How Twiggy will run his rebel rugby comp

[Bakkies]

Is Chiselhead still around? I haven't seen him online since he butted heads with Brian Moore.

[bootsetal06]

I have first hand experience of Korea . Rugby is played in schools but the majority comes in the military where they use it as a toughening up path . Sport is BIG and the money is there by the bagful . All the traditional sports have a large foreign component mostly from the US . Soccer Baseball Basketball Volleyball are the main stadium sports ....and the crowds turn up ! If the IPRC can tap this market and get some "big business" on board it will be lucrative in the extreme . They have the appetite !!

[shasta]

I know a few gay women that would object to that stereotype, pretty sure chiselhead would have something to say too

As would Rex Messup, Dr Graffenberg and the rest of the Redneck Mountain crew. And probably Rex Mossop, may God rest his soul. Dead set.

[SteveWA]

I am surprised that TWAS no longer posts there.

He's too busy maintaining his sock puppets on The Roar.

[shasta]

Is Chiselhead still around? I haven't seen him online since he butted heads with Brian Moore.

Chiselhead has more fake ID's than all the FUARU put together. And that's just on TWF. Dead set!!

[brokendown gunfighter]

yep I miss rex messup & co

[andrewM]

I can't recall if anyone posted this one before?

http://www.smh.com.au/rugby-union/un...07-gyd4yo.html

INTERVIEW WITH MR ANDREW FORREST:

CHAIRMAN, CHIEF EXECUTIVE AND FIRST FIVE-EIGHTH,
ANACONDA INDO-PACIFIC PREMIER RUGBY LEAGUE.

(Apologies to Clarke and Dawe)
Andrew Forrest: One fair dinkum Australian having a go.
Andrew Forrest: One fair dinkum Australian having a go. Photo: Stuart Walmsley/RUGBY.com.au
Q. Thank you for your time, Mr Forrest.

A. May I interrupt? I thank you for your time. It's worth more than mine.

Q. I'm not too sure about that.

A. Are you going to argue already?

Q. Um no. The Indo-Pacific Premier Rugby League. What's it going to look like?

A. Without saying too much at this stage, it's going to look big. Very big. As big, relative to Australian rugby, as Western Australia is to Australia. Massive and deeply powerful.

Q. Who's going to play in it?

A. Everyone from the Indo-Pacific region. Have you seen how hungry they are for our iron ore? And how many of them there are running around? They are as hungry for rugby as they are for minerals. Iron ore equals progress equals rugby.

Q. Yes, but who's going to play in it?

A. Deeply powerful rugby players.

Q. What exactly is the Indo-Pacific region? And when I looked at my atlas, the bit between the Indo and the Pacific – isn't that Australia?

A. You're looking at it the wrong way.

Q. What's the right way?

A. First you must ask: Where is Perth? What is Perth in the middle of?

Q. Nowhere?

A. The genius of the concept of the Indo-Pacific is that Perth is equidistant from everywhere in it. Perth to Johannesburg, Perth to Beijing, Perth to Buenos Aires – it's all pretty much the same. Have you realised that you can't travel from, say, Los Angeles to the Australian Antarctic region without transiting through Perth? It's physically impossible. We are at the hub of so many things and this deeply powerful competition will comprise everywhere on both the Indian and Pacific Oceans, from South Africa to North America, with Western Australia at its indispensable epicentre.

Q. Specifically, though: if you don't have the SANZAAR teams, who will be playing in your competition?

A. Forgive me for saying this, but you're thinking too small. A mere $50 million rugby competition is only the start. Think of all those goal posts we're going to be building. Think of the doors to the training sheds. Think of padlocks. Think of whistles. I know, when you think rugby, it's hard not to think of whistles. And what do you think they're all made of?

Q. Iron? Steel?

A. A chain of steel whistles linking one end of the Indo-Pacific to the other.

Q. Mr Forrest. Many on the east coast sympathise with you in opposing the axing of the Western Force. There is a groundswell of support for the Force in the east. Along with ignoring the inherent strengths of Western Australian rugby, which are being left to wither and die, the decision seems to have been driven by the Australian Rugby Union saving itself from the embarrassment that would have come from shutting down the Melbourne Rebels a couple of years after creating them. People are, in principle, on your side.

A. Now you're getting it.

Q. Don't you risk alienating all of those supporters by breaking away and starting your own competition and presumably trying to poach all their players?

A. Where did you say these supporters are based?

Q. East.

A. Enough said.

Q. The criticism underlying the decision to axe an Australian team, whether it was the Force or the Rebels or the Brumbies, and the criticism underlying much of what ails Australian rugby, is that too many non-rugby people have pulled the levers at the highest levels.

A. That's right. The Super League was flawed ever since it expanded to include non-rugby nations, driven by non-rugby financial motives.

Q. Super Rugby.

A. Call it what you like.

Q. Super Rugby expanded to include countries such as Argentina and Japan, which placed too much of a squeeze on the five Australian teams.
A. Yes. I mean, who plays rugby in Argentina and Japan? Argentina's not even in the Indo-Pacific.

Q. So specifically, which Indo-Pacific countries are you looking to for teams?
A. Nations with iron in their soul and in their ports. China, India. Have you seen the work Anaconda is doing there? Let me get someone to send you our annual reports.

Q. Are there rugby players in China and India?
A. On the ports, let me tell you, I've seen some deeply powerful chaps who are built like ruckmen and full-forwards, not to mention some nippy little rover types.

Q. Mr Forrest?
A. Yes?

Q. Oh, don't worry. Now, Mr Forrest, hard question. How many Western Force games did you go to this year?
A. Ah, I'll get my people to look into that and we'll get back to you.

Q. Last year? Ever?
A. Likewise.

Q. And where were you in the early stages of the Force's challenge to survive, when the decision to axe them was first flagged, a year ago?
A. I was probably in the Indo-Pacific, making Western Australia great again.

Q. Last question. Ross Gittins wrote in the Herald the other day, 'More than three decades of neoliberal ideology have left business people convinced they're demi-gods, the source of all goodness and justly entitled to our approbation and genuflection'. Your thoughts?
A. Couldn't have put it better myself. Cameron Clyne should have stayed with running a bank.

Q. Anything else you'd like to say?
A. I just wonder at your tone. I mean, I am a generous man, I have been generous in many areas of Australian life, and I am stepping forward to show my generosity. I'm just one fair dinkum Australian having a go. Your tone implies that you don't appreciate that.

Q. Is that what it's all about, Mr Forrest? You showing what a nice Australian you are, so we remember to appreciate you?
A. You tell me. Is it?

Q. Perhaps you could tell me. Is it?
A. Is it?
Q. Is it?
A. Is it?

(Hard stares are exchanged until Anaconda public affairs staff end the interview.)

[Bakkies]

Nope and I am glad I missed it. Malcolm Knox rarely writes a good Rugby article. That belongs on The Roar with Ha! next to it.

[chibi]

These guys are fuckin' idiots. WA tries to do something to keep the game alive, they should be god-damn grateful.

This vitriol from these fools and their sadistic hopes that the sport fails in a part of their own country is ridiculous.

If this is scuppered, then disaffiliate the union from the ARU, SANZAAR and if need be Oceania, become a national union in the Asian confederation. Hey, at least that would allow the Asians to lobby for another spot at the world cup.

[lou]

Sorry about this, but I cant find the quote to reply to, and there really are a lot of pages to go through. This is in response to the IP situation which some one suggested that Twiggy should be able to repurchase for $1 - I have reviewed the ARU annual reports for 2016 and can find no change to their holdings of IP in the Non-Current Assets - Intangible assets from 2015 to 2016, so by their own accounts, they have given it no value, $1 would be the appropriate token amount for the repurchase.
This is the news article from Nick Taylor that refers to it:

https://thewest.com.au/sport/rugby-u...-ng-b88650426z

[boof1050]

Lighten up guys it's just a bit of banter. Where gonna smoke their asses in 2 years time and they'll be wanting to write about the IPRC.

[Bakkies]

These guys are fuckin' idiots. WA tries to do something to keep the game alive, they should be god-damn grateful.

They have been always have had agendas. Blokes like Roy Masters and Malcolm Knox shouldn't be let near posting articles about Rugby.

To top it off the IPRC is not going to cost the so called governing body 30 million dollars of their own money.

[Hansie]

Me thinks a bunch of candidates vying for Pulver's spot may be wondering if he's going to leave them with a massive problem.

Considering their due diligence and risk analysis over the past 4 years has been nothing short of diabolical, hamfisted and amateurish.

So, let's hope they do read TWF as here is one blindingly obvious risk they will face:

Assume they tell Andrew: No Aussie players are eligible for Wallabies if they play IPRC. Except for Western Force.

Considering Andrew and fellow investors in Asia have deeper pockets than RA, perhaps Andrew could say to Aussie players " we have 5 teams outside the Western Force that need some quality players and coaches"

"We have average stadium attendances around 50,000 people, average viewing audience around 20 million people, so broadcasters getting bigger bang for their buck than in Super Rugby".

So, Messrs Folau, Foley, Beale, Genia, Korobeite, kuridrani, Kerevi, Speight etc. How about an extra Million per season to come and play for Beijing Dragons or Hong Kong Eagles ???

Chances in 2020 are our Force players will return from Rebels.

I wonder how the Tahs, Brumbies, Reds, Rebels will go against the Kiwis in 2020, how full will Allianz be? how many are watching Super Rugby as opposed to watching IPRC??

I feel for Pulver's successor, if RA do not embrace Andrew's vision it could spell the end of their dreams. History shows they lack experience in vision, planning and execution. Andrew's experience shows he has all of that expertise in spades.

[andrewg]

Hodgo and the IPRC team now in Seoul.

[JSJ]

Lighten up guys it's just a bit of banter. Where gonna smoke their asses in 2 years time and they'll be wanting to write about the IPRC.

I agree with you Boof. Here on TWF we have a lot of fun mocking Clone, Puller, Clunk, ESRU etc etc. So we should not get too thinskinned when some silly journo mocks us.

I also agree with Alison's comment that she is going to draw a line in the sand after the Senate report comes out and move on. If we have not exposed them enough or got some sort of moral justice out it, then we never will.
I dont want to let those dickheads destroy my love of rugby.

I am trying to be positive and follow the IPRC story and believe that WA will be even more of a powerhouse of Australian in future years.