Terms of Reference for a Senate Inquiry into the Future of Rugby Union in Australia

[bootsetal06]

The good news for the Waratahs is they will definitely improve their position on the ladder next year up to at least 15th ???

[Jules]

I do hope something comes out even if it's just to say those tossers acted in a morally corrupt way and screwed over WA!

[mothy]

They have near create rugby genocide in the West. I struggle with it daily and feel discriminated against because of where I live.

[SNOB]

The love of rugby has been taken away from me! I would watch any test match that the Wallabies were playing no mater how bad the selection was/is but today I didn’t even bother and I have absolutely no interest in the European tests. I will read up on them but certainly won’t bother watching any apart from the England one and will then barrack for the poms.
If today’s Spirit game was the last WA rugby team to play in Western Australia that is the last Australian game of rugby I’ll be watching under this current board and system..

[Kiap]

I think you have to understand that from the beginning, the functionaries and The Board of the ARU did not think this one through.
For example, they did not war-game the possible scenarios which could arise when they try to cull a Super Rugby team.

Yeah. I also think they were emboldened by how easily they cut a team from the NRC a year earlier.

They were just too stupid to comprehend the differences.

When the Sydney Stars were punted before the 2016 season, Warren Livingstone was understandably pissed after he'd financially backed the team. He was bullied out, but the mechanism wasn't contestable because the Stars initial licence had expired and simply wasn't renewed.

I'm guessing Peter Playford and co weren't too gruntled by the action either but the Sydney Uni interests were placated by them taking over the Country Eagles instead. They still had a team.

The two-year old Stars only had a very small fan base and plenty of other rugby on their doorstep so there wasn't much of a speed hump there. And when a NSW team made the grand final the next year ... the Eagles beaten by the Spirit, of course :-) ... the axing looked like a successful manoeuvre to the ARU.

They tried to repeat the trick in WA but grossly underestimated the obstacles. Their stupidity and slippery dealings have trashed their already threadbare reputations, along with pro rugby in WA.

[Ham105]

The love of rugby has been taken away from me! I would watch any test match that the Wallabies were playing no mater how bad the selection was/is but today I didn’t even bother and I have absolutely no interest in the European tests. I will read up on them but certainly won’t bother watching any apart from the England one and will then barrack for the poms.
If today’s Spirit game was the last WA rugby team to play in Western Australia that is the last Australian game of rugby I’ll be watching under this current board and system..

Twiggy will keep us alive. Hang in there. We will get our revenge.

[Bakkies]

Last time I heard Playford talk he still isn't too happy about the Stars. The branding sucked and it was unlikely that they were going to get a fan base with Sydney Uni backing however they had a purpose. Now it is lead to another restructure with the NSW teams. Parramatta and Penrith are the main losers and I am not sure if West Harbour have an alignment.

Twiggy will keep us alive. Hang in there. We will get our revenge.

Twiggy has to, I can understand where SNOB is coming from. Hansie did mention a while back that the Spirit were part of the IP and the ARU parasites have said it in the press that they will find it hard to justify the costs in keeping a NRC side without a Super Rugby team to feed in to.

[blueandblack]

Last time I heard Playford talk he still isn't too happy about the Stars. The branding sucked and it was unlikely that they were going to get a fan base with Sydney Uni backing however they had a purpose. Now it is lead to another restructure with the NSW teams. Parramatta and Penrith are the main losers and I am not sure if West Harbour have an alignment.


Twiggy has to, I can understand where SNOB is coming from. Hansie did mention a while back that the Spirit were part of the IP and the ARU parasites have said it in the press that they will find it hard to justify the costs in keeping a NRC side without a Super Rugby team to feed in to.

and apparently no interest in finding alternative sources of funding (such as ...oh I dont know, "Own The Spirit" perhaps).

[mothy]

So now the season is over and WA have fought on bravely through near on rugby genocide in the west. To be dismantled so brutally and with little compassion from those at rugby head quarters is like a knife driven into the heart. 12years I’ve dedicated myself to watching every game at home as well as some away buying tickets to fly east. I as a fan feel discriminated against because of where I live.

I can’t just hop in a car and drive to a super rugby game which I was investing $450 approx a year to sit in my seat and watch my team win lose or draw. Buy the program which was $5, enjoy the company of fellow fans and even the friendly niggle and banter with the opposition. To see a game now I’d have to sit in front of an idiot box to watch a team who does not represent me in any form.

Some and not all I am aware will tell me to suck it up, but to those you have not lost your team, your thrill of getting kitted up as a supporter and joining others as we march to the gates with the anticipation that maybe we will win this one, knowing our team will give their all in their attempt to do so!

I hope the IPRC does come to something because without it I will invest my hard earned else where AFL is not far away here and I grew up on it -I’ve never hated it. It never abandoned me like Union has the 1991 wc inspired me to love the game yet some men in shirts and suit pants make me loathe the direction they have taken the sport. They have no idea the hurt and overall distrust we have for them.

I have just posted this in the roar, rugby.com.au and sent it to the west. Someone needs to know how it affects me and others. The emotional torment is real.

[Jules]

So now the season is over and WA have fought on bravely through near on rugby genocide in the west. To be dismantled so brutally and with little compassion from those at rugby head quarters is like a knife driven into the heart. 12years I’ve dedicated myself to watching every game at home as well as some away buying tickets to fly east. I as a fan feel discriminated against because of where I live.

I can’t just hop in a car and drive to a super rugby game which I was investing $450 approx a year to sit in my seat and watch my team win lose or draw. Buy the program which was $5, enjoy the company of fellow fans and even the friendly niggle and banter with the opposition. To see a game now I’d have to sit in front of an idiot box to watch a team who does not represent me in any form.

Some and not all I am aware will tell me to suck it up, but to those you have not lost your team, your thrill of getting kitted up as a supporter and joining others as we march to the gates with the anticipation that maybe we will win this one, knowing our team will give their all in their attempt to do so!

I hope the IPRC does come to something because without it I will invest my hard earned else where AFL is not far away here and I grew up on it -I’ve never hated it. It never abandoned me like Union has the 1991 wc inspired me to love the game yet some men in shirts and suit pants make me loathe the direction they have taken the sport. They have no idea the hurt and overall distrust we have for them.

I have just posted this in the roar, rugby.com.au and sent it to the west. Someone needs to know how it affects me and others. The emotional torment is real.

Perfectly put! It hits you at times every day 😢

[mothy]

Also posted it to Alan Jones, breakfast to sports talk on 6PR and trying to work out how to send it to ABC radio.

[Alison]

Echo that Mothy!! It feels a little like a bereavement.

[Cecilia]

So now the season is over and WA have fought on bravely through near on rugby genocide in the west. To be dismantled so brutally and with little compassion from those at rugby head quarters is like a knife driven into the heart. 12years I’ve dedicated myself to watching every game at home as well as some away buying tickets to fly east. I as a fan feel discriminated against because of where I live.

I can’t just hop in a car and drive to a super rugby game which I was investing $450 approx a year to sit in my seat and watch my team win lose or draw. Buy the program which was $5, enjoy the company of fellow fans and even the friendly niggle and banter with the opposition. To see a game now I’d have to sit in front of an idiot box to watch a team who does not represent me in any form.

Some and not all I am aware will tell me to suck it up, but to those you have not lost your team, your thrill of getting kitted up as a supporter and joining others as we march to the gates with the anticipation that maybe we will win this one, knowing our team will give their all in their attempt to do so!

I hope the IPRC does come to something because without it I will invest my hard earned else where AFL is not far away here and I grew up on it -I’ve never hated it. It never abandoned me like Union has the 1991 wc inspired me to love the game yet some men in shirts and suit pants make me loathe the direction they have taken the sport. They have no idea the hurt and overall distrust we have for them.

I have just posted this in the roar, rugby.com.au and sent it to the west. Someone needs to know how it affects me and others. The emotional torment is real.

That sums up everything that I'm feeling, in a much more eloquent way than I ever could. Thank you

[zimeric]

I hate the roar format like a maze trying to find relevent discussions. Which article did you post in mothy?

[UAUdiver1959]

Church did not help.....

From the Clyne Hansard transcript page 11.

Mr Clyne: We've covered it in a lot of our submissions in previous hearings, but at the end of the day, and I know there is a lot of interest in historical factors, Australian rugby has, like many sports, suffered financially, as you have fans now consuming sport in a different way, and there is no question that on-field performance is a crucial driver of revenue. Once we had made the decision to go to four teams, we were looking at which team of the two teams that were identified would put the best offer going forward. The clear reality is that we had received representations on many occasions from WA that they would come forward with a financial offer. It didn't occur when they went bankrupt. In fact, signing the alliance agreement back in 2016 was the last of our options. Why would we do that? It cost us $4 million. If we had some sort of conspiracy, we would have bankrupted the team at that point in time—we wanted them to survive".

RugbyWA was never 'Bankrupt'. Like all of the other clubs we just asked for an advance on the funds due in 2016. Its very strange that the Chairman of the ARU and an ex Banker would use such strong and misleading information at a Senate Inquiry? The ARU offered to purchase the Force IP for the $3+ million. In reality this whole thing should have cost the ARU zilch IF they just lent RugbyWA the money as requested.

"If we had some sort of conspiracy, we would have bankrupted the team at that point in time—we wanted them to survive".

They needed 5 teams under the ZANZAAR broadcasting agreement.

Why did the ARU not just allow the MRRU under Cox go into receivership? They knew one or two wealthy individuals had propped up the MRRU during this time, but that was a short term fix. By the way this was not Andrew Cox....he had spent all of the gifted ARU money. Spent/paid into unit trusts/kickbacks etc.

The easiest team to "cull" was the MRRU IF the ARU simply allowed them to go bankrupt.

We will not simply die, or drift off into the dark. We are angry, we have been cheated, mislead and without the good manners of a reach around.