Covered in the finest horse manure you could find.
Covered in the finest horse manure you could find.
Clynes sinking ship has sailed, theres absolutely no way we are getting on board now, he has more than just fucked it up, Clyne, the useless board (notably Sherry, Eales and Robinson), Clynes crew of useless journalists who sit on their payroll spewing bile out day after day whilst the titanic sinks to the bottom. All this can now happen in the background whilst we start up World Series Rugby.
I noticed that Beige has mentioned on SOB that World Rugby meet on 14 November in Dublin, not much longer to wait now folks :approve:
Sell out merchant? Who the CIA? That's been known for years.
Hawaii in frame for World Series Rugby spot
Western Force are set to face a Hawaii-based team in next year’s $1 million World Series Rugby competition.
It is understood the side will be bankrolled by a consortium led by Hawaiian businessman and politician Richard Fale and players will be recruited from the Pacific Islands.
Fale was a prospective buyer for the New Zealand Warriors earlier this year. He missed out on the NRL club but has a goal of taking professional rugby to the US’s 50th State.
He also expressed interest in Super Rugby but it is understood he is now committed to a franchise in the new competition after discussions with WSR management.
Fale, a Republican member of the Hawaiian House of Representatives, was born in Utah but grew up in Tonga, and believes Hawaii, with a population of 1.4 million, has a big enough market to support a professional rugby side.
He he told Stuff.co.nz earlier this year that while he was keen to set up a professional side, there were challenges in dealing with Super Rugby.
“You can’t ask guys to put in $50 million to launch the team and then they can yank the licence from you like they did to the Western Force,” he said.
Then that would be $50 million down the drain. So those are some challenges where we have to gain clarity.
“The Melbourne Rebels are a privately owned team and even they were in danger of being yanked.”
Fale said travel and time differences would not be an issue in the competition that is expected to include eight teams from countries including Japan, Fiji, Hong Kong and Singapore, with expansion in 2020 and beyond.
The tournament, bankrolled by Perth mining magnate Andrew Forrest, is the next stage on from the seven invitational games played by the Force at nib Stadium this year.
Fale’s experience of NFL glitz and glamour would be an ideal fit with the style of match-day experience Forrest wants to bring to rugby.
International governing body World Rugby’s executive committee has recommended approval of WSR to its full council for rubber-stamping, subject to regulatory and governance criteria, when it meets next month.
WR has identified American as a growth market and the US has been on the SANZAAR Super Rugby radar. The professional Major League Rugby kicked off this year with seven teams and will expand to nine, including a side from Canada, next season.
WSR representatives are in Monaco at a major international sporting marketing and media convention where WR and Rugby Australia are also participants.
https://thewest.com.au/sport/rugby-u...ng-b881002126z
I don't think Hawaii would work it is a 14 hour flight from Perth at least. Did you see Twiggy's comments in Alan Jones' latest article? He didn't hold back in regards to Andrew Hore.
The Rebels were never truly in the frame for being yanked.
Not while Tim North, Rob Clarke, Gary Gray, Bill Pulver, Cameron Clyne and Ross Xenos still have breath in their bodies will the Rebels ever be yanked. And the ARU has now staked the house and all its contents on them being Super Rugby champions, so that pretty much seals the deal.
Anything can work if it's done right.
I didn't think a series of exhibition matches with a scratch team put together in February, playing against another bunch of scratch teams from Fiji, Tonga and Samoa, plus a Japanese company team and a Hong Kong non-test side, would get such rugby union bumper crowds - in AFL-centric town no less.
But I was wrong.
Again, anything can work if it's done right.
Hawaii's involvement may only be an initial move until they can qualify for an expanded USA Major League Rugby competition.
IF Hawaii becomes part of the action I can't see them playing many games at home for exactly the reason you raise. (They're a long way out of our time zone - but so's Fiji)
If we consider the likely sources of their players, perhaps they'll switch their home games to places such as Tonga, Samoa or even New Zealand and elsewhere in the Indo-Pacific region to help promote Rugby.
(I say IF as Nick doesn't appear to have got much right lately. WSR/Minderoo appear to be keeping their cards very close until they have something to say)
(I say IF as Nick doesn't appear to have got much right lately. WSR/Minderoo appear to be keeping their cards very close until they have something to say)
I know Nick and I don't think he has got anything wrong lately.He wouldn't have written about Hawaii unless he had been given the nod by someone close. I will be seeing him this afternoon to watch the Wallabies get walloped and I will ask him for anything more he can tell me. Don't forget he is the only journo who exposed how Rats Arse set up the Force.
ditto Chibi. I wasn't convinced at the start of the year that WSR was going to work, but it has turned out a hell of a lot better than I thought