Force stand tall among the poor rugby States

[KenyaQuin]

Force stand tall among the poor rugby States

31st January 2008, 9:00 WST

http://www.thewest.com.au/default.aspx?MenuID=13

From polecat to fat cat. The upstart Western Force may irk the east coast rugby establishment but they at least have black ink — and a lot of it, at that — at the bottom of their financial statement.

When all the sums for 2007 are done, Rugby WA will be the only one of Australia’s big four rugby States to post a profit. Between them, NSW, Queensland and the ACT will be several million dollars in the red, a vivid contrast to WA’s positive result of more than $500,000.

Though Australian Rugby Union boss John O’Neill bemoans the state of the sport, the Force are travelling very nicely and if attendances at Subiaco Oval for Super 14 matches remain around 25,000 this season, will continue to do so.

“Our new chief executive will, when appointed, come into an organisation that’s doing well,” Rugby WA chairman Geoff Stooke said last night.

Stooke was confident the mistakes of the past, which yielded huge fines, would not be repeated.

The ARU review of the Force’s internal rules has been completed and the indication is that no adverse findings will be made when the official report is issued.

“The informal advice from Sydney is that there is nothing untoward,” said Stooke, who revealed the Force had rewritten some club procedures to eliminate the recruiting misdemeanours which yielded two significant fines totalling $260,000.

“We’ve introduced measures to reinforce the ARU protocols. The idea is to ensure there is no confusion with interpretations because we don’t want to break any more rules.”

Force coach John Mitchell will take 28 players to Melbourne tomorrow for Saturday’s pre-season match against the Crusaders.

He aims to insert them all into the contest.

Unlike the Brumbies, who have withheld most of their big names from their practice match against the Waratahs, the Force will give their complement of Wallabies a good run, including Matt Giteau, who could be added to the Force’s leadership group this season.

“The idea is to build as much depth as possible by exposing all our players to Super 14 intensity and let them adapt to the new scenarios the new laws will create,” Mitchell said.

Those who will not travel because of injury include centre Junior Pelesasa, fly-half Jimmy Hilgendorf, prop Kieren Longbottom and lock Pat O’Connor.

DAVE HUGHES

[jazza93]

in 2006 the force were all over the news and in the newspaper all the time. Getting media attention every day got people to go to games and have a look at it.

in 2007 they didnt do much with the media and the only attention they got was about all the dodgy payments and quakka throwing. i think Matt Giteau joining was one of the reasons the crowds didnt drop to much but this year they have to try and get as much good media attention as 2006 or the crowds will drop and they will end up like the other states losing money.

[KenyaQuin]

Good observation Jazza..hadn't looked at it that way. I recall last year's season, the Force hardly got a mention in the Ch 7 Thursday evening news sports report (I suspect Ch 9 showed more) and therefore a good number of people of the state who are not rugby enthusiasts wouldn't even know there was a game on that weekend.

I understand that Ch7 has the rights to the AFL and appreciate that a good number of minutes will be spent on Eagles/Dockers and other AFL news bites but surely they could squeeze in a quick mention of the State S14 team.

I had every intent on emailing Basil Zempilas, he who irritates me the most, but never got round to it. Perhaps this year I'll take a minute to draft a polite email to the Ch7 Perth sports news editor requesting some airtime for my beloved Emirates Western Force.

[travelling_gerry]

mention it to Barra too when he comes on line

[oxleymoron]

There could also be a rise in interest this year after last season's performance. If we have a start like last year, then more people might save it for the game. Off field success will be directly proportional to on field success. Could you imagine how large the crowd would be against the Brumbies if a finals spot had been sewed up or was on the line?

[GIGS20]

Hit the nail squarely there Ox....W.A. crowds are notoriously fickle, they'll be your best mate when you're winning, died in the wool true blue (ocean blue not that poofy blue) etc etc etc.......Lose a couple of games however.......

Just look at the Wildcats....probably the most successful NBL team for making finals series, having not missed one for God knows how long, but they struggle to pull a decent crowd beacuse after winning quite a few titles, they haven't topped the heap for a few years.

I think it'll have a lot to do with the number of competition points we're winning. The local media would love to put EWF on the telly if they're winning well (especially since the Eagles will have an uphill battle after losing all their junkies, oh and there's Freo, who routinely suck.....maybe it's their year aye!)

So watch the scoreboard, that'll be the true indicator of crowd numbers and therefore financial solvency. Here more than anywhere else!

[The EnForcer]

The other important factor we have to take into account is Super 14 rugby is a genuinely international world class competition which suits our demographic perfectly. I'm not taking away from the AFL, NBL and soccer but The Force are competing at the highest of levels on a world stage and our fans are aware of this and appreciate the difference. I wish others would.

[slomo]

i (hope) think this season will be the final big drop in membership, the fair weather fans, the first season fans have left, and were left with supporters that are hopefully in for the long haul, yes were a bit flush with cash at the moment but a few big players contracts are up this year, and the stadium issue ( which is really the BIGGEST issue, the stadiums sh*t and the games are live on foxtel) still drags on.......

[oxleymoron]

It helps that WA has a strong contingent of South Africans, New Zealanders, English, Welsh, Scottish, Irish etc who grow up with rugby and are able to instill the supporting culture, regardless of the result on the rest of us Australians who are relative novices when it comes to rugby (especially me).

There will never be the same type of support for rugby in SA, because we are the backwater of Australia and as such, still think that its played exclusively in NSW and QLD. I of course, know better.

I would like to see a game of rugby played at Australia's only purpose built stadium for soccer (Hindmarsh Stadium). Adelaide has a purpose built rectangular stadium which is used maybe 20 times a year for A-League and SA premier league matches. The politics of staging a game there are probably far too detailed for a mere moron like myself, I just want to see it happen.

If a rectangular stadium cannot be sought for Perth, they too must look over there shoulder at the "backwater" that I live near. The fight for a rectangular stadium in Perth must continue, of course it will be given more impetous after Mitch, Sharpie and Gits hold along this years S14 trophy.

[Thequeerone]

O'Meara's Legacy is the stronger financial position - he got the emirates on board and negoiated the extension - yes Ch 7 coverage sucks - but unless they see bums on seats or strong numbers on the ratings for rugby then they won't give it much more - don't think Basil would know a rugby ball if it hit him on the conker.

Kinda hoping the numbers drop will make a rectangular stadium more likely - but many would kill me for saying such a thing - silly one eyed supporter only looking out for number 1 - have upgraded membership this year looking forward to seeing the games live and jumping up and down in the crowd - with prehaps fewer but more dedicated spectators - peps who don't stare in amazement when you correctly identify the players coz they are waiting on the Tannoy

[GIGS20]

Kinda hoping the numbers drop will make a rectangular stadium more likely - but many would kill me for saying such a thing - silly one eyed supporter only looking out for number 1 - have upgraded membership this year looking forward to seeing the games live and jumping up and down in the crowd - with prehaps fewer but more dedicated spectators - peps who don't stare in amazement when you correctly identify the players coz they are waiting on the Tannoy

Sorry TQ1....gotta disagree with you there. If our membership drops by enough for us to get a rectangular stadium, we'll end up with a 22000 seat redevelopment of Member's Equity...This is plainly unsuitable for our needs, both Corporate Facilities and future expansion. We have a huge groundswell of support in this town, the reason members are leaving has more to do with the up-front costs. I know lots of people who are not renewing....then buying a ticket to every match. Some of them go on to relinquish gold memberships...buy iron and nickel seats, and just wander around at the start of the game looking for a free seat closer to the action... represents a saving of about 200 bucks if you don't mind shifting around when challenged.

I could guarantee if we get moved to a stadium of 22000, where this activity will be a lot less viable, membership will spike in the first year of tenancy. Probably sell out, simply because everyone who has been following the team knows we've never had a game with fewer than 20000 spectators, and our average is around 24000, memberships will sell out...waiting lists will blow out and EWF will lose money...Can't say I'd like to see that happen!


BTW are you Gold now?