Force set to be axed

[Egan]

Always a balancing act, and it is up to the CEO/Marketing/Business Development people to get it right
A corporate sponsor (and friend amazingly), confided to me that the death knell for him was leaving Subi. He said the corporate box he had allowed the folks he flew in from RSA a great view of the ground, and the amenities in that corporate area were fantastic. He was offered one at NIb, and was totally dissapointed. NIB - great for the spectators, poison for some corporates. He was contacted by another franchise some time ago with a sponsorship/corporate offer - clever people.

There is a lot more money to be made for the whole system with a team based in Melbourne (if they can get the product right, which the Rebels are a shamozzle) basically because it is a bigger city with more national headquarters of companies and more population.

I've heard some interesting stuff recently about the Force's previous interaction with sponsors - not all great, but the future is the most important thing.

The more we look at what we are right now and focus in on what can be achieved with Western Australia's support the better...

[Jules]

http://nedlandsrugby.com.au/2017/08/...nal-footprint/

All these letters of support warm the heart! The behaviour of the board is putting my 4 year old to shame

[Hansie]

care for some more:

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Senator REYNOLDS (Western Australia) (18:45): Woe betide anyone who tries to mess with Western Australia. Tonight I rise to address an outrage perpetrated on Western Australia's large and vibrant sporting community—one we are all taking very, very personally—and that is the Australian Rugby Union's disgraceful decision to cut the Western Force from the national competition. I stand 100 per cent with the Western Australian sporting community, with my WA Liberal colleague senators and members, with the state government, with the state opposition and with Rugby WA on this issue. I don't think the ARU has the foggiest idea of what they have unleashed on themselves. Talk about an own goal! If the ARU thought WA would just cower and lie back in the face of this outrage and would not fight back, the ARU is sadly mistaken.
The Western Force is one of Australia's most popular Rugby Union teams, and they have been extraordinarily successful in growing Rugby and developing local players in WA since their foundation in 2005. In the current season, the team were the second-best team in Australia in the Super Rugby competition. Currently they have the third-largest playing base in Australia, and they have no less than six players in the 2017 Bledisloe Cup Wallabies squad—a testament to the strength of the club and the sporting capability and pride resident in Western Australia.
Transparency in public life is just as important in publicly-funded sporting organisations as it is here in this chamber. After very carefully reviewing the case made by Rugby WA and the Western Force, I am at a complete loss to understand the ARU's decision. And I completely understand why tens of thousands of supporters are absolutely gutted by this inexplicable decision.
Therefore, I call on the ARU to do two things. Firstly, I call on the ARU to publicly release the information the board have used to justify the decision to cut the Western Force—particularly what they called the 'big spreadsheet' that they claimed demonstrates the decision was in the best interests of Australian rugby. A big, secret, spreadsheet—it reminds me a lot of Ros Kelly's great big thumping whiteboard, for those of you in this chamber and elsewhere old enough to remember her whiteboard. Secondly, I also call on the ARU to enter into an open dialogue with Rugby WA and all other interested parties who can propose alternative solutions to the crisis that apparently has resulted in this secret decision.
Today I've also written to the federal Minister for Sport, the Hon. Greg Hunt MP, requesting Commonwealth support to encourage the ARU to publicly release the information on this decision and have the courtesy to open a dialogue with Rugby WA. I've also requested Commonwealth support in making public the basis for this decision by the ARU and ensuring the Western Force have the opportunity to address any issues which have led to this decision. I say this to the ARU: if you have nothing to hide, release the documents, make it public, work with Rugby WA, and support Western Australian sporting fans. If you've got nothing to hide, release the documents, and do not hide behind your lawyers.

[Moono74]

http://nedlandsrugby.com.au/2017/08/...nal-footprint/

All these letters of support warm the heart! The behaviour of the board is putting my 4 year old to shame

Can I like this post twice. Us Sandgroppers need to stick together. Go hard in hard Twiggy. Go the Force!

[Jules]

And wow the two barristers that Andrew F has on board! Impressive credentials..

[jargan83]

So Cameron Clyne wouldn't even meet with Forrest to have a discussion about Forrest potentially bankrolling the game at a national level.

Really shows what type of guy he is.

[valzc]

Wow! Triple Wow!

[Tazzmania]

http://nedlandsrugby.com.au/2017/08/...nal-footprint/

All these letters of support warm the heart! The behaviour of the board is putting my 4 year old to shame

I have tweeted the letter to Jamie pandaram, Georgina Robinson and Ian Payton and Anne sherry not sure if they will even read but trying my best to get the word out about the behaviour of the so called custodians of our game

[Leo86]

Dead right so called custodians. Definition: "a person who has responsibility for taking care of or protecting something". ARU never took care let alone protected

[sittingbison]

Wrong. They took care of and protected themselves, their SU mates, their private school chums, NSWRU, Shite Shield, QRU, ACTRU, VRU very nicely thank you. In that order.

[sittingbison]

Jeebus JW didn't hold back to his mates nobody and Robbo. Thems fighting words Summed up in a text the aggregate of five threads over a week on TWf he must have been a busy lurker

Thank you John Welborn for making public those observations and sentiments, the hacks will surely have to make comment.

[Leo86]

Wrong. They took care of and protected themselves, their SU mates, their private school chums, NSWRU, Shite Shield, QRU, ACTRU, VRU very nicely thank you. In that order.

Well thats just it isnt it "A"RU... so really any of our federal polliies will need/want proof of such as to why we (all of Australia's taxpayers) give funding to only serve the interest of certain states not all of Australia. (cough cough Greg Hunt... "Federal")

[Moono74]

There is an ad on Foxtel at the moment for an upcoming program featuring John Eales and his biggest regret in Rugby....leading a team that turned its back on the All Blacks performing the Haka and his journey to correct what he now views as a wrong decision.

Well hello John...history is beckoning you once more. Don't have an even bigger rugby injustice weighing on your conscience for the rest of your life! Do the right thing.....stand UP! Do the right thing for Australian Rugby. Bring the Force back!

[GIGS20]

Jeebus JW didn't hold back to his mates nobody and Robbo.

Bison, I'm sure you know the origin of the nickname nobody. I'd ask you to reconsider using it when referring to Mr eales, he's lost the right imho

[sittingbison]

Yup I do. Indeed he has GIGS20. He has frittered away his legacy, now truly become a genuine nobody. What a waste.

With his position in Oz rugby, he could have stopped the whole fiasco dead at any time by saying "Enough. Stop". Patsy and Willy Puller could not have continued. He did not, in fact ne'er a peep of any kind out of him while his sport has gone down the toilet, flushed by the board he sits on.