ARU set to take over Western Force

[PerthGirl]

from GnG rugby

"while in Perth Bill Pulver will be discussing the future form the Western Force franchise will take. Apparently the franchise will stay in Perth, and there have been whispers of interest in a partial private ownership model, similar to the way New Zealand franchises are currently operated."

Does anybody have any idea when Pulver will be here for discussions. We should all turn up and get in his face!

[brokendown gunfighter]

seeing he is a wise man from the east,I should imagine he will arrive about Xmas

[AndyS]

On the silver lining side of things, if the ARU take over the club sides can all happily go back to how things were 12 years ago, with the undivided attention of RugbyWA, what funding the ARU sees fit to supply and no elite players to squabble over. Should suit most of them fine I would imagine.

[The InnFORCEr]

I understand that there is a past very loyal sponsor who has since sold the company that sponsors the Force and as part of that deal they had to remain a sponsor and to this day that company is still on every jumper. This individual has now just raised bucket loads of international money and is about to kick off a new venture.

So I think we are actually in a reasonable position when it comes to meeting with Pulver, were not exactly crying poor, this was all bought about by a consultants report that was undertaken to investigate all franchises, but probably bought about by the poor position of teams other than the Force. Basically the meeting was always going to happen, rich or poor.

On crowds, The Canes had just over 15,000 on Good Friday, their highest since 2008, and they won almost every game last year with a line up of ABs. We should be proud of 10,000 if we can continue it, and until we do forget about any further upgrades to nib.

Even if ARU do help us manage the franchise for a bit, it will only bring good as others have noted, they can see our deficiencies and work through them for the betterment of Australian Rugby all round, they aren't going come here a shut the shop up.

Time will tell and by then we should have beaten the Highlanders, they are our Kiwi bunnies after all

Long live the Western Force

[andrewg]

Home crowds for the Rebels so far in 2016 - 11,563 against the Highlanders and 10,114 against the Reds.
Wow - and this is for the next best thing!

The Force had 10,914 against the Brumbies.

I wonder which team will have the most supporters at the Crusaders game??

Talking is one thing but only bums on seats will let the ARU know that Perth wants to keep watching rugby at a high level.

[PerthGirl]

Agree Andrewg. If your'e a Force supporter and are not attending home games for no good reason then you are making the situation worse

[jono]

Agree Andrewg. If your'e a Force supporter and are not attending home games for no good reason then you are making the situation worse

I live in Brisbane.
My ticket never goes unused though

[James]

I live on Christmas Island. Not much chance to get to home games. It is hard enough getting a stream to watch the games. Have an out of towners membership though.

[PerthGirl]

I'm not pointing the finger at anyone guys!

[James]

I didn't take it like that .

[Moono74]

Have a read of this from the Australian (2 April) over your morning coffee: This is why you (the East) piss us off!
(abridged article by Wayne Smith)

And why is there such a rush to be rid of the Force? Has there ever been a major sporting franchise set up in Australia with so little support from the governing body? Until this year, the Force hadn’t received one cent of assistance money from the ARU.

When finally they did ask for help in January, the ARU didn’t just give them the money — the way it had the Waratahs and Reds when it bailed them out. No, the Force were made to sell them their intellectual property.

In reality, it’s a meaningless gesture. In which case, why do it, other than to placate the endless critics who believe that any money sent to Perth could have been better spent in the heartland? So the ARU went ahead and demanded something in return. In practical terms, this means the ARU have the right to change the Force’s jersey, if they feel so inclined.

The ARU also finds itself on the defensive for basically ensuring that the private entrepreneur who took the Rebels off their hands, Andrew Cox, doesn’t fall over financially by giving him $6.2 million over five years.

Assuming the venture works — and presumably the ARU and Cox both have done their sums — why wouldn’t the ARU pay that money over five years when the Rebels have been losing, on average, $3.5m a season? After the five years is up, the club gets no extra help, aside from what all the other franchises receive.

When the AFL decided to set up Greater Western Sydney or the Gold Coast Suns, when it established the Sydney Swans and the Brisbane Lions, it took the long-term view and realised it would be paying out a lot of money before those clubs started paying their own way.
Perhaps the ARU’s reach did exceed its grasp but the deed is done now. To undo it, to tear down the Force or the Rebels and rub out the national footprint, would be sheer vandalism.

Already the Rebels are coming good on the field and while the Force suffer late in their matches from their lack of depth, the fact is that until a draft or some other talent-equalisation measure is introduced, they are fighting an unfair battle against the Brumbies and Tahs, who receive millions more in support in terms of top-up dollars.

There is, as well, the fact that without Melbourne TV viewers, and to a lesser degree those in Perth, the three original Australian Super Rugby clubs wouldn’t be receiving anything like the level of funding they now enjoy.

[FingerTips]

And why is there such a rush to be rid of the Force? Has there ever been a major sporting franchise set up in Australia with so little support from the governing body? Until this year, the Force hadn’t received one cent of assistance money from the ARU.

In spite of the pronouncements by Pulver et al., this is not going to go away.

This weekend, three of Fairfax's rugby commentators (Burke, Cully and Zavis) in separate on-line articles have expressed the view that the Force is expendable and that the franchise should either be moved or shut down.

Is this push for the death of the Force Sydney centric? You bet, because that's where the ARU has its power base.

Is this push aided by GPS old-boy snobbery out of Sydney and to a lesser extent Brisbane (Shore, Kings, Riverview, Joeys, Scots, Knox, Newington, Sydney Boys, Nudgee, ...)? Almost certainly.

Is this push helped by the Force's continuing poor performance on the pitch? Yes. See the article quoting Sinderberry in today's West.

The situation is not unlike environmentalists battling a property developer over an environmentally important piece of land. The property developer will keep coming back each year lobbying the government and the authorities for permission to develop the land. The environmentalists have to fight each year to preserve the land. The developer only has to win the battle once because as soon as he wins, the dozers are in and the piece of land isn't environmentally important any more. Same with the Force. This battle may have to take place every year (perhaps a little easier for the next 5 years because of the new media deal with the ARU) and the anti-Force clique only have to win the battle once and that will be the end of international level rugby in Perth for the remaining lives of many of us.