The silence surrounding RugbyWA's demise

There is a lot of logic and truth in what TWAS says. However, the real question to be answered is whether it is in the interests of NSW and Queensland to shrink the game to their zones. Perhaps the answer is to merge NSW with Queensland and abandon the Vics and ACT. Camo Clyne can do the press release and conference, he already has the right polo shirt for it. NSW with Queensland can then enter into an "Alliance Agreement" with the "WhoRU" to keep it all sweet. There is a spare one in the West that can be sent over if needed. Then the new team plays a home and away series for the first part of the year with a single team on the field at each game. The RAU's dirty tricks dept can conjure up spreadsheets to show that at least half of the games were won by NSW and the other by Queensland. Then come the international part of the season, the team gets re-branded the "Wallabies" (RAU is good at re-branding) and with the might developed through the concentration of our players and the absence of any selection issues, we go out and smash the rest of the world. Methinks classic George Orwell's "1984" at work .

Yet the ARU incompetence and lies in relation to the Force debacle knows no end. This received the usual lack of coverage at the roar. Rugby Australia was brokering a deal to save the Melbourne Rebels two months before the decision to axe the Force was announced. While Pulver denied "any involvement of the transfer of the Rebels license" and state that "he was taken by surprise when it happened" an email that was leaked to Seven West Media sent from Pulver to Cox listed the terms to allow the "put option" to transfer the license from Cox to the VRY for $1 to happen. This include that foundation Rebels directors Lyndsey Cattermole and Bob Dalziel repay creditors to ensure the club is "debt-free". Pulver stated at the senate enquiry that "in fact, at the 12th hour minor shareholders within the Melbourne Rebels came forward to prop up the enterprise, which removed it from the prospect of insolvency". Clyne told "I have said there was a very real option that both teams were being considered right through until August" This confirm the senate committee's understanding that "...the ARU.....were involved in negotiations which cleared Melbourne Revels debt thereby allowing the put option to the Victorian Rigby Union to be exercised. These events took place in June 2017 and effectively made it impossible to end their license". The argument that there was only one team that could be legally cut is clearly wrong, the fact is that the ARU only WANTED to cut one team and just manipulated the process to engineer their desired outcome. There was nothing the Force could have done to prevent this from happening as merits did not matter. Here is the link to yesterday's article: https://www.perthnow.com.au/sport/rugby-union/rugby-australia-email-leak-calls-western-force-decision-into-question-ng-b88671547z

The simple and overwhelming solution to this sorry story is that the RAU needs to be overhauled from the top down. CAMERON CLYNE has had his day and IT IS TIME FOR HIM TO GO. CLYNE must be replaced by a rugby orientated chair and the CEO must also be a rugby orientated individual. We need people who understand the ethos of rugby. Bankers, lawyers, accountants, financial advisers etc can all be hired and fired. The selection must be very carefully carried out as just having been a past player and now being successful in business is clearly not enough - Pulver and Clyne met those criteria but failed dismally. Above all we need people who will act with total integrity and whose mission is to grow not contract our game. The mere fact that the current hierarchy can't occupy the same space as their counterparts in the West reaffirms that that they are part of the problem and not the solution.

Rugby Australia was brokering a deal to save the Melbourne Rebels two months before the decision to axe Western Force from Super Rugby was announced. A confidential email from chief executive Bill Pulver shows he was discussing the deal to transfer the Rebels licence from businessman Andrew Cox to the Victorian Rugby Union in June this year.

Seeing as no one is talking about this either https://thewest.com.au/sport/western-force/rugby-australia-email-leak-calls-western-force-decision-into-question-ng-b88671827z

This article makes a mockery of EARU submissions before the recent Senate Inquiry and supports the statements by Western Force officials. The next steps in the investigation into this matter are going to be worth watching. Rugby Union in Australia will be better for these dirty deals being exposed. Rugby Australia email leak calls Western Force decision into question Nick Taylor, PerthNow November 26, 2017 RUGBY Australia was brokering a deal to save the Melbourne Rebels two months before the decision to axe Western Force from Super Rugby was announced. A confidential email from chief executive Bill Pulver shows he was discussing the deal to transfer the Rebels licence from businessman Andrew Cox to the Victorian Rugby Union in June this year. Pulver denied any involvement in the subsequent transfer of the Rebels licence. “I was not involved in any way with the transfer of licence back to VRU. I was taken by surprise when it happened. I am not sure what email you are referring to,” he said. The email, leaked to Seven West Media, was sent from Pulver to Cox and other RA management. Among key terms was that (foundation Rebels directors) Lyndsey Cattermole and Bob Dalziel would repay creditors to ensure the club was “debt-free”. That allowed the “put option”, used to transfer the licence from Cox’s Imperium Group to the VRU on August 4 when they bought 11,625,000 shares for $1. RA claimed it was blindsided when news of the sale leaked and said it had to approve any transfer or sale of ownership. Pulver stated in the June 28 email that another term of the deal was that: “Imperium exercises the put option to the VRU such that the VRU becomes the sole shareholder of the Rebels.” He told the senate inquiry into the future of rugby in September: “In fact, at the 12th hour minor shareholders within the Melbourne Rebels came forward with incremental capital to prop up the enterprise, which removed it from the prospect of insolvency. “Those two (Force and Rebels) were both live right up until the final decision.” Western Force members and supporters were devastated by the decision. Western Force members and supporters were devastated by the decision.Picture: Nic Ellis RA chairman Cameron Clyne told the inquiry last month: “I have said there was a very real option that both teams were being considered right through until August.” The email relates to a finding from the inquiry: “Confidential evidence shows the ARU were directly involved in the execution of the transfer of the Melbourne Rebels’ licence from Imperium to VRU. “The committee understands these negotiations were well under way by June 2017.” The committee also said it had: “. been made aware that the ARU suggested Imperium exercise a put option and were involved in negotiations which cleared Melbourne Rebels debt thereby allowing the put option to the Victorian Rugby Union to be exercised. “These events took place in June 2017 and effectively made it impossible to end their licence.”

Most participated football code in australia at the time.

We. Australian Rugby.

Train Without A Track! What the f..k do you mean WE. You are full of sh.te. You are not a Western Force fan so you can't talk "we". Also i cannot find the figures you have produced for Kiwis & South Africans living in WA or Vic. Please can you enlighten me on where you pulled those from.

If the RA hadn't wasted 10s of millions on the Rabble, lawyers, payouts, global head hunting searches that start and finish in the Sydney Uni and Shore car parks Australian Rugby wouldn't be in this position.

TWAS not according to Peter Leahy who was still on the VRU board when he made his testimony.

Come on everybody,listen to the TWAS propaganda machine for the ARU. TWAS is the master of misleading & deceptive statements.

False equivalency. Germany may have been physically rebuilt in many ways, but it’s economy remained driven by a number of large organisations which continued through the war years such as Deutsche Bank. They continued to employ people which kept the economy going. If the ARU goes broke, every dollar coming in stops. It’s all through contracts with the ARU and ARU run events. As soon as everybody getting paid stops getting paid, the machine stops. All the players leave. All the DOs get new jobs. There’s no Aussie rugby on TV. No organised competitions. No referees. Australian Rugby will never recover from that. And if you think that if it somehow does, that it will be formed better than before. You are delusional. The strength remains in the same regions who’ll exercise the same power and self interest and write off the disaster due to the ills of getting away from the heartland. The strength of power will remain Brisbane and Sydney centric. Change isn’t automatically for the better and generally will be based on the whims of those with the power.

You think this was planned as far back as 2015 and 2014 when contracts were signed?

Absolutely Sheek. The RA have 145 full time staff members which don't include contractors, coaches, players, etc. That's insane and what do they do? According to Georgina Robinson the next RA CEO is not from Mosman, nothing is said about that person being a Shore Old Boy and/or a member of the Friends of Sydney University Football Club. If that occurs the RA would have wasted money on using a global head hunting firm and there are other roles still be fulfilled. CFO, COO and a replacement board member for Geoff Stooke.

Don't you mean the AFL Commission which eventually took in WA and SA sides which effectively meant that their leagues became tier two competitions? Then you had the VFA in Victoria where the likes of Pt Melbourne, Sandringham, Williamstown, etc played.

How about the Football Australia one?

Regardless of what occurred the Rebels were always going to have a big roster change for 2018 as a huge chunk of their roster came off contract, Yes. Interesting timing isn't it?

But both of those only achieved that through immense intervention by the biggest economic power in the world at the time. So if the ARU went bust would it get that sort of assistance from England and France, or would they just pick over the bones? Because if it is the latter, we would get the East German post-war experience rather that the West German one...

The four figure average attendance You keep saying this, but our average was 10k something