Australian rugby union chairman Cameron Clyne has declined to express an opinion on billionaire Andrew Forrest’s touted plan for a rebel competition.
But a “frustrated” Clyne questioned why RugbyWA didn’t ask Forrest for help earlier, saying there may have been a “far different outcome” to the Western Force being axed.
The Perth-based Force appear finished after the NSW Supreme Court on Tuesday rejected a Rugby WA appeal aimed at preventing the ARU from culling them from the Super Rugby competition.
A defiant Forrest was again scathing in condemnation of the ARU an hour later and declared he would start a new “Indo-Pacific” competition including the Force, promising more details in coming days.
Clyne didn’t want to discuss the rebel competition or what if might mean for Force players’ contracts, which have been guaranteed by the ARU, if they stuck solid instead of transferring to other Australian Super Rugby clubs.
“I don’t have any view as to what happens if there is some sort of (rebel) competition,” said Clyne.
He looked forward to a Super Rugby team reduced from 18 teams to 15 next season, with four Australian teams instead of five positioning the country to improve its dismal on-field results in a competition format that would be more appealing to most fans.
Last month Forrest came forward with a reported offer of $50 million to save the Force after the ARU announced it had chosen to cull them and not the Melbourne Rebels.
I just don’t understand why RugbyWA didn’t contact Andrew Forrest in April,” Clyne said.
“One of the frustrating things here is there’s been a lot of opportunities for RugbyWA.
“Obviously we stepped in there and bailed them out 18 months, two years ago because no one else came forward.”
Clyne said the ARU asked RugbyWA for its best and final offer on August 2 before deciding whether to cut the Force or Rebels and RugbyWA didn’t come back with anything substantive.
“At that point in time, it was an inferior package to what Victoria put through and we had to make a decision, so we made that decision (to cut the Force),” he said.
Clyne said while he was very sympathetic to the rugby community in Western Australia, and particularly the Force players, the ARU had been vindicated twice by the courts.
Battling tears before reporters, Western Force veteran Matt Hodgson lashed the ARU for not contacting the players during the contracted process and offered to host Clyne and ARU CEO Bill Pulver for dinner on Friday, on the eve of the Test between the Wallabies in Springboks in Perth.
Clyne said contact with players had been restricted because of the legal proceedings but he would be happy to meet with Hodgson soon.
“We absolutely respect the contribution Matt has made to Australian rugby, and the Western Force in particular,” he said..
“We’d be more than happy to sit down and take him through some of the underlying rationale behind the decision”.
Train Without A Station
Roar Guru
Yeah Piru is right. Crowd numbers don't prove anything except a case to cut all 5 teams.
Train Without A Station
Roar Guru
Not to the NRL and AFL...
Train Without A Station
Roar Guru
Yes anybody who doesn't agree with your claims you cannot at all support must work for an opposing organisation.
Train Without A Station
Roar Guru
Yes. Anybody who doesn't agree with your unsupported slander must be a shill.
Train Without A Station
Roar Guru
Because you say so?
Bakkies
Guest
Super Rugby not similar enough for you?
Bakkies
Guest
I am not your champ and I don't have to prove anything to a Rebels employee.
Bakkies
Guest
Not another Rebels/ARU shill
Bakkies
Guest
Exactly and de Clyne bangs about a Heads of Agreement which isn't a binding contract.
Bakkies
Guest
Nonsense TWAS. They made public a load of bs.
Bakkies
Guest
Shares in the VRU which is a not for profit organisation?
Train Without A Station
Guest
I don't know how it has anything to do with the ARU defining what extent Twiggy was willing to go to in order to save the Force. What Twiggy was willing to invest had nothing to do with the ARU. If he said he would offer the savings as a lump sum payment to the ARU, and underwrite the Force I'm sure that would have been a start though.
Train Without A Station
Guest
So where is the Leagues club or who is the owner to cover that for a Perth team? The NRL teams lost money. It's irrelevant if external sources propped them up or not. The Rugby League business was not profitable enough to run at a profit despite the NRL paying all player salaries.
Train Without A Station
Guest
SA is a completely different market without any similar domestic competition.
Train Without A Station
Guest
Yes it did, But not until a year after approaching the ARU. I'm sure they investigated all options before originally going to the ARU.
Clyde
Guest
Maybe on 100 years from now.
piru
Roar Rookie
I don't have time to check throroughly, but a quick look shows it's more like a 50% drop on average The Force are still lower, but as I've said I don't know how many times, it's silly to compare crowd numbers when they are all bad.
cuw
Guest
was written 80 years ago by DALE CARNEGIE. this book recently discussed as a starting point for President Trump :) Dale Carnegie also wrote " How to Stop Worrying and Start Living "
Bamboo
Guest
Thats incorrect, not 77%. Compared with 2013, across Australia SR teams in both TV viewing and game attendances, for every three people in 2013 there are now two in 2017. If we are taking Ex Force Fans number as correct it simply means the Force is worse than everyone else.
cuw
Guest
maybe the debt was restructured / converted into shares? becoz at the end of the day the balance sheet has to balance somehow. but it will be interesting to see what exactly happened in the transaction from a financial / ownership dealing point of view.