Western Force could return to Super Rugby in 2021, according to players union

[The InnFORCEr]

Bret Harris | AAP
January 29, 2018 1:57PM


PLAYERS union boss Ross Xenos has foreshadowed the possibility of the Western Force returning to a revamped Super Rugby competition in 2021.

Rugby Australia axed the Force for financial reasons last September as Super Rugby reverted to a 15-team competition following an unsuccessful experiment with an 18-team format.

But there is uncertainty about whether the SANZAAR joint partnership between South Africa, New Zealand, Australia and Argentina will continue following the expiry of the current broadcast agreement in 2020.

Even if the SANZAAR partnership continues, the structure of the Super Rugby competition beyond 2020 could be very different.

With new Rugby Australia chief executive Raelene Castle visiting Western Australia this week to discuss the future of rugby in the state, Xenos believes it is important to keep the door open for the return of the Force or another professional rugby team from the west.

"I'm very optimistic about the re-integration of a professional West Australian team into whatever elite professional rugby competition Australian rugby participates in," Xenos said.

"The uncertainty over the Super Rugby model beyond 2020 means we can't afford to narrow our focus or to take any options off the table.

"One of the models that has been speculated for 2021 is: could Australian rugby pursue a domestic competition where we have no matches with South African or New Zealand teams as part of the regular season?

Xenos said West Australian mining magnate Andrew Forrest's proposed Indo Pacific Rugby Championship, expected to kick off in March next year, could help to provide an alternative competition model for Super Rugby.

"(The IPRC) is a great opportunity for Australian rugby to be involved in professional rugby competitions beyond our involvement in Super Rugby, which has the potential to create an array of strategic opportunities for the game at the expiry of the current broadcast deal at the end of 2020," Xenos said.

"Playing more games in our time-zone and against teams which our fan base has tribalism with is an important part of any future decision-making.

"The opportunity to explore new teams into the Pacific Islands and into Asia as the Indo Pacific Rugby Championship is cultivating presents great opportunity for Australia to have other alternatives for 2021, which might involve playing New Zealand and South African teams less in order to deliver more engaging local content, which is what we need to ensure our rugby economy can thrive moving forward."

https://www.perthnow.com.au/sport/we...-ng-b88728150z

[fulvio sammut]

In this I'm reading:

"Let's get involved in this IPRC thingy and take it away from RugbyWA before it gets off the ground, just in case Super Rugby dies in the arse and we're left swinging. That Forrest guy has pots of money and he'll switch it to us instead if we get control.

We can promise those Force dopes whatever they want to hear about returning to Super Rugby, and then shaft them again. They'd believe anything, just like before."

[boof1050]

Fark OFF Ross you did a shady deal with the devil! When the shit hits the fan you suddenly want to engage with the only state who wasn't being shady all these years. Lie in your dirty farken bed you dog!!!

[AndyS]

Yep, not far removed from my reading, Fulvio. I'd add "Let's slow this thing down, as the last thing we need is it happening in 2019. String it out long enough that they can't be ready, so that we'll get a feeling for how things are going with the next SR contract before anything gets off the ground. If SR looks to be going south, we can get on board the IPRC train and make sure we run the whole show. If it looks like we can live with the next version of SR, we'll fob them off further or just kill it."

[Kiap]

Yeah, I'm fairly skeptical.

Let's see ClyneCo approve the IPRC now, no holds barred, for 2019 first.

Then these guys might get a hearing on 2021.

[Kalahard]

Rugby in this country is stuffed seeing as it took this long for Rats Arse and turncoat Xenos to realise booting the Force out of Super Rugby and turning down Twiggys generosity was a mistake. Dickheads.

No doubt NSW and QLD are lobbying hard behind the scenes to get their grubby hands on Twiggy’s money. Should have thought about that before you shafted us at the EGM.

Twiggy has the power, Twiggy has the money. It will be on our terms if it happens. We won't be getting screwed over ever again.

[FingerTips]

In this I'm reading:
We can promise those Force dopes whatever they want to hear about returning to Super Rugby, and then shaft them again. They'd believe anything, just like before."

Reminds me of

[Darkness]

In this I'm reading:

"Let's get involved in this IPRC thingy and take it away from RugbyWA before it gets off the ground, just in case Super Rugby dies in the arse and we're left swinging. That Forrest guy has pots of money and he'll switch it to us instead if we get control.

We can promise those Force dopes whatever they want to hear about returning to Super Rugby, and then shaft them again. They'd believe anything, just like before."

Yep, read it the same way in bold and underlined. They are not subtle about it. RUPA were hopeless during the force culling and just looking to position themselves into the future thinking people have short memories. Politics at work.

[.X.]

why the hell would we want to go back to Super Rugby

Super Rugby is rooted.

[Kiap]

rooted

Word

[westies man]

The players union dogged us, they can shove Super rugby up their arse.

[shasta]

RUPA has always been run by a bunch of Sydney private school prefects. They have been there to protect the Wallaby top-up system and to thwart any efforts at talent equalisation. They offered nothing bar empty words on behalf of the Force players nor the Melbourne blokes who were shown the door. With an "honour" board that reads Mumm, Kafer, Robinson, Harrison....Hodgo must have been as popular as a pork chop at Eid.

[Bakkies]

Dean Mumm to be far has only been there a few months and has already spoken in support of the IPRC.

RUPA did prove a number of us right by screwing more money out of the RA who lied about being close to insolvency, money saved on cutting the Force won't go to the grassroots, that axing the Force will lead to players unemployed, no salary cap and bloated squads.

Pete Fairbairn from RUPA told me in an email response that the RA could never see that SA weren't going to axe to sides and instead sending them up to Europe which they have threatened to do for at least 10 plus years. Jurie Roux the SARU CEO confirmed at the Pro 14 launch in Cape Town which is up on You Tube that they had been in discussions with Celtic Rugby who run the competition for over a year at the time of the launch as they knew something was going to happen to Super Rugby.

That's how deluded and f..ked up the governing body and custodians of the game in Australia are. SARU had a plan B in their mind (at this point in time it is now over 18 months since SARU started talking to Celtic Rugby) yet the RA had nothing planned for the Force and the minutes confirmed that they had been planning to axe the Force since August 2016.

[fulvio sammut]

Super Rugby is rooted in self interest, corruption, duplicity and deception.

That's what you meant to say, wasn't it, Exile?

[GIGS20]

Hansie, John, listen carefully to me, because I don't think I'm isolated in my views.

DO NOT, UNDER ANY CIRCUMSTANCES ENTER A RELATIONSHIP WITH RUGBY AUSTRALIA TO PROVIDE A PROFESSIONAL FIRST-TIER RUGBY TEAM TO A TOP LEVEL COMPETITION.

I will not be buying a membership, since it would contravene my personal rule of doing everything in my power to ensure they don't receive a cent.

There is not enough crow to be eaten in this, and all parallel universes, to make me change my mind on that stance.

I don't trust them, I don't like them, I don't respect them, I'd rather our pathway be integrated with lower quality players who have values.

Asia and IPRC are the go, Eastern Australia is a rotting corpse