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Thread: Letter from our Chairman - Tony Howarth AO - Regarding our Battle.

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    Letter from our Chairman - Tony Howarth AO - Regarding our Battle.

    Dear All

    You will all be well aware of the continuing battle for survival of the Western Force in which the RWA board is embroiled with the ARU. The ARU continue to pursue either the elimination of the Melbourne Rebels or our own Western Force from the Super Rugby competition. They have widely announced that they have no plan B and are anticipating to be in a position to announce their position soon after completion of the Super Rugby playing season. There is considerable speculation but we must assume that one team may have played its final match last weekend.

    Since the first indication that we were targeted for the axe we engaged Lavan, together with the support from two prominent Western Australian Senior Counsel, to develop our strategy and our defence. We still maintain we have a strong legal position. However, the process has dragged on and the legal representatives of the ARU continue to attempt to attack us in every imaginable way. Arbitration is set for early August and we remain confident that completion of the Arbitration process will see us successful in our case and complete a Milestone which will then enable us to commence negotiations with the ARU to recover our Super Rugby License and set about planning our future.

    However, none of us predicted that this farce could drag out for so long and in the process require such significant legal defence. Though significantly subsidised, we have and will continue to incur costs defending our position and, with this in mind, we need to secure a Fighting Fund to underwrite legal costs. Our current accrued cost is $350,000 and we anticipate at this stage total costs running up to an additional $300,000 to complete the Arbitration Case. It is our intention after victory to seek costs recovery directly from the ARU as part of our final negotiations. However, we cannot be guaranteed of that outcome.

    You will have all heard that Andrew Forrest has agreed to support our cause to ensure the Western Force remain in WA. We are receiving great support from him but quite rightly I have said to Andrew that all of the community feels as strongly as he does to fight for the team and we are all fighting together. One of the ways we can do this is to contribute to the Fighting Fund.

    So, in a nutshell, this email requests your support to help us underwrite the legal Fighting Fund. We would also appreciate you sharing this with Rugby supporters at large. We have also approached prominent Business men and women in our Rugby Community to help with the Fund.

    Money for the fighting fund can be transferred to the trust account below:
    St George Bank
    Account name: Lavan Law Practice Trust Account
    BSB 336 065
    Account 551 206 056
    Please note, all transfers must include your Surname, Initials and the following reference information "1156288 WFF".
    If you have any questions or need clarifications please contact me

    GO THE FORCE

    Yours in rugby,
    Tony Howarth
    Chairman,
    RugbyWA

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    I feel privileged to represent the whole proud and dedicated Rugby Community as President. It is indeed very sad that as a child of the ARU we have a parent who cares little about our welfare, our commitment, our passion and desire to once again become fiercely independent.

    If I could paraphrase and plagiarise Winston Churchil...We shall fight them in the boardroom, we shall fight them in the Law Courts, We shall fight them in the Press, no matter what they throw at us... We shall never surrender...

    One day, we'll get together and celebrate our victory....

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    my issue with all of this is the character limit on bank transfers...

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    Being unemployed. Can only afford to send $10.

    Will try to do the same thing next fortnight.

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    Legend Contributor fulvio sammut's Avatar
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    Seriously folks (for once), if you are depositing contributions into the lawyer's trust account make sure you clearly identify who you are and the purpose of your deposit, including the numbers referred to in Mr Howarth's open letter above, because failure to do so can cause havoc for the firm's trust accountant and subsequent trust audits. This is especially so in the case of smallish payments which cannot be readily identified and are not definitely expected and known about beforehand by the firm.

    No, I don't work for Lavans, but I know a guy who does.

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    Immortal Contributor shasta's Avatar
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    Thanks for the heads up then.

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    Thanks Fulvio for the heads up. Will buy 14 beers at Pally next visit.

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    Will put in what we can! Shame the ARU isn't putting these legal costs into grassroots as seems the priority. Thank you for fighting for our team... I hope to be getting my membership for next year very soon 😊

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    If we claim costs back from the ARU do I get my money back ?

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    Player OzFUB's Avatar
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    How will WF use the $ when we win and successfully claim costs off the ARU?

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    Legend Contributor Alison's Avatar
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    I will gladly contribute but it really, really sticks in my craw that the ARU has spent millions and millions keeping the Rebels afloat and stuff all on us.

    They are the ultimate boardroom bully. They know they have far more money than we do and hope that by stringing out the legal action we'll run out of cash and will have to call it a day.

    Well, over our dead bodies ARU!! You picked the wrong kid to bully, you halfwits!!

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    Proudly Western Australian; Proudly supporting Western Australian rugby

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    Happy to contribute but pockets not as full as before--already have put in for OTForce. Are we looking to find 650 000 by next weeks arbitration? I hope this isn't the dealbreaker-- running out of coins to put in the legal machine.

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    Immortal GIGS20's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Alison View Post
    I will gladly contribute but it really, really sticks in my craw that the ARU has spent millions and millions keeping the Rebels afloat and stuff all on us
    Less than stuff all on us, not a single loan in 12 years, Fine us whenever we come up with a way of redressing the depth imbalance and pay spineless twats like genia to keep them away from us. I'd say we've done a pretty good job of funding the rest of Australian rugby.

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    To those that have asked if money will be refunded once we get money from ARU.

    I will ask Lavan that question.

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    Immortal Contributor jono's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Hansie View Post
    To those that have asked if money will be refunded once we get money from ARU.

    I will ask Lavan that question.
    if*

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