Force set to be axed

[.X.]

This isn't just a horrible situation for rugby in general but the longer they drag it out the worse it gets.
My partner currently is a force player and for many of the force families, the wait is killing us. There are only a handful of players who have got a job for next year but the rest of us are here twiddling our thumbs as to if the force is staying put and if the force will resign any of its players or take up options overseas. It's livelihoods on the line at the moment and it's honestly the most stressful situation many of us have been in.

For what its worth - even if they made an announcement this afternoon. There will be court cases to make the final decision and that will take all sorts of time. This is probably no comfort to you South or other players. But it wont be sometime to the FINAL decision be made.

[PerthGirl]

If the SARU are not going to discuss the Super Rugby teams at their meeting then the ARU needs to show some leadership and come out and say they will support 5 teams. Time for another round of emails to the ARU!

[PerthGirl]

This isn't just a horrible situation for rugby in general but the longer they drag it out the worse it gets.
My partner currently is a force player and for many of the force families, the wait is killing us. There are only a handful of players who have got a job for next year but the rest of us are here twiddling our thumbs as to if the force is staying put and if the force will resign any of its players or take up options overseas. It's livelihoods on the line at the moment and it's honestly the most stressful situation many of us have been in.

It is disgusting the way the ARU are treating the Force players and families. The ARU are killing rugby not only over here in the West but all over Australia. We will do everything we can to retain the Force in WA

[FingerTips]

This isn't just a horrible situation for rugby in general but the longer they drag it out the worse it gets.
My partner currently is a force player and for many of the force families, the wait is killing us. There are only a handful of players who have got a job for next year but the rest of us are here twiddling our thumbs as to if the force is staying put and if the force will resign any of its players or take up options overseas. It's livelihoods on the line at the moment and it's honestly the most stressful situation many of us have been in.

This impasse has become so cruel for the affected players and their families that it has gone beyond being an act of intolerable incompetence by the ARU.

A simple message for the board and management of the ARU:
You have sat too long here for any good you have been doing. In the name of God, resign!

[terrycobner]

Sounds crazy but i wish we could unilaterally leave the ARU. They dont give a flying **** about Perth.
If the worst happens i like that idea of buying out the rebels and bringing the franchise here.obviously it will then be the force

[AndyS]

Hi South,

Different industry and all, but been in your situation a few times over the years. I'd give you the same advice that was given to me by the old heads...at the end of the day, you have to do what is best for you and yours. And if anyone asks why you've done it, you are allowed to tell them.

[RugbyReg]

The ARU shareholders will be the states - Why would NSW and QLD want a change?

it may surprise you all that things are travelling overly well for us over here either. I mean no way do I think we are anywhere near as bad as you, but rugby is up the creek nationally. Crowds are down, sponsors are down, ratings are terrible.

If they QRU and NSWRU don't want change at the ARU then they are writing their own death notice.

[Leo86]

OK lets get the bad news out of the way first.

Jamie Pandaram of the Daily Telegraph has written another article about the demise of the Western Force

here

I have an idea about how we all respond, and if we can all get on the same page. It could become effective.

I believe that its time that we stopped with the negativity and brought on a purely positive social media campaign.

Lets have fun with this.

No more blaming the ARU, SANZAAR, the East Coast Media, Papworth or anyone else.

Lets highlight how much fun the Sea of Blue has on game day.

Lets show how great Club Rugby is in West Australia.

Lets show kids having fun in Junior Rugby in WA.

I am talking about pictures of smiling faces

#LoveOurRugby
#RugbyisFamily
#SeaofBlueforLife

Its my hope that if we can get together on this - maybe we can remind the rest of Australia why we love our great game of Rugby Union in the first place.

Sure its a long shot. But we gotta try something.

And if - at the end of the day -if they choose to make a real stupid decision, we will know that we gave it a red hot go.

My name is Simon, and I love Rugby.
I also love my TWF family...............

Ive been thinking along the lines of Exile's idea above

With being a 33.33% stake holder of SANZAAR, i believe we should retain 5 aussie teams (All stake holders at least have equal franchises or min 5 each, fair)

So to get all supporters/players and so forth across the nation involved we need something equal...

Our National teams (Most will follow Wallabies but lets get others on board)

Unfortunately it isnt until round 10 when all Aussie teams play in the one round

But my idea is we get it around that during round 10 (if it isnt too late) we all wear our national colours to still support our teams but to protest the ARU dropping an Aussie franchise.

and once again tweet it #strongerasfive or whatever (I dont have twitter or facebook or whatever else there is)

This is just an idea that sprung to mind so if anyone has anything to contribute by all means help.

Im just a blue collar member of the "SEA OF BLUE" so technical side of things i could use anyones help

Could you imagine Yellow crowds with all blacks and sprinbok jerseys sprinkled about in support (maybe even other countries)

Or we start now and tape 5 to our shirts/jersys and get the other teams on board too

[beige]

I've finally got around to voicing my displeasure to the ARU - after reading that South Africa isn't even discussing the future of their franchises this Thursday I just don't see any end to this.

[MI5_Dog]

it may surprise you all that things are travelling overly well for us over here either. I mean no way do I think we are anywhere near as bad as you, but rugby is up the creek nationally. Crowds are down, sponsors are down, ratings are terrible.

If they QRU and NSWRU don't want change at the ARU then they are writing their own death notice.

No offence Reg but when the ARU start talking about dropping the Reds to support the other 4 franchises then we can talk about how difficult things are on the east coast or nationwide.

[Jules]

And according to Kick and Chase the brumbies interested in our coach!! Hello ARU this whole situation is beyond a joke now.. 😳

[DazloT]

This isn't just a horrible situation for rugby in general but the longer they drag it out the worse it gets.
My partner currently is a force player and for many of the force families, the wait is killing us. There are only a handful of players who have got a job for next year but the rest of us are here twiddling our thumbs as to if the force is staying put and if the force will resign any of its players or take up options overseas. It's livelihoods on the line at the moment and it's honestly the most stressful situation many of us have been in.

Thank you for joining us here on TWF and letting us know how the families are feeling, it brings the club and us fans closer and certainly adds fuel to the fire in the fight for our club.

Please let your partner know and the other players and staff that there are a lot of West Australians (and other Aussies), rugby and non-rugby, who find the management of this whole debacle as unbelievable incompetent from the ARU and SAANZAR, and are fully behind the Force.

Having been through this sort of thing quite a few times in the last few years, although never so publicly, I can understand your feelings and sympathise completely. As someone else has posted you can only look after yourselves. If players have to make the decision to leave because of the uncertainty I really hope they can publicly state their reason, to really show Australia how poorly the ARU have managed this and how that affects Oz Rugby.

Unfortunately it has taken so long to get even an indication of what decision may be made that I believe if it takes much longer and players start signing elsewhere, even if the ARU showed some balls and stood up for five teams, it would be death by a thousand cuts for the Force as what was an extremely promising team that is building something special is left with huge holes and we go backwards and have to start again next year.

[AndyS]

Sounds crazy but i wish we could unilaterally leave the ARU. They dont give a flying **** about Perth...

I was wondering about that. One thing that has been proven is that WA is capable of producing players, and has an existing development system. But take the Force away and that becomes problematic. Nothing seems to have been done about professionalising the NRC, so I'm not sure the money would be there for that to pick up the load. If the NRL has plans to try again, even if it is not immediate, the smart move would be to step in an take over the development pathway. But again, the question would be whether they are making plans just yet.

So if the Force is yanked, I would be curious to know where that would leave RWA. Would it go back to just getting a bit of ARU charity and, if so, how much? If, say, an overseas team came along and offered to support the whole competition and various programs as a player development program, would it be considered and how much would it take for it to be worth deregistering and going alone? Would patriotism kick in and make it unthinkable, or would the ARU neglect since forever and some real funding make it something that would be considered?

In some respects, I can't understand why one of those clubs or even competitions haven't done it somewhere already. They pay exorbitant amounts for established players, but could well have a production line of players for a fraction of the cost. Not to mention that it could become quite an attractive option for players from all over the region if it was seen as a quick path to an overseas contract. Not sure what it might mean for the ARU though - would they still be classified as a national sport and eligible for any of the benefits that go with that...?

[RugbyReg]

No offence Reg but when the ARU start talking about dropping the Reds to support the other 4 franchises then we can talk about how difficult things are on the east coast or nationwide.

a point I acknowledged in my original post.

Sometimes it comes in handy to look at the bigger picture in a situation.

[valzc]

Thanks Snob.

I hope nobody mind I went to GAGR for that, I wanted to get other Rugby Fans onside. I spoke with Travelling_Gerry, we felt that GAGR or ROAR was the best market for that article. The original article was twice as long. But some good editing made it readable. Lots of retweets on Twitter about it - Dave Wessels loved it, Sharpie, Scott Stanerforth.

I can only hope the strength of social media is putting pressure on the ARU, I can't believe how this group is showing such NON COMMUNICATION with the 'people' - yes ARU , It's real people you've been f**n around for god knows how long now! We need a Debbie storm of social media, Twitter, Facebook, sports websites, media (God forbid) emails....... to get SOMEONE IN THE ARU to pull their finger OUT and stand up to SANZAR!