only a brick wall is often more logical and thoughtfulQuote:
Originally Posted by Sheikh
only a brick wall is often more logical and thoughtfulQuote:
Originally Posted by Sheikh
Defending his mates in the MRRU and the RA to the tilt.Quote:
Originally Posted by lou
Now there is some moron called Melburnian who claims to be a Force fan who switched to the Rebels when he moved over to bleak city (sanctimonious to treason) peddling the line that European unions should have a revenue sharing agreement over their gate. I said to him why would a union like the IRFU who make small profits hand over 30% of their gate to corrupt unions like SARU and the RA... He blurted out lines from the IRFU reports showing revenue and expenditure on pro Rugby without looking at what is spent on schools, women's, community Rugby etc. The IRFU would get little in return from a bent union that hasn't hosted them since 2010, plays tests at AAMI Park and voted for SA at the RWC bid vote.
Like most Rebels fans no business and relationship sense whatsoever.
Have we got an update on whether ASIC give two damns?
When Raelene took over it was being reported that an investigation was imminent- months and months later and not even a whisper
Listened to the ABC's interview with the incoming WA GG Kim Beasley this morning. They were speaking about how unfair the GST was and he said West Australian's don't like being taken for granted or advantage of. He went on to say apart from the GST, another case was how the Eastern States deal with Rugby in WA.
WOW, a new high profile supporter.....how do we tap into his new influence?
Whats his email addy? Might be worth sending a few emails his way about the injusticeQuote:
Originally Posted by UAUdiver1959
Beazley has been a long time Rugby man. Played at school and I believe that he played for UWA.Quote:
Originally Posted by SPaRTAN
He was on 60 Minutes many moons ago in a Randwick jersey.
Confirmed UWA man
http://www.uwarugby.com.au/index.php...ousplayers-a-g
Lets guess what position he played? Tighthead prop is my guess. Cannot picture him anywhere else.Quote:
Originally Posted by Bakkies
Nothing with being a tighthead prop. I was one. Most important position in the team!
Depending on where you are from first player picked.Quote:
Originally Posted by JSJ
With all the grubby revelations coming out of the Banking Royal Commission I fear ASIC may never get to the ARU now. This one will have much more public interest and political clout. Though looking at yesterday’s article on WA Today by Adele Ferguson I did have a chuckle - blatantly lying to a corporate regulator, poor culture, greed, a lack of respect for the law. The best one - “it’s about a bad culture and a breach of trust”. Sounds mightily familiar, and the Board sets the culture it is said.
Well the RA is run by w*nkers. Ohh I meant Bankers! But can ASIC just ignore foul play? ASIC are surely big enough to handle more than one case at a time, if not they are a bunch of amateurs.Quote:
Originally Posted by Markos2012
I still believe ASIC are coming.. coming to get you Clyne, coming to end you Clyne!!
ASIC tend to look at the low hanging fruit that can net them the most money.Quote:
Originally Posted by SPaRTAN
What will ASIC get out of this? If they were a white knight they'd be performing far better in other sectors they deal in. eg. whole financial industry sectors being ignored despite being dodgy as hell operators in practice.
Alan Jones is the first Sydney based journo to comment on Nick's findings.
Rugby Australia contributing to the game’s problems not solving them
ALAN JONES
The Australian12:00AM April 20, 2018
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As much as I’m sure Rugby Australia would like the Israel Folau matter to go away, it hasn’t.
Why on earth would you issue a press release earlier this week in relation to Folau to tell the world you weren’t going to do anything?
And the interesting point is that the press release was issued by the general manager of corporate affairs. The mind boggles. Rugby is broke, but there is *bureaucracy everywhere.
Meanwhile, Folau is the author of an outstanding piece of writing on free speech.
Not even the Prime Minster, as he struggles to know where he stands on these freedoms, is able to explain himself. Israel Folau on Players Voice is compellingly *articulate.
READ MORE
Super Rugby Rd 2 - Waratahs v StormersFolau muzzle on rugby sponsorsNICK TABAKOFF
It has nothing to do with whether you agree with him. But he made it quite clear, contrary to what Raelene Castle argued in her press conference, that “if she felt the situation had become untenable and that I (Israel Folau) was hurting Rugby Australia, its sponsors and the Australian rugby community to such a degree that things couldn’t be worked through, I’d walk away from my contract immediately’’.
No wonder Rugby Australia backed off at a hundred miles an hour.
But as I’ve said, instead of rugby leadership solving problems, they just mount up.
By taking on one of the leading players in an area in which sport should have no role, Rugby Australia has alienated many. As a senior former politician has written to me: “If Israel walks due to expressing his views, I, and many others, will be giving back our season tickets. I’ll be sending back six and I’ll never again support Australian rugby.
“I’ll support the All Blacks instead. That will kill me. But you don’t hear New Zealand Rugby carrying on like this. I have a gay son and I don’t agree with Israel’s views, but if he is restricted from stating his views, then I’m out of here.”
As I said last week, if it’s taken a courageous and talented young footballer to show the world the value of the freedoms that our men and women died for, and which we honour next Wednesday on Anzac Day, then Israel Folau will have served his country splendidly.
But it confirms the conclusions that others are drawing.
Another has written to me: “Just because Qantas is a major sponsor does not mean they own the minds and souls of the organisation or of everyone involved in rugby. Your reference to their partnership with Emirates is an excellent point. And I bet you won’t get a reply on that one.”
Truth is, you don’t get a reply on anything.
We’ve just had individuals nominated for the board of Rugby Australia. No one knows where those nominations have come from or how, indeed, good people can nominate. There is apparently a nominations committee, but it’s no more than a subcommittee of the board.
A former, very senior, rugby official is among hundreds who have written to me and says: “As for the state of rugby, it’s just abysmal ... as for the nominations committee, they seem notorious for fishing from the same gene pool — that’s a real obstacle for bringing in people with the required and appropriate skillset to govern and manage this magnificent game.
“A closed shop, I’m sad to say.”
Well, on that score, given that one of the candidates being replaced on the board was the outstanding WA Rugby servant Geoff Stooke, WA put a candidate forward for consideration. A woman generally regarded as one of the top company directors in Australia, sitting on boards such as Wesfarmers, previously a partner with McKinsey and Co, adjunct professor in corporate governance at the University of Western Australia, a board member of Henry Davis York, with a master’s degree in business administration from the University of Sydney, extensive roles in corporate governance and providing strategic advice to corporations in both Australia and overseas: Diane Smith-Gander.
She’s had significant experience in sports administration and was involved in WA Rugby through their Future Force program. Two new directors were chosen by Rugby Australia, who at no time acknowledged the nomination of Smith-Gander, *either with Rugby WA or with the lady herself.
She was never spoken to during the so-called “process” undertaken by Rugby Australia’s nominations committee.
But, if you’re on the board of Basketball Australia, chair of the National Basketball League Commission and Competitions Commission and integral to the restructure of the National Basketball League and Basketball Australia, then I suppose you wouldn’t be worth an interview.
The truth is you don’t get a reply on anything from Rugby Australia.
I was invited last year to coach the Barbarians against the Wallabies. At no stage did I hear anything from any Australian rugby official, even though Australia was hosting one of the most prestigious sides in the world. The Barbarians are an internationally acclaimed rugby entity. There was no offer of any kind of hospitality and no communication of any kind with me, with the players or with their officials.
It’s as if they want to build a wall around themselves and imagine all the problems will go away.
But no problem is solved by doing nothing and Rugby Australia, as an administration, is in a state of rigor mortis.
The Western Force were closed down last year, even though financial offers were made to keep them viable. The argument was break up the franchise, let other Super Rugby entities embrace the Western Force players and the standard of Australian rugby will miraculously improve.
Yet we still continue to get hammered by the New Zealand provinces. Nothing has changed. The crowd at the Melbourne Rebels game last week was reported to be 5500. It’s called going broke very quickly. But the Western Force saga remains.
An article written by Nick Taylor and published in Perth last Sunday raises serious concerns about the integrity of the Rugby Australia board. To keep things in language that the rugby punter understands, as part of the sale negotiation of the Melbourne franchise, the ARU board was advised by its management that a sale condition was that any subsequent change of ownership required ARU approval, which would mean approval by the board.
The merit of that was that you could not condone the franchise being on-sold to inappropriate organisations or individuals. The next we knew, the team was sold to the Victorian Rugby Union for a dollar. The argument volunteered was the board of the then-ARU had found “a loophole”, so it could be done. The majority of ARU board members were silent on such a shonky deal. WA Rugby questioned the integrity of the process to remove its team.
You see, one of the conditions of the sale to the VRU was that the Rebels had to be clear of any debt and a minimum six months’ notice had to be given for the transfer of ownership. Well, Taylor wrote that he’d received copies of emails which indicate that in relation to the six-month period of notice, the ARU had reduced the period to enable the transaction to go forward quickly; then, to enable the Rebels to be “debt free”, a condition of the sale, the then-Australian Rugby Union agreed to pay the former Rebels owner, New Zealand businessman Andrew Cox, $300,000 and the then-director, Peter Sidwell, $200,000 and that money was then paid to the Rebels.
Two other directors reportedly gifted the Rebels $250,000 each. These amounts cleared the Rebels of their debt, which allowed the sale of the Rebels to the Victorian Rugby Union for $1 under the conditions attached to the sale of the licence. Put simply, the ARU was complicit in facilitating a situation in which the Rebels were sold to the VRU. It had nothing to do with a “loophole”. The conditions attached to the sale of the licence had been met.
Yet the $500,000 spent on the Rebels is not evident in the ARU’s 2017 financial results and indicates that the Western Force were never in the race.
Add the $500,000 to the $10.2 million the Rebels received in 2017 and compare that with the $5.5m to the other Super Rugby franchises together — NSW, Queensland and the ACT — and it beggars belief. What further beggars belief is that the ARU, now Rugby Australia, seem to think they can get away with this duplicitous behaviour.
At the time, my understanding is that Bill Pulver, then the chief executive, feigned surprise at the transaction, when the reality is the ARU were up to their necks in removing the Western Force and dishing out money to enable the Rebels to be sold and stay alive.
On all of these fronts, aren’t we entitled to ask what kind of outfit is running the game? The whole board should go and a fresh start has to be made before the game is permanently damaged.
That is, if it hasn’t already *arrived at that destination.
Wow they really really suck!! Sounds like we had a perfect candidate for the board but hang on she's from WA no chance.. 😡
Hope Geoff Parkes and his anti-Jones followers on Roar read that well written Jones article, after Parkes wrote "Time to muzzle the parrot article" on Roar a few days ago.