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Thread: Arbitration hearing - Western Force v ARU - 31.07.2017

  1. #511
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    I suspect the Rebels, Brumbies, Reds, Warratahs would have been told by the ARU not to say anything.
    By the ARU saying there was a "financial" reason to remove the Force's licence I thought the ARU were referring to their crazy old argument that they would get sued by heaps if they removed the Rebels, but sued by less if they removed the Force's licence. Not sure it has anything to do with the actual financial performance of the Force, just a spin on words for the media by the ARU to try to imply the Force isn't performing financially.

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  2. #512
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    I think ARU may have been surprised they won Arbitration. But won on the technicality that its a different TV deal.

    But now.....a court case will involve due process, discovery of when deals were done and decisions made and that may prove too embarassing to the ARU. I reckon they will rush to settle out of court soon as they are handed the papers.

    I think if the Rebels were dropped then most in Australia could understand it. The axing of the Force is just sheer bloody mindedness.

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  3. #513
    Veteran valzc's Avatar
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    I sure bloody hopes-the sooner the better. But then seeing those fckers squirm in court would be very satisfying.

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  4. #514
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    Quote Originally Posted by travelling_gerry View Post
    I think ARU may have been surprised they won Arbitration. But won on the technicality that its a different TV deal.

    But now.....a court case will involve due process, discovery of when deals were done and decisions made and that may prove too embarassing to the ARU. I reckon they will rush to settle out of court soon as they are handed the papers.

    I think if the Rebels were dropped then most in Australia could understand it. The axing of the Force is just sheer bloody mindedness.
    I sure hope you are correct and it is that simple!!
    Is it worth bombarding the ERU board members----i just wrote a letter to john eales director ERU but had no email address
    So had to just post it on the germicidal ( ha! that's what spellcheck just did!)ERU website - wish it was germicidal.
    Does anyone know their email addresses -
    - can we put pressure on that way -
    - surely they are not all clones

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    Last edited by wallabydarnd; 13-08-17 at 21:42.

  5. #515
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    I do hope the court case brings things out into the open. I can see why the arbitration was a good idea, to force the ARU to act in good faith by doing things like honouring contracts. But the time is right for court, I just hope it can all happen quickly enough to keep everything together. Hopefully this will also help the ARU realise the financial impact of closing down the Force as well, better just to keep everyone!

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  6. #516
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    While an out of court settlement and return to super rugby would be nice, the vindictive part f me really really wants to see each of the ARU board members and executive management squirming on the stand as they're forced to bare their secrets.

    I'm sadistic that way

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    C'mon the

  7. #517
    Legend Contributor Alison's Avatar
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    So am I GIGS - the more visceral the better for these artful dodgers!

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    Proudly Western Australian; Proudly supporting Western Australian rugby

  8. #518
    Veteran BLR's Avatar
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    Just a thought, Barcelona FC in my opinion got so powerful through sheer hatred of Real Madrid, who supposedly, even today, get funneled publicly funded government money as well as the willpower of the fans.

    I would love if this saga has the similar affect on a re-instated Force side. That a fire within the fan base, organisation etc. is lit that will form a foundation of defiance and success against the wankers over east. If we can use this to the good the West v Rest mentality could put us in good stead, we have been too naive for too long.

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    Last edited by BLR; 13-08-17 at 21:55.

  9. #519
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    Wayne Smith in the Australian tonight - making a start into the detective work ....
    How on Earth did the Western Force get themselves into this *ungodly mess?

    It started not when the money ran out, but before that, in 2013, when they lost their Emirates naming rights sponsorship, worth about $1 million a year.

    Force chief executive Mark Sinderberry spoke glowingly at the time of how front-of-jersey sponsorship was now available, but presently the oil and gas boom that had driven Perth real estate prices almost up to the level of Sydney began to recede. The Force began selling off their jersey piecemeal to sponsors, while all the while the money the club had stored away a decade ago began to be eroded. And finally, it was gone.

    Then, last year, the club made what at the time was considered a smart decision, but one it quickly came to regret — it went to the Australian Rugby Union for a loan. It was, after all, a time-honoured practice, one that the NSW Waratahs and the Queensland Reds and, heaven knows, the Melbourne Rebels had followed over the years.

    In record time, a week, the ARU came back to them.

    “Yes, of course we can help. But let’s do it a little differently this time.

    “Instead of us just giving you the money and you paying it back, we want to make you the poster child of our centralisation campaign.

    “We want to move your accounting and ticketing and websites and things like that to Sydney, which should lead to a huge saving for Australian rugby.

    “Wattya reckon?”

    Now the Force, who admit they may have oversold their problem to get some ARU aid — especially the fact that they would be insolvent if they didn’t get it — thought about it and decided to go along with the idea. For the first time ever in their decade of existence, they’d actually be getting some help from head office.

    Initially, it worked out well. Where once they used to read about it in the newspapers that Israel Folau had gone to the Tahs or Karmichael Hunt had been directed to the Reds — knowing they never stood a chance of getting them — now head office was working for them.

    Local West Australian Curtis Rona was sent their way, so to Chance Peni. Billy Meakes was a godsend. And the ARU helped to select Dave Wessels as coach, which initially looked like it was doing it on the cheap, but which proved to be a masterstroke.

    But that’s the way it always is when you do a deal with the devil. You think you’re dancing with Liz Hurley. Then the horns appear.

    The phrase “good faith” appears some 50 times through the agreement they signed with the ARU in June last year, but it seems to have been in short supply in the spirit of the deal. Slowly rumours began to emerge that the national body was quietly working on plans to drop one of Australia’s five Super Rugby teams. Indeed, the very strong suspicion is being formed — sadly, retrospectively — that the very reason the ARU replied to the Force so quickly with the offer to buy them out was the opportunity it provided to be free to axe them in future. Gradually the moves to cull a team began to crystallise.

    The broadcasters were sounded out. Initially they were not happy about paying the same money for less content but gradually they came around to the idea a 15-team competition restored sanity to Super Rugby.

    A non-binding straw vote of the ARU directors was held on the possibility. The initial feeling in Australia was that if any teams were to be cut, it should be on a “last in, first out” basis, which would involve the Southern Kings, the Sunwolves and the Jaguares. That didn’t hold up under pressure.

    Word came through that South Africa was prepared to cut two of its teams. Later that would be looked at suspiciously, after the Kings and Cheetahs touched down for a soft landing in the Pro12 in Europe.

    ARU deputy director Brett Robinson and chief executive Bill Pulver, armed with instructions allowing them to be nimble in negotiations, were sent off to the SANZAAR meeting in London in March. There the South African offer was confirmed. It was also felt that Japan and Argentina, though presently a drain, could become valuable over time. New Zealand was hardly going to lose a team. That left Australia.

    Events moved quickly from there. An ARU board meeting was held. The Force, Melbourne Rebels and Brumbies were nominated as fall guys but the Brumbies were never seriously considered. Nor was the logical suggestion of them merging with the Rebels.

    It was always the Force the ARU wanted to axe. The rest, one always felt, were just back-ups, camouflage.

    On April 22, 12 days after ARU chairman Cameron Clyne delivered his infamous 48-72 hours ultimatum and just as they were celebrating victory over the Kings, Western Force officials learned ARU chief operations officer Rob Clarke and the then chief financial officer Todd Day were flying to Perth to deliver the death blow at 8.30 the next morning. The Force immediately rescheduled the meeting until 4pm, basically to stuff up their travel plans, but also to buy time.

    It wasn’t their fault they had to deliver the message but it went down like the proverbial lead-lined inflatable.

    “See you in court,” were the parting words.

    Since then, every ARU gesture and nuance have been replayed, all of them further convincing Force personnel that they were set up.

    The ARU gave no heed to Andrew “Twiggy” Forrest’s 11th-hour entry, effectively dismissing it as last-minute grandstanding, even when he offered, as recently as last week, to ensure the Force remained debt-free up to the end of the broadcast deal.

    The ARU, too, was dismissive of the “Own the Force” campaign, though clearly potential investors were waiting until they saw some clear air before adding to the $2.5m raised. No explanation was given as to why two *offers by the Force to buy back their licence from the ARU were rejected.

    Nor was any explanation provided as to why the Rebels — who seemingly have solved their own financial woes, though they are yet to release any details — were let off the hook despite being a $17.5m burden on the ARU since 2011.

    Since 2005, the Force have cost the national body just $5.5m.

    Why was the ARU not held to account for its own blunders? Why did it not factor in the extra $4m it would cost for travel and accommodation to go to Japan and *Argentina?

    Why was it not slated for losing the $1m NRC sponsorship because it did not honour a promise to introduce a similar scheme for women?

    Why is the ARU so utterly determined to rid Super Rugby of the Force, while it is about to move into its new $20m headquarters at Moore Park?

    Why? It did it because it could, because it was the simplest option.

    Where is the carefully thought-out strategy in that?

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  10. #520
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    Hope Wayne Smith keeps digging out the dirt and muck on this most shitty saga in Australian sport. I hope this is the crack in the dam and the ARU are about to be engulfed in a tsunami of litigation. Enough with being nice....lets be right!

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  11. #521
    Player lou's Avatar
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    Paul McLean < pmclean@savills.com.au;
    Cameron Clyne < clyne99@gmail.com;
    John Eales < John@eales.com.au;
    Ann.Sherry@carnivalaustralia.com;
    Brett Robinson < Brett.Robinson@boqspecialist.com.au;
    pipi@live.com.au;
    Elizabeth Broderick < liz@elizabethbroderick.com.au
    these email addresses should work

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  12. #522
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    Wayne smells a story and I hope he turns the pressure up. This is one I've been asking and I'm glad to see he is too:
    "Why was the ARU not held to account for its own blunders? Why did it not factor in the extra $4m it would cost for travel and accommodation to go to Japan and Argentina?"

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  13. #523
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    I would like to see the ARU (and SANZAAR, for that matter) taken to account over bringing the game in this country from where it was at the turn of the millennium to where it is now.

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    Japan and the Pacific Islands for Aussie Super 9's!

    Let's have one of these in WA! Click this link: Saitama Super Arena - New Perth Stadium?

  14. #524
    Veteran valzc's Avatar
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    I was hoping that if we can get to the Supreme Court it would at least be happening here in WA, the track record for Eastern States nonprejudice has proven to be nonexistent.

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  15. #525
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    Quote Originally Posted by lou View Post
    Paul McLean < pmclean@savills.com.au;
    Cameron Clyne < clyne99@gmail.com;
    John Eales < John@eales.com.au;
    Ann.Sherry@carnivalaustralia.com;
    Brett Robinson < Brett.Robinson@boqspecialist.com.au;
    pipi@live.com.au;
    Elizabeth Broderick < liz@elizabethbroderick.com.au
    these email addresses should work
    Twitter accounts for some of the Directors:

    Pip Marlow @pipms
    Ann Sherry @pacificann123
    Elizabeth Broderick @LizBroderick

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