We will not go away Raelene

Thanks to Nick Taylor.

‘Sea of Blue’ out in Force for Wallabies visit
Nick Taylor
The West Australian
Sunday, 11 August 2019 11:23AM

If Rugby Australia thought the Western Force would slip away quietly and drop out of sight, they got it completely wrong.
Firstly, they encountered mining magnate Andrew Forrest who, angered by RA’s rejection of his $70 million to keep the Force alive in Super Rugby, launched his own Global Rapid Rugby competition.
Secondly, they misread the passion and depth of anger of the Sea of Blue, the biggest supporter group in Australian rugby.
The pain of the axing will never completely subside — even the old saying “time heals old wounds” does not hold water in WA. And last night thousands of fans swapped Wallabies gold for Force blue while others openly boycotted the game.
The stadium rang with the famous “Force, Force” chant during the game to let RA chief executive Raelene Castle who was at the game know that they have not gone away.

More here
https://thewest.com.au/sport/western...ng-b881288061z

Yeah they got it so spectacularly wrong, and yet when they have the opportunity/s to at least compensate for the fuckup......what have they done since? Nothing but block, sabotage and obfuscate as much as poss!

Here's the thing for me:
Seems people boycotted the game yesterday, and others (including me) wore :force: blue.
WA lost our Super Rugby team and we all cry that rugby is dead in WA.
WA proved otherwise to RA last night. We filled the stadium and set a new attendance record.

How can we say rugby in WA is dead?
Raelene and a bunch of her cronies were there to see a stadium filled with rugby watchers.

Well, in my view that is down to the All Blacks' aura. Nothing more. They can even pull 90+K in Melbourne, a city which has proved to pretty much scorn Rugby.

Our Rugby future is in Asia and the Pacific. I'll reserve judgement till then to see how many true Rugby watchers there are in Perth. In fact, though Im very happy for the team and the confidence last night will give them, I think it will just give RA reason to believe their own bullshit. Sadly.

The city was teaming with All Blacks supporters on both Friday and Saturday morning, a lot that I assume had flown in for the game.

However RA won’t give a shit whether the crowd that attended wore Blue, Gold, Black or Pink. They would have made a fortune and will spin it how they are fit in the mainstream media.

You think they’ll pay attention to the Force chant? If you believe that I’ve got a bridge in Sydney to sell you.

RA will absolutely be congratulating themselves on a job well done. They've got a team in Melbourne and WA to pay for it...the model works. The rest is all just noise.

With GRR getting going in 2020 it's going to be interesting to see what unfolds for 2020 when Super Rugby is dead.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by jargan83

The city was teaming with All Blacks supporters on both Friday and Saturday morning, a lot that I assume had flown in for the game.

However RA won’t give a shit weather the crowd that attended wore Blue, Gold, Black or Pink. They would have made a fortune and will spin it how they are fit in the mainstream media.

You think they’ll pay attention to the Force chant? If you believe that I’ve got a bridge in Sydney to sell you.

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TV reports said that 10,000 flew in for the match.

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Originally Posted by andrewg

With GRR getting going in 2020 it's going to be interesting to see what unfolds for 2020 when Super Rugby is dead.

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Careful what you wish for. If SR dies, the easiest out for them would be to try and assume control of GRR (or at least the Australian involvement in it). It will happen anyway if it were to ever start making revenue, but the collapse of SR would bring it forward.

AndyS....there is no way that Forrest will give any level of control to the SAANZAAR nest if vipers.

I reckon it would be on his terms and any team joining would be paying entry and participation fees.

Raelene and co stayed at The Holiday Inn on Hay Street, there mustn't be much moolah left in the tin for travel in RWC year.

They've already been given the way in and a crowbar, so if they really want in, it won't be possible to stop them. If they have no better alternative, or can wrap themselves in a "For the good of Australian rugby" cloak, they will burn it to the ground rather than be denied. And WR will let them.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by The InnFORCEr

Raelene and co stayed at The Holiday Inn on Hay Street, there mustn't be much moolah left in the tin for travel in RWC year.

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Just a short walk to transport. ;) Convenient for them to ride the rattler to The Craypot.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by andrewg

AndyS....there is no way that Forrest will give any level of control to the SAANZAAR nest if vipers.

I reckon it would be on his terms and any team joining would be paying entry and participation fees.

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When Twiggy was addressing the crowd on Friday night, after the Force vs Malaysian Valke game, he twice referred to his good friend, the Chairman of NZ Rugby, which intrigued me. Was Twiggy dropping a hint about something?
I saw a happy selfie picture on Facebook of Twiggy, with the NZ Chairman, Raelene Castle and Phil Waugh. No sign of the Chairman of RA or even the vice-Chairman during the whole weekend. Did they even make the trip to Perth? Perhaps they will make it to Auckland, hoping to get into some of the pictures with the Bledisloe, if the Wallabies win.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by The InnFORCEr

Raelene and co stayed at The Holiday Inn on Hay Street, there mustn't be much moolah left in the tin for travel in RWC year.

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I an sure that the Moet still flowed.

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Originally Posted by Bakkies

TV reports said that 10,000 flew in for the match.

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that's probably about right.
i was thinking there was about 30k NZ supporters at the game.
i saw kiwis at the game i know personally who are chiefs, crusaders, highlander & hurricane fans, that only go to the relevant force home games, but don't attend any other games. so that is probably the extra 20k perth kiwis we used to get over a whole season when playing kiwi teams at home.
i find it strange that these rabid supporters don't attend more force games, but lets hope GRR changes that.

No offense meant to the expat kiwi's who regularly turn up to the NRC or Force games, but there certainly is a massive portion of population in WA who really don't care about the Force but are certainly aware of the teams in the Super Comp. A bloody shame at times, considering that some of their kids will be potentially looking for a contract with the Force or foundation in coming years.

There were are fair number of kiwi supporters wearing a force cap, scarf or something else blue

They were bluer when they left ...