Billionaire mining magnate Andrew Forrest has issued a blunt warning to the ARU: if you want to cut the Force, you are going to have to defeat me first.
The findings from last week’s arbitration hearing between RugbyWA and the ARU is set to be handed down within days.
If the Force win, they will survive the axe until at least 2020.
But if they lose, the ARU is set to cull them from the Super Rugby competition.
Under that scenario, the Force are almost certain to appeal to the Supreme Court if they win a right of appeal.
Forrest has pledged to do whatever it takes to save the Force, and he let the ARU know he means business.
“I want to be very clear to the ARU. You try to cut the Western Force, you have to go through me first, and then all of our players, and then our supporters, and then all of the parents of young players and, indeed, all proud Western Australians,” Forrest said.
“This is bigger than just a rugby game. I stand behind all of these amazing people who believe in a fair go and the right for Australians to support rugby union as a national sport, not just one reduced to the eastern seaboard.
“The Western Force has heart. It is punching way above its weight.
“It is producing a crop of Wallabies. It is growing its junior player base. It has the backing of its community.
“How on earth can the ARU even consider causing harm to such a team and indeed to this rugby community?”
Forrest is offering people interest-free loans to put money into the ‘Own the Force’ campaign.
Instead of people paying the money back to Forrest, they pay it back to RugbyWA – effectively giving the Force $2000 for every share sold.
The Force will use the money to buy back their licence from the ARU.
If the Force win the arbitration, the ARU faces a tough task to cut the Melbourne Rebels.
The Victorian Rugby Union confirmed last weekend it had taken control of the struggling Rebels.
Andrew Cox’s Imperium Sports Group sold the 11,625,000 shares for just $1.
The ARU were miffed the transfer went ahead without their knowledge, and they haven’t ruled out challenging the change of ownership.
Former Wallaby and Western Force lock John Welborn believes the change of ownership now gives the ARU legal scope to axe the Rebels.
“Cox’s decision to bail is confirmation to the ARU that the private ownership model has failed,” Welborn said.
“It is the closing chapter in a disastrous experiment that has resulted in more than $30 million poured into a private franchise that has come dead last on the field and is struggling for commercial traction.”
Hannes
Guest
Spot on! It is this we need to do something rather than nothing mentality that backfired with the fight against terrorism. The we need to cut a team, without thinking the implications through with the stakeholder that that got the ARU in this dilemma.
piru
Roar Rookie
The businesses in Melbourne are more than interested in the Rebels, They are not interested in Super Rugby. good thing the Rebs play AFL then
In brief
Guest
I'll leave you to ponder the current North Korean question..would you prefer a quick, wrong decision if the outcome is apocalyptic? Sounds extreme but to test the validity of any idea it's always good to take it to the 'nth' degree. In this case the no decision option makes a lot of sense.
Bakkies
Guest
Here is the latest Paarl Gym v Paarl Boys High match that is up on YouTube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qSoNr95Z0OI
Fionn
Guest
Up to your usual nonsense, DS. We're not discussing our 'opinions' or 'interpretation' of events, we're discussing sensitive and complex possible legal contractual obligations. You clearly don't understand how a contract forms as we would need to know the specifics about exactly what was decided, and what the agreement was (not just a general idea) in order to determine whether a contract has formed, and what the contract was exactly. If the ARU does have prior contractual agreements with all the SR teams not to cut them then that makes it even more complicated.
Slowly dying
Guest
Some points: # Melbourne is safe until 2020 # Why not merge Waratahs with the Brumbies then play a few home games in Canberra. The two towns are only 4 odd hours apart. # Reduce squad sizes to bring down the running costs, cut coaches(what exactly are they doing anyhow).
Darwin Stubbie
Guest
Interesting take ... do you hold yourself to those same standards when you pontificate on the Beale / ARU / MacKenzie saga
hog
Guest
Let me put it this way, Super rugby is more the reason why they are not interested in the Rebels. We are talking of a city of 5.5 Million people.
Riddler
Guest
Can one of u fellas with way too much free time and supposed inside info put in bullet points the options and the costs involved for the aru on all of the possibilities? Seems to be a lot of emotion merging/mixing into facts.. Many thanks.. Ps I have no skin in this debate other than for the greater good of the game in oz..
Hannes
Guest
It is an expression of likelihood. At his moment it is possible. However if the Force win the arbitration and find they cannot axe the Rebels it may become probable. Then IMO, it becomes a serious consideration.
Bakkies
Guest
Rubbish idea and the Brumbies have an agreement to play all home games at Bruce Stadium. If anything that would put the Brumbies in danger would be to inherit the Rebels and allocate costs to the overheads created by the Melbourne market.
Bakkies
Guest
'The businesses in Melbourne are more than interested in the Rebels, They are not interested in Super Rugby.' If they were interested in the Rebels they wouldn't have gone without a major sponsor after RaboDirect departed and stumped up more cash to ensure that the team was financially secure and less dependent on the ARU.
Bakkies
Guest
'I agree with you ScottD that no one is seriously considering to axe the Brumbies' Then why do people continuously entertain the thought?
Hannes
Guest
I would love to see the Rebels version. Can you please direct me to the link?
Hannes
Guest
Next year, this will surely make a great risk and decision analysis study. I think I will write a paper on it, thanks for the idea.
Hannes
Guest
I agree with you ScottD that no one is seriously considering to axe the Brumbies. I hope that the Rebels can come up with a funding model that will make far less dependent on the ARU and that no team will be sacked. There is a scenario, fairly unlikely at the moment, where due to commercial agreements that the ARU signed that they may not be able to axe either the Force nor the Rebels. In this scenario the ARU may be desperate enough to axe the Brumbies just to deliver to SANZAAR what the promised to do.
Hannes
Guest
A small free lesson in decision making under uncertainty for any ARU Executive of Board member that may read this: The latin roots for the word decision is dicidi which means literary "to cut off". As once you cut something off it is final, you cannot press undo or restart to try again. You cannot axe the Force and upset the WA rugby community and think they will welcome you back a couple of years later. Once you burned your bridges there is no going back. Napoleon said that nothing is more precious than to be able to decide. The ability to make good decisions set people and organisations apart. To make good decisions is a skill that can be learned. Not all decisions require careful consideration, but those that do should not be approach in the cavelier or undisciplined way. A good decision starts from understanding the context and framing the problem, the setting of clear value based decision criteria, the development of good alternatives, the use of factual information to ensure that you understand the underlying assumptions, risks and how you can control the risks and the development of a recommendation with a shared commitment to this action from all stakeholders. If you find no compelling alternatives, consider to reframe the problem. For example instead of asking how we can cut cost, ask how we can we fund the organisation in a different way. It is not rocket science... If you think any decision is better than no decision, good luck with your interesting life, especially the selection of your wifes/partners, careers and investments.
Fionn
Guest
Darwin Stubbie, I'm going to presume that you didn't study law and aren't particularly knowledgeable about the nuances of contracts and will just say that unless you know both the exact SANZAAR decision making process AND the internal conversations and possible contractual agreements made between the ARU and SANZAAR you really have no idea what you're talking about, none of us do.
Crazy Horse
Roar Pro
Better get him an Epipen then because the Force isn't going anywhere.
Crazy Horse
Roar Pro
The WA Government has spent about $150 million to establish the Force. Plus many millions over and above the cost of a pure AFL Stadium to make the new stadium opening in March configurable for Rugby.