of our Super Rugby teams under a bus.
And I hope that other fans make the same statement, like they did at the Brisbane Bledisloe in 2014, when the debacle at that time cost the ARU 7,000 odd bums on seats compared to the same Test match two years earlier.
Frankly right now I wouldn’t care if the ARU went so broke that they had to beg an unheated demountable out the back of the Australian Institute of Sport in Canberra to hold Board Meetings, because to me it has all the hallmarks of an organisation which has forgotten who it works for.
Timbo (L)
Guest
All great points but SANZAAR's interests are all commercial. everything about future development and second tier nations is a loss leader.
Timbo (L)
Guest
The matured Australian cheese is sale and tasteless, it is time for a new recipe.
Timbo (L)
Guest
Fair point, but it was a Scarborough pigs home game also a nice spot. I hear the Cotts Burgers are just as good.
Rhys Bosley
Guest
"- hard decisions have to be made and its easy to whigne on a keyboard about it. Its much harder to come up with something that might actually make this situation work out for Aust rugby in the long run." There are plenty of people far more qualified than me who think that this situation has been handled appallingly. Two former Wallabies coaches have come out calling for the current board to resign and the former CEO, who left the code in rude health in 2004 only to have to come back and try to fix it when it was stuffed up in the interim, has been very critical of what the current board has done. The Board are paid to get the administration of rugby in this country right and in the view of a lot of people they have completely stuffed up, we have every right to be critical.
piru
Roar Rookie
Not to mention the view at Cottesloe - you don't get that on the telly
piru
Roar Rookie
That’s because they love the sport more than their moral outrage. What you easterners seem to have trouble with is that the Force being canned is tantamount to the sport being canned in WA. We are 3000 kms from the nearest 'other team'. It's not a matter of being angry and spiteful, it's simple geography.
John R
Roar Guru
And for those fees, they get free insurance in case of injury on the field. It also helps pay for the staff that work at the club. The ARU by it's definition is a not for profit organisation, so it's not like they're bumping up fees to increase their bottom line, and their return to shareholders. Every sport has fees, just a part of life.
LED
Guest
Really? "grubby trick", "Dismissive attitude...to players and fans". Oh come on! You make it like the ARU are deliberately trying to hurt rugby which is a stupid thing to allege. They only exist because of rugby. You dont perhaps think that they have more data than us, know that Australian rugby is heading for bankruptcy in 2019 without cutting costs now and that barring a future miracle, theres only 1 team in Australia that after 11 years has no hope of washing its face financially. I understand no one like seeing a team go but I'm sick and tired of these silly conspiracy stories. Aust rugby is in the toilet right now - hard decisions have to be made and its easy to whigne on a keyboard about it. Its much harder to come up with something that might actually make this situation work out for Aust rugby in the long run.
Rhys Bosley
Guest
Good for your Timbo. Yes I agree, the game at the highest levels has been taken over by suits who have no sense of how to manage a cultural institution of this nature, it is like they think they are selling cheese.
iSteve
Guest
Sanzaar need to be looking at initiating a separate Asian-Pasific conference composed of Pacific Island teams like Fiji, Samoa, Tonga, Argentinia and a Japanese team. This will mean 4 conferences of 5 teams. Each team can then play each team in their conference and 4 teams from the other conferences. This fills the current competition time frame of 16 games and two byes before a final series. Each team will miss playing one team from the other three conferences. This way only one team from the SA conference needs to be axed on a last in first out basis. Sanzar might not be able to make a lot of money off the Pacific Island teams through selling tv viewing rights because of the size of their viewing markets but this can be made up for through some high quality games with other super teams especially if these teams attract many of the current test players who play for these nations. This model imo would turbo charge the competition and attract more global attention and hence more money through tv rights. This move by Sanzar is a backward step for global growth of the game, especially for rugby in Australia, because the only way for rugby to compete with other codes in an overcrowded market place is to provide viewers with a point of difference that will entice and excite them to watch rugby either on tv or going to a union game over AFL or NRL. A confined 15 team competition looks too safe and boring.
iSteve
Guest
The ARU need to look further than just the financial position of each franchise. Strategically you need to maintain the national character of rugby union in Australia or rugby in this country will never aspire to much more than it is today and in fact will go backwards from here. Merging the Brumbies and Rebels, however unpalatable that maybe to many rugby supporters, especially given the Brumbies success, is the only option to take in order to stand any chance of competing with other sports for viewing attention and hence dollars. Disenfranchising WA by removing the Force will seriously annoy a lot more people than merging two teams. The principle of the greater good needs to be applied to achieve the correct decision.
Mark Richmond
Roar Guru
Good to hear from you Di. As a die hard rugby supporter, Brumbies member, I was disgusted with the way that this whole episode played out. Myself, a few posters on this forum, and all the female rugby supporters that I know were appalled at the way this played out for yourself and Ewen, and the way the ARU handled the situation. Very happy to see that you have moved beyond this, and are hopefully enjoying success and fulfilment in your life.
Timbo (L)
Guest
Unfortunately numerically, it would be the players and support staff that would feel the pinch 18 sides by 30+ players.
Hertryk
Guest
I support the Force.. I work 60+ hours a week 6 days.. I would love to support club rugby , but when would I find the time.. ?? I have given my hard earned funds to the Force, and Wallabies by purchasing gear, attending auctions, travelling to see games, not to mention FOX subscription..... Believe me this will STOP if the Force is axed after all the grass roots work the club has done and progress that has been made in cultivating the sport in Western Australia...
Hertryk
Guest
They were desperate for a fifth team because Melbourne lost out.. who would have thought Western Australia got the jersey over Melbourne...WOW !!! and we suffered the wrath of the Eastern State until Melbourne got in.... then we were lambasted for "stealing their players"....then those same teams came and helped themselves to the players we gave a go to and developed.. ...... Has WA been given a fair go??? I think not ....when ones sees what Melbourne was given to get started.... ARU you do not have Australian Rugby to heart... you did not fight hard enough for the country who pays your very considerable salaries..
Hertryk
Guest
Supporting the closest team..... now who would be closer to Western Australia....Ah! Yes !! The Rebels if my geography is correct.. won't happen...
Hertryk
Guest
Hear! Hear!
Hertryk
Guest
Now, if my Western Force team is dropped I will not be attending the Wallabies Tests this year, instead I will spend the money I save on NRC games.”... and send my Wallaby shirt cut up to the ARU in protest.. and spend none of my hard earned funds on Wallabies or any other Super Rugby team.. We worked so damned hard to get the Force in the West..I am so glad I don't have sons..
Hertryk
Guest
Maybe if they reduced their salaries .. the ARU... they would appear more credible.. They say no money, financial stress..cull a team.. save money.. but I hear nothing about them pulling in their belts..
Train Without A Station
Roar Guru
My senior fees are $350, so I think whoever told you that is way off the mark.