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The Force was a professional side that played out of Perth last season and no longer exists, the NRC team that was the Perth Spirit is still alive and kicking. You can dress it up and call it whatever you want but it is not The Force and I won't be referring to it as anything but The Spirit until it again becomes a fully professional team.
It may very well have been a board decision in order to give everyone that warm and fuzzy feeling but it doesn't reflect everyone's view.
Wests Scarborough 1st Grade juggernaut has played finals rugby each and every year since its inception and continues this remarkable feat yet again this season and unbelievably it's still rolling on and as an added little circle jerk for the masses Wests actually hold the record for the current longest unbroken finals record.
Here in WA we can call the side anything, personally I think Piggies needs to b explained as WTF that was about.
Yes, it's the re-badged Perth Spirit but in Eastern Coast divisions, fixtures, paperwork and websites, the Force is still there in their faces reminding all that it's alive and will remain so for a while longer. With the amount of kit floating about, it also saves a stack of much needed funds.
"The whole point of rugby is that it is, first and foremost, a state of mind, a spirit." - Jean-Pierre Rives
I fail to see why one of RugbyWAs goals is to rejoin Super Rugby in 2021. Ms Castle may have thrown it out there as a great piece of media spin but thats all it is, hot air to shut us up because Rugby Australia is sick of being exposed as the hopeless organization that they are. Rugby Australia always treated WA as a rugby vacuum, a black hole backwater that wasn't worthy of being on the same field as the Waratahs. Nothing has changed in that regard. 6 months ago they completely ambushed us and showed us how much they really value us, but after one loosely worded empty promise in the papers and now we are eagerly planning to rejoin them? Seriously? Have we not learnt from history? Are we doomed to repeat it? More fool us if that is the case. Wasn't there a public rally announcing our intentions to leave Rugby Australia in our wake as we started our own new International Competition? If it is the goal, rejoining Super Rugby, then you've lost me. I can't support a goal of being screwed over again.
The problem is the brand confusion it causes. We want people to think of the IPRC incarnation of the Western Force as a direct continuation of the same professional entity that previously competed in Super Rugby - surely it would only be counterproductive having a team with the same name running around in what is seen as a lower tier competition.
By going with the Force brand in the NRC it not only throws out one of the more successful names in the NRC. The spirit have played in 4 semi finals and 2 finals, winning 1 one of them. But it also makes it look like the Force were relegated to a lesser competition.
What happens when the IRPC starts? The Western Force go back to the elite side in the state and the Perth Spirit are revived after a 12 month hiatus?
Whoever is advising RugbyWA on this stuff needs their head read.
I will say it again
NRC = Western Force
IPRC = Perth Force (city based identities for this comp)
80 Minutes, 15 Positions, No Protection, Wanna Ruck?
Ruck Me, Maul Me, Make Me Scrum!
Education is Important, but Rugby is Importanter!
I suspect it's a tip of the hat to the high likelihood that Rat's Arse will be doing everything they can to stop IPRC from occurring and re-entry to Super Rugby in 2021 might be the state's only chance of having a professional rugby team while we're still alive.
Tell me that's not a possibility!
C'mon the
No doubt Rats Arse wants to stop the IPRC. It will ravage Super Rugby of players and revenue when the players realise there is opportunity to increase their salaries. If we return to Super Rugby, we will be back in their system at their mercy. Yay for us we got a mention in the papers from Rugby Australia but its a bullshit statement, an empty promise and another chance for us to be screwed over. Im hoping the RugbyWA board is smarter than to trust Rats Arse, especially when the media release was designed as a trojan horse.
You know I'm on board with your views Kala, but RugbyWA are still a member union of Rat's Arse (their biggest problem IMHO) and therefore need to at least consider a future that involves a continuing partnership.
That doesn't mean they necessarily trust them. I would suggest that by 2021, with three years of stalling and obfuscation they would be idiots to have any level of trust (I would expect it to be virtually nonexistent now) I would hope that their lawyers use whatever position of power exists in the 2021 option to gain written guarantees of everything that we've lost. Even then, the team would be building support from a lower base that the initial launch of the Force. I know i will have given up on rugby before then.
C'mon the
We need more clarity about the NRC. The Rugby WA docs said that there will be less NSW sides this year. This is the first I have heard of it and I suspect the players not just the fans need to know what is going on.What happens when the IRPC starts? The Western Force go back to the elite side in the state and the Perth Spirit are revived after a 12 month hiatus?
Twiggy through Minderoo has said they will sponsor the NRC. Is he trying to restructure the comp as well? Someone even if it is Hodgson just need to come out state what their plans are.
'I may be a Senator but I am not stupid'
https://omny.fm/shows/the-alan-jones-breakfast-show/cameron-clyne
Link to Senate Report http://www.aph.gov.au/senate_ca
https://www.change.org/p/rugby-australia-petition-for-cameron-clyne-to-resign-as-chairman-of-the-rugby-australia-board
I've noticed a real shift in Minderoo's publicity tactics since probably October, they started with all fanfare and promises, but seem to have entered a mode of saying nothing at all.
Even Twiggy's threat to run IPRC without RA approval was pretty understated. I suspect they aren't too willing to jump around considering they have realised they're standing in a pit of venomous snakes.
C'mon the