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KURTLEY Beale is hoping the wrath of West Australian rugby fans is not taken out on the Wallabies if the Force are axed before next Saturday’s Perth Test against South Africa.
Beale’s call for support came as the fight between the ARU and WA Rugby turned uglier, with billionaire Force backer Andrew Forrest calling for ARU chairman Cameron Clyne to resign.
Forrest labelled Clyne a liar and said the ARU’s process to cut the Force from Super Rugby was a charade, citing documents that showed legal advice given to the governing body in February suggested it would be easier to cull the Force rather than the Melbourne Rebels.
NSW Supreme Court judge David Hammerschlag is expected to hand down his verdict late this week or next week.
Beale was in Brisbane to launch next year’s Global Tens tournament alongside other Wallabies and All Blacks in a glitzy event that was far removed from the bitter politics and legal battles plaguing Australian rugby.
If the Force are axed before the Test at nib Stadium, the Wallabies will also suffer.
Many fans have already decided to boycott the Test, saying they will not give their money to the ARU. Others have vowed to attend wearing Force jerseys in a show of solidarity.
“I still think we’ve got a lot of strong supporters in Perth, rugby’s been played over there for a long time now and with the Force coming in it gave them a team to support,” Beale said.
“Hopefully we get strong support at nib Stadium, deep down if you love your rugby then you’re hopefully going to enjoy a really good game against the Boks and hopefully we can put in a really good show and build on what we did last week against the ABs.”
WA Rugby appealed the decision of arbitrator Bernard Coles QC, who ruled a new SANZAAR broadcast agreement of 15 teams was legally binding, therefore nullifying a participation agreement between the ARU and Force guaranteeing them survival until December 31, 2020.
Justice Hammerschlag is now deliberating whether to uphold Coles’ decision, or give the Force a lifeline by ruling that their alliance agreement with the ARU is valid, in which case they would remain in the Super competition for the next three seasons.
Forrest recently offered the ARU a deal worth about $50 million to save the Force and inject much-needed money into grassroots rugby, but that was rejected by the ARU because they agreed in April to cut a team as part of SANZAAR’s move to reduce Super Rugby from 18 to 15 teams.
Forrest said he’d seen a legal document that has led him to believe the ARU never seriously considered axing any team other than the Force.
“What I saw in that document dated late February made the whole thing a lie,” Forrest said.
“It shows clearly that in late February this year, the advice was received and taken to cut the Western Force for no other reason apart from legal advice.
“The Western Force was set up to be ambushed ... I call on Cameron Clyne to resign.
“I call on the board of the ARU to drop the charade, keep the Western Force, let’s all move on and make this fabulous game very successful.”
Clyne rejected Forrest’s claims.
“I can only assume that Andrew has been provided with a document that contains some of the analysis that was undertaken by ARU management at the request of the board, to assess the many implications and considerations for exiting each of the three teams we originally assessed, which included the Brumbies, Melbourne Rebels and Western Force,” Clyne said.
“At its April 9, 2017 meeting in Sydney, the ARU board decided to further assess those options for the Force and the Melbourne Rebels.
“Our discussion with the Melbourne Rebels owners had continued until this date, August 4, 2017. It was after this event, on August 4, 2017 that ARU did not have the option to acquire the Melbourne Rebels licence.”
Brisbane Tens tournament chief executive Rachael Carrol said if the Force were axed, they would still invite a team from Western Australia to compete.
After issues with extreme heat earlier this year in the inaugural tournament, the Brisbane Tens will be played in afternoons through the evening on February 9-10.
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