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This is the comment that annoys me most. Cameron Clyne is openly saying that if teams perform they will bring in money, so their future should therefore be secured. The Western Force have performed this year, and the crowds are up. And they're on the improve, and there's all likelihood their performance will continue to do better (and therefore bring in more money) in future. And it's self sustaining, unlike the Brumbies who rely on others developing players like Kyle Godwin and Robbie Abel.
Cameron Clyne is justifying why the Western Force should remain in Super Rugby. If he truly believes what he's saying then there should be no question that the Force should remain.
The Force have won the same number of games as the Brumbies this year, at a fraction of the cost to the ARU.
They've won two more games than each of the Waratahs and the Reds, and four more than the Rebels.
Who's in the firing line again?
So for Clyne, it remains all about the money - subscriptions to pay TV and bums on seats at the SR games (which presumably means something better than the paltry 9,700 who showed up for the SR final in Canberra last weekend)."The elephant in the room is performance," Clyne said. "The reality is rugby is professional. There's a straight-line correlation between on-field performance and when teams aren't performing, you're not getting money. Simple as that."
What sticks in my craw is the ARU's continuing focus on culling the Force, come what may - and "tough titties" to the Force players, the Force infrastucture, the Sea of Blue, the WA taxpayer (a little matter of a sizable portion of the 100 million or so spent recently on nib Stadium) and Rugby Union in WA.
I suppose we shouldn't be too harsh on Clyne. After all, he is simply pandering to the wishes of his North Shore constituency.
Teams aren't performing? Who's fault is that Cameron?
Culling a club won't be magic bullet to fix the issues of NSW and Qld. Often the players that do go South to Melbourne or West to the Force have already been missed by talent scouts in NSW and Qld, just because the "heartland" states get sudden access to a bunch of current talent to top up their sides it won't fix the talent identification or coaching issues in NSW and Qld.
Long term Australian Rugby will be worse off, everyone knows it apart from Cameron Clyne.
Don't tell me the sky's the limit when there are footprints on the moon
I missed this little gem from Wayne Smith - a day before I did a Yes Minister piss-take in this thread. Dunno if the meeting actually took place or if it's also just satirical. Interesting times....
ARU scriptwriters get comedies and tragedies mixed up
In response to the growing, or rather steadily mounting, crisis in Australian rugby over the Super Rugby “five into four” process — it is now more than 100 days since the infamous 48 to 72 hours decree was issued — Australian Rugby Union boss Bill Pulver has called in South African Andy Marinos, the SANZAAR boss, for high-level talks.
And though Rob Clarke technically has left the employ of the ARU, he previously had been the Minister for Everything and the only other person who has any idea of what has happened over the past 3½ months, so he too is invited, as a valued adviser. (With continuing apologies to the makers of Yes, Minister.)
Pulver: Have you seen … this?! Have you seen this?!
Clarke (sighing): It looks like a copy of The Australian.
Pulver: Damned right it is. That accursed Wayne Smith has written another story about how inflexible and incompetent we are. And this time he’s got it wrong, wrong, wrong!
Clarke: Well, technically, yes, he has got it wrong. But he has got it wrong in all the right ways.
Pulver: Rob, what on earth do you mean by that? Seriously, if I knew that within one month of leaving us you’d start speaking like a consultant, I never would have invited you in ….
Clarke: Well, Smith has been dreadfully harsh on you ... um, I mean us. And I think that reference to all that Donald Trump had achieved in his first 100 days in the White House was simply beyond the pale. What does he want us to do? Repeal Obamacare? But maybe he is right that we should be alerting SANZAAR that there is a chance that we may not be able to cut one of our five Super Rugby teams. I mean, what’s the worst that could happen?
(As a man who simply hates mangled sentences, Clarke realises he must explain himself.)
Clarke: When I said ‘what was the worst thing that could happen’, I meant from not explaining to SANZAAR that we can’t cull one of the teams, as opposed to the ramifications of not actually culling one of our teams …
Pulver (shaking his head to clear the confusion before proceeding): Well, Andy, what is the worst that could happen?
Marinos: What, you mean beyond a complete loss of face, zero credibility, and your word never being trusted again …. well, let me see. Smith’s only guessing when he says SANZAAR could sue you. Still, who’s to say it’s not an accurate guess? My guess, though, is that it’s not an entirely accurate guess.
Pulver: Entirely accurate?
Marinos: Oh, they might very well sue you but not for very much. Given that this is a joint venture operation, they’d actually be suing themselves, which would be a little self-defeating. SANZAAR might have done a few things lately that we’d like to do again, but we *certainly draw the line at outright stupidity.
Pulver (looking unconvinced): So they probably mightn’t sue us for telling the truth but they possibly might. Suppose everybody irresponsibly started telling the truth? Where the hell would that lead us?
(Clarke thinks momentarily about replying, but holds his counsel. Besides, his old boss is now on a roll.)
Pulver: And what about this nonsense suggestion from Smith that there is a lot of fat in the SANZAAR budget that Australia should be helping to trim back. Things like scaling back on the teams staying in five-star hotels and flying business class around the world. He’s scoring a lot of points with the public with that one …
Marinos (alarmed): Now, let’s not be so hasty. The public do not know anything about wasting money. We are the experts. Ah, let me rephrase that … I do sometimes feel that the whole way we do things is on too lavish a scale. And perhaps we should look at scaling back some of the costs. But there is a problem … I mean it does cause profound resentment if those at the top continue to enjoy the conveniences that they have withdrawn from those below them, not to mention the deeply damaging publicity …
(Thoughts of flying cattle class travel to the next World Rugby meeting in Dublin slowly start to permeate throughout the room. Marinos, realising he has completely overstepped the mark, quickly moves to change the *subject.)
Marinos: Speaking of money, what’s the deal with this billionaire chap from Western Australia, Chippy Forrester? Woody Forrester?
Clarke: Actually it’s Twiggy Forrest. Like the supermodel of the Sixties but with a few more *zeros behind him.
Marinos (confused): He’s being chased by Japanese fighter planes?
(The two Australians look at each other in dismay but decide to let this one balloon through to the keeper.)
Clarke: You say what’s the deal? Technically speaking, there is no deal. From our perspective, it all depends on whether he uses his money for good or evil.
Pulver: Define good and evil.
Clarke: Well, ‘good’ would be if he wrote out a cheque for $10 million and gave it to us. That would solve a lot of problems. In fact, we might even see if he’d like to bump it up to $20m. Might take his mind off that native title thing. Whereas ‘evil’ would be if he decided to, say, fund the Force’s legal costs.
Pulver (groaning as he remembers the impending arbitration process): When will this ever end?
Marinos (thinking Pulver had just adjourned the meeting, jumps immediately to his feet): Well, that didn’t take as long as I thought it would. So, let me see if I’ve got this right: You don’t know if you’re going to be able to cut the Force, you don’t know if you can cut the Rebels, you don’t have a timetable, you’re facing a billionaire who could buy out your whole operation and stick it in his hip pocket and you’d really like it if SANZAAR chose not to sue you. Is that correct?
Pulver (glumly): Yes, that pretty much sums it up. We’ve dug a grave for ourselves. It’s all going up in smoke.
Clarke: Well, technically, Bill, you can’t have a burial and a cremation.
Pulver (looking with disdain on his former deputy): Yes, Minister.
I know there is subtle differences between RugbyWA and Western Force, but its almOst like the ARU are defending an action taken out by itself? 🤔🤔🤔🤔
Yes Minister.
"The main difference between playing League and Union is that now I get my hangovers on Monday instead of Sunday - Tom David
I think if the criteria is that the team is using up the pool of potential top level Super Rugby players without contributing then it's a two horse race between the Brumbies and the Rebels. Neither team have effective grassroots player development. Neither team is adding to the pool of potential Super Rugby level players.
If the criteria is that the team is performing well, but correspondingly isn't bringing in money from attendances, then the Brumbies should be looked at (less than 10,000 in the crowd for a quarter final against the Hurricanes!).
It seems strange to say the Brumbies should be looked at, given they perform well, but they're also not contributing. If these are genuinely the criteria, then the Brumbies should be looked at more closely.
Completely. The insularity within Australian rugby needs to be exposed, for the good of Australian rugby. The whole ARU board needs a re-think, not just Clyne and Pulver. Seriously, why do we have board members who's only connection to rugby is that they come from New Zealand and everyone in New Zealand must like rugby? Surely there must be other people out there with better qualifications. I'd personally like to see some former women's rugby players represented on the board.
A bit tough on the Rebels, actually. We're only now producing our own team and the Rebels have had 5 years less than us. It was always going to take ~10 years (effectively a generation of players) for a start-up team to get close to providing decent home-grown players in any number.
Don't tell me the sky's the limit when there are footprints on the moon