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How much funding does the ARU receive from the government? I've just heard from a mate at the AIS that all government funding is being removed from the AIS with immediate effect largely because of mismanagement, in-fighting and factionalism. #nightofthelongknives
I wonder if the ARU could go back in time, would they agree so readily to removing an Australian side. Did they predict this can of worms? I don't think they did.
Yes to overcome any conflict of interest or perceived bias. Except for the decision to delete the force's license, which he wrote to the board to indicate he would not recuse himself from and wanted to vote. The board went ahead and met without him against his wishes and voted to kill the license.
Non sunt multiplicanda entia sine necessitate
Cottesloe Rugby Union Football Club added 2 new photos.
4 hrs ·
WORDS FROM THE WISE | Adrian Blacker
When you think of the word stalwart, few better match the description than Adrian Blacker.
As a Life Member of RugbyWA, Life Member of Cottesloe Rugby Club and ex SAS Australian Army soldier Adrian encapsulates the title - devoted, dedicated, dependable.
Below is an open letter from Adrian in response to the recent actions of the ARU with regards to the Western Force. The modern text doesn't accurately evoke the emotion of the cursive the letter was originally penned in but the message is not lost - ARU, you have made a mistake.
I am writing this in response to the shameful decision by the ARU to cut the Western Force from the Super Rugby competition.
Like all supporters, my initial reaction was one of disbelief, then great anger, at the utterly stupid and it maybe, duplicitous conduct of the ARU and by their complicity, the Melbourne Rebels. The machinations of the VRU/ARU did not evolve overnight. That deal was done to clear the way for the knifing of the Force. Why the ARU was so hell bent on ousting the Force we may never know. It has become obvious that the deal to cut the Force was done in St Leonards long before any ‘spread sheet’ or other performance indicators were concocted.
I admired the way the Australian Cricketers Association conducted their wages campaign with Cricket Australia. They stood together and protected their own. Not our lot!! The Force were left to battle on their own with a pre-planned result. It seems the Queensland Reds, NSW Waratahs and ACT Brumbies were happy to sit on the fence, like vultures, waiting to pick over the remains. They had best be quick as I believe the big winners from this debacle will be the NRL, in players, player development and supporters. Along with every craven board member of the ARU, with the exception of Geoff Stooke, you should all hang your heads in shame.
We may have lost this skirmish but not the battle.
I hope that the facts that have begun to emerge will have the legal men quite interested. Smarter men than me, hopefully, will see the folly in all this and move to have this ludicrous situation rectified.
As an aside, I have spent a great part of my life in the Australian Army as an infantryman and ducked and weaved on other playing fields. The players of the Western Force, to a man, are as fine a bunch of young men as you would meet in a long day’s march. I would gladly take the field and duck and weave with any of them. To know that these lads are embroiled in this sordid, maybe dishonest, charade almost makes me weep.
They don’t deserve this.
Yours sincerely
Adrian Blacker
Misty eyes after reading that one.
C'mon the
This should be published so that the wider rugby community and the general public of Australia can read it.
We know that it won't change the ARU's mind - there are too many people in the ARU intent on proving that their chests are hairy.
Any ideas on how and where it can be published?
How do I load an MP3 sound file from Alan Jones's show this morning for you to listen to?
"Like all supporters, my initial reaction was one of disbelief, then great anger, at the utterly stupid and it maybe, duplicitous conduct of the ARU and by their complicity, the Melbourne Rebels. The machinations of the VRU/ARU did not evolve overnight. That deal was done to clear the way for the knifing of the Force. Why the ARU was so hell bent on ousting the Force we may never know. It has become obvious that the deal to cut the Force was done in St Leonards long before any ‘spread sheet’ or other performance indicators were concocted.
I admired the way the Australian Cricketers Association conducted their wages campaign with Cricket Australia. They stood together and protected their own. Not our lot!! The Force were left to battle on their own with a pre-planned result. It seems the Queensland Reds, NSW Waratahs and ACT Brumbies were happy to sit on the fence, like vultures, waiting to pick over the remains. "
The above paras from Adrian's letter encapsulate the two biggest things I feel right now:
(a) totally and utterly powerless to do anything to change what is clearly a corrupt, underhanded, conniving and ill thought-through decision; and
(b) that no-one who actually IS in a position to bring some pressure to bear on the shonky and shady goings-on that led to the decision gives enough of a toss to do ANYTHING about it, least of all call for the investigation that is so obviously needed here.
The ARU has been allowed to lie, obfuscate and cheat with total impunity - even encouraged to do so by the cabal of cronies behind the scenes - because of a typical east-coast attitude of 'it's only WA and who gives a sh1t about WA as long as we (NSW, QLD and VIC) are all ok'.
Somehow I will need to find a way to try and move on from this otherwise I'll end up either in prison or in hospital. But right now, the rage I feel is so white hot that I can't see how I'm ever going to deal with it.
Proudly Western Australian; Proudly supporting Western Australian rugby
Interesting take on our situation from the Welsh
http://www.walesonline.co.uk/sport/r...lapse-13478846
Not a very optimistic view