Ex-Wallaby Welborn disgusted by ARU board

except that they have to live in Canberra

So the better solution is just to go broke?

Sorry to hear that ACT is not valued, however when you watch your games next year remember we have nothing to go to, we cannot quickly get in a car and a few hours later watch a game in Sydney and when we pay GST on our purchases we know that we will get just a little more than 30c back while you will get more than what you pay. You have the best education at school level, Australia best University etc so from the other side of the country you look well looked after.

This is a typical approach of those in power on the East Coast approach. The West Coast is expendable.

What are the ARU thinking? Don't they understand the importance of commitment and trust? No one will trust them ever again and no one will ever believe their commitments.

Train Without A Station, The only logical path for people to take now is the understanding that the ARU's promises are worthless. They mean nothing. Rugby in Australia will never be sustainable outside Queensland and NSW. And the ARU's expansion efforts in Asia will eventually come to nought. This is logic.

The irony is that your stupidity is so dense with self righteousness and brilliantly supported by nothing better to do than be the world's most conflict hungry individual that you always win an argument by sheer pigheadedness and blind faith to your own soapbox rambling.

You seem to be the only person who sits on here 24/7 blindly crafting ARU-loving jibberish. Your incessant obnoxiousness is boring and clearly not worth Shrek's time. Go home Mrs Pulver.

Peter, Reported by Jamie Pandaram tonight. Sorry I can't copy the link from twitter. Will be in the Terrorgraph tomorrow though "ARU chairman Cameron Clyne told Andrew Forrest it would take $80 million to secure the Western Force’s future at the infamous meeting in Adelaide on August 22. The insane figure was thrown up because SANZAAR had already agreed to a 15-team tournament and to keep the Force, they’d have to go to a 16-team format and repay all franchises money that would be taken off the table for losing one home game a year each. Forrest responded by saying he would invest between “$10 million to $50 million” to the Australia Rugby Foundation into professional, women’s and indigenous rugby. Clyne wanted 80 million from Forrest. It was a verbal offer. The ARU requested specifics of the offer in writing by the Force after the meeting that Forrest had pledged to do whatever it takes to save them and that “you should not be doubting his word or his intent”." Clyne named the price. Twiggy made an offer that did not address any of what the price was based on.

The most logical decision they could have made is disband Team ARU. The team that has done the most to destroy the Australian rugby brand and that has the least support.

Sheek Spot On!

.......this country is Sydney and Melbourne centric to be sure. Of course we in Canberra are at the bottom of the pecking order, so even Perth is considered far more commercially viable than Canberra. It is quite an unexpected win for Canberra to have survived this cull, while it is important that the Perth supporters hold onto their bitterness and feelings of being so hard done by, because you know what, this is how it feels for those of us who struggle for equity here in the nations capital, where it is a daily battle to justify our existence and indeed worthiness for all and sundry. This is in fact how it has been for the Brumby faithful since the clubs inception, while many of the detractors have come out of the West............

........those sort of rumours have been swirling around in respect of the Brumbies, since their inception. Its only a matter of time truth be told and this is why I do not support sport at this cultural tier. Its really no different to what takes place out there in the corporate world of take overs et el, in short, it is soul less.........

Vic is certainly 'bigger' than WA, so good decision to cut the Force, using your simplistic criteria to success. The Brumbies are an institution in terms of Australian Rugby, a marketing brand recognised around the rugby world which is just one of the reasons why the ARU chose not to compromise them in this respect. Fact is the Force are a television concoction and as such they are owned by Fox or someone similar are they not? The ARU never wanted to go to Perth truth be told but they did not dictate the terms of what is essentially top down growth for a tele market of consumers, rather than for the long term good of the code and its true believers. To WARU's credit, the code has grown significantly in WA, and it could be argued that this would never have transpired had they not been exposed to the entertainment X factor i.e. is Super duper ra ra. Rugby in this nation will always be between and rock and a hard place because it is at the mercy of top down plastic growth, which is ONLY an illusion and as such, destined for a fickle existence. The code requires a robust and dynamic NPC if it is ever to compete with codes i.e. Australian Footy, League or Soccer. It also needs more than ever, national solidarity if it is to move forward however this is unlikely to be forthcoming in respect of what has long been a parochially reactive WA culture...........

...........so who would you merge the Force with then?

......I wonder, had the ACT Brumbies been the scapegoat, that such melodrama would have unfolded? No Twiggies to draw upon in our neck of the woods or that parochial chestnut card of secession that WA are always champing at the bit to play. Suffice to say the rest of the nation probably would have celebrated, given its predisposition for irrational contempt of its capital...........

TWAS is using a straw man argument EXAMPLE - "So their first choice was to give up their licence and ultimately control to the ARU for help?" = No... it wasn't what was said or claimed yet it is what you peddle.... There is another word for this type of approach TWAS and it is called a TR#LL It's not emotional.... its fact...

What that I said is not a fact?

With those rumours swirling around about the Force in March 2016 I would have thought that Rugby WA would have been extra careful with the due diligence with the so called alliance agreement if they're giving up their rights to stay in the competition. Even if ARU didn't exercise this clause that obviously the work experience legal eagle missed the ARU could have just wound it up anyway after 2020. Is anyone at Rugby WA going to take some responsibility for helping to create this mess? Maybe they should stick to running the weekend sausage sizzle at Bunnings.

Nice one Ian. Joining the likes of Bakkies, Piru, Crazy Crazy Horse and Wacko Jacko with bullying tactics against anybody who does not agree with your emotive (yet completely lacking in financial awareness) view. If you guys want to abuse people then go find somewhere else to do it and do it now In the meantime, the roar can continue for those who actually believe in free and fair speech. Shameful