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Thread: RA to launch interim comp, Western Force to be included

  1. #46
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    Its a good position to be in, and we always knew this day would come when potentially we would hold the upper hand in RA discussions. Mark Evans and Twiggy need to be cut throat in this situation and dig their heels in until RA agree to specific terms that suit the Force franchise for a change, or simply pull the pin. I think we have all accepted that we are no longer apart of SuperRugby so we may as well force RA's hand by being firm negotiators. Unless we get something out of this I see no reason to be helping RA or Australian rugby out. They culled us, almost closed down our IP, and now want a handout or us to pay for our participation. They are a bunch of psychopaths borderlining on insane, to expect anything from WA when we get as much as South Australia in grants is an abomination. Fuck the east coast rugby, they made their bed now they can lie in it. And can we make Rob Clarkes resignation one of our many terms for a handout from us too...

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  2. #47
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    Quote Originally Posted by Ham105 View Post
    Who will pay if Western Force awakens?

    WAYNE SMITH
    SENIOR SPORT WRITER
    9:28 PM MAY 12, 2020

    Who will foot the bill for the Western Force to compete with the four “official” Australian franchises in the rebooted Super Rugby-Lite competition expected to kick off in early July — Andrew Forrest, Rugby Australia or both?

    It hardly needs to be said that RA is broke and even when World Rugby’s COVID-19 rescue package of around $16-17 million arrives, it will be swallowed up in meeting the organisation’s mountain of debt. RA is cobbling together an Australian-only competition in place of the standard Super Rugby series and it needs the Force – and perhaps even the Sunwolves of Japan – to bolster the number of competing teams. In doing so, it has engaged the Force almost from day one of planning.

    Until now, the issue of who would pay for the Force’s presence has been sidestepped but the tough question can be avoided no longer. The fact that RA plans to announce details of its competition either later this week or early next means that the matter must be resolved, but just to make the issue crystal clear, the Western Force on Tuesday issued a “clarification” that it had not been officially invited to join any series and that, until it was invited, it would be keeping its options open.

    The “clarification”, issued by Global Rapid Rugby’s chief executive Mark Evans, could have been discretely handled in a phone call. But clearly Forrest wants the matter brought to a head.

    It may be that the Perth billionaire just wants to hear RA grovel. Given that his beloved Force were culled from Super Rugby by RA – then known as the Australian Rugby Union – in 2017, Forrest would be fully entitled to make the most of holding the upper hand. All indications are that he may be prepared to foot the bill for Force, given that he would have had to cover far greater costs had his Global Rapid Rugby taken off this season as planned, only to be scuttled by the coronavirus.

    Or, he might genuinely feel that since RA is somehow finding the means to fund the entry of its four Super Rugby sides, they should even-handedly meet the costs of the WA side as well.

    As much as he is must be enjoying his position of strength, Forrest also would be excited at the chance that unexpectedly has opened up for the Force to compete again alongside the Brumbies, Reds, Rebels and Waratahs in even a Super Rugby-Lite competition. Although Force coach Tim Sampson is not treating the upcoming series as an audition for an even greater role in a potential trans-Tasman series next year, there is no question that if the Perth side performs well it will open the door for a permanent return to the mainstream Australian rugby family. There is, still the potential that Forrest will play the role of white knight and financially rescue Australian rugby.

    He was aligned to the goals of Peter Wiggs, the RA director who resigned suddenly even as moves continued to have him replace Paul McLean as chairman.

    Another front opened in that battle on Tuesday when the 10 dissident Wallabies captain sent a letter to McLean warning that they might revive their earlier call for an emergency general meeting if RA did not abide by commitments Wiggs had made as the presumptive RA chairman.

    Wiggs had taken a meeting with key agitators Nick Farr-Jones, Phil Kearns and Justin Harrison on April 27.

    If that situation turns ugly and RA’s attempts to claw its way back into solvency fall short, it could be that Forrest ends up being the only port in the storm for Australian rugby.

    It’s for that reason that RA does not want to provoke him now with a demand that he meets all the Force’s costs but it literally may have no option but to admit that without his assistance, there is no way it can put together a five-team competition before it has received any of the broadcast dollars the game so desperately needs.

    The other complication in all of this is that it is looking increasingly unlikely that the Sunwolves will be allowed to compete if the federal government refuses them permission to enter the country. RA is pressing Canberra for an answer but if the government decides to keep the international borders closed, the pressure will intensify on RA to make certain the Force take their place in the competition.

    Although the Rebels will not have their medical briefing from Warren McDonald, RA’s chief medical officer until Thursday, it looks almost certain that no player in any of the provinces will object to having a flu shot before the start of competition.

    https://www.theaustralian.com.au/spo...26074871635661
    Tell him he's dreaming!

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  3. #48
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    NSW Rugby distances itself from move towards rebellion

    WAYNE SMITH
    SENIOR SPORT WRITER
    MAY 14, 2020

    The 5pm Thursday deadline set by the 10 dissident Wallabies captains for Rugby Australia to give them assurances that the promises made by presumptive RA chairman Peter Wiggs would be honoured despite his resignation, passed on Thursday night with no action from the governing body.

    But if the captains intend to follow through on their implied threat to call an emergency general meeting, they will have to rely on a state other than NSW to propose or second the motion for an EGM, as NSWRU chairman Roger Davis on Thursday night said his state was not involved.

    “Not us,” said Davis. “I think it would be one of the minnows.”

    Almost certainly the Rugby Union Players Association would be at the forefront of calls for an EGM, but unlike in 2017, when the Melbourne Rebels supported them in a bid to bring the culling crisis to a head, it would need to be Western Australia or one of the other “southern states” that would need to step up to force a constitutional crisis.

    “I would assume one of those minor states would give them the vote to call an EGM,” Davis said. “But then it gets real tricky by then as everyone’s agenda starts to diverge. You’ve got the captain’s 10 points, and (RA) board representation from WA and RUPA want the financials released and someone else will want this and no one is quite sure that everyone will vote for their agenda.”

    Davis has been one of the leading agitators for change but he was talking like one of the moderates as he discussed whether an EGM was what the game needed right now.

    READ MORE:Captains ramp up pressure on RA chairman|Force face move east for Super inclusion

    “The other thing is that the meaningful stuff is really being addressed as we speak,” said Davis, who was well aware that the RA board was meeting by Zoom to discuss a “jam-packed agenda” that included a return to play, the World Rugby ExCo meeting in Dublin at which the Australian COVID-19 rescue package was set to be signed off, and the probable elevation to the RA board of Hamish McLennan. “We’ve seen the financial numbers and they’re bloody grim and I really don’t need an EGM to see more numbers.

    “We (NSW) had a board meeting the other day and we made sure our board members knew this (the EGM) was being proposed. Clearly we will reserve our rights but we haven’t committed. The opposition is not for lack of trying … to get anything through they can’t do it with their two or four votes. They need the big swingers from the east coast to get behind them and I don’t think they have anyone. They haven’t got Queensland, they haven’t got us, they haven’t got the Brumbies and they haven’t got the Rebels. So they are going nowhere but it’s a useful threat.”

    One school of thought was that an EGM could prove cathartic for Rugby Australia, an opportunity to dump everything on the table, deal with it, and then move on in whatever shape the meeting determined. Still, the countervailing belief is that RA and the general rugby community have had their fill of politics and the sensible outcome would be to allow interim RA chairman Paul McLean and his board to start bringing the code back to life at professional and community levels.

    One by one, the roadblocks to a return — the likely date is July 4 — with the Queensland Rugby Union reporting that the last player seemingly holding out to have the flu injection has now had the shot. That means all four Super Rugby squads now have had their shots, leaving the way clear for all of them to resume training in groups of 10. Queensland have put a hold on their first session until Monday, awaiting the approval of the state government.

    Yet until Fox Sports signs off on whatever competition RA has planned for the remainder of this year — and it has no obligation to put up much money or indeed any money at all if it sees fit — all the planning could come crashing down in an instant.

    As for how next season will shape up, all is likely to be revealed by a Zoom conference of SANZAAR next Tuesday. But until Australia joins NZ and South Africa in signing a broadcast deal, its hopes of a largely trans-Tasman competition will rest almost completely on the respective national governments maintaining restrictions on international travel.

    WAYNE SMITH SENIOR SPORT WRITER

    https://www.theaustralian.com.au/spo...6272481362c789

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  4. #49
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    That Roger Davis is a slippery fellow.

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    Force face move east for Super inclusion

    Jessica Halloran
    Chief Sports Writer
    May 13, 2020


    The Western Force may have to relocate to the eastern seaboard if they join the revamped Super Rugby competition.

    There is no certainty the Force will take part in the domestic competition with Force bosses still in discussions with Rugby Australia about what the cost will be to join the domestic competition.

    But if an agreement is reached with the Andrew “Twiggy” Forrest owned franchise it will most likely be based on the east coast due to the Western Australia government’s hardline COVID-19 border restrictions.

    If the five-team competition goes ahead it could be composed of 10 rounds with four home and four away games plus two byes.

    RA hopes the competition will start in July but it is contingent on a vital broadcast agreement and interim chief executive Rob Clarke confirmed to The Australian that he has “reached out” to Fox Sports bosses to reignite the partnership.

    RA is also currently without a broadcast deal beyond 2020 after the previous chief executive Raelene Castle walked away from a $US25m ($38.53m) , five-year offer last November from Fox Sports.

    Clarke, who is expected to play a key role in broadcast negotiations, said he is still finalising RA’s approach to securing a new TV deal.

    “How we shape the future of our broadcast negotiations is still being resolved,” he said. “We have had consultants historically which have been a key part of the team, and we have our own internal team. We have a lot of others who will proffer their views … externally and internally … so there’s no shortage of views about what should be done in this space and it’s my challenge to distil that and work out how the best way to move forward is.”

    Clarke added the financial rescue package from World Rugby is to be approved imminently.

    He said he had been in contact with World Rugby to secure the $16-17m to pull them part of the way out of a financial black hole.

    RA is looking at well over $20m in liabilities having spent $500m over the past four years with no assets to show for it.

    “We have had numerous meetings with World Rugby over the last week,” Clarke said. “The process is well advanced, I hope to have a positive resolution on that within a matter of days.

    “They have seen all of our financials, they have seen all of our future assumptions, that’s been part of that assessment.”

    Clarke maintains RA is a “going concern” and said his focus is securing the financial future of the beleaguered code.

    “My focus is purely and simply on what we need to do to secure our financial future for today and tomorrow,” he said. “World Rugby is a part of that. Getting our accounts signed as a going concern for the next 12 months is a key part of that. I’d like to think we will have resolution on all those elements in the next week or so.”

    When asked if the game was insolvent Clarke replied: “No”.

    He also said RA was not “facing insolvency’’.

    “I don’t believe so,” Clarke said.

    Instead of a straight-out loan, World Rugby is planning to give struggling member nations an advance payment on their share of the profits from the next World Cup, to be held in France in 2023.

    RA’s auditors, KPMG, said via spokeswoman that they don’t comment on client’s accounts.

    Jessica Halloran Chief Sports Writer

    https://www.theaustralian.com.au/spo...a5107f2b77b51e

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  6. #51
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    ... as is Rob Clarke

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  7. #52
    Veteran Bakkies's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Ham105 View Post
    That Roger Davis is a slippery fellow.
    There are certain four letter words you could use to describe him.

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    'I may be a Senator but I am not stupid'


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  8. #53
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    ..........more blah, blah, blah, blah, blah............. more usual BS from the rats nest. Status quo as per usual.

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  9. #54
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    Quote Originally Posted by Ham105 View Post
    what the cost will be to join the domestic competition.
    Well I certainly hope to fuck the force aren't galactic ally stupid enough to PAY for the privilege of pulling Rob Clarke's arse out of the fire!

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    C'mon the

  10. #55
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    Well, yeah. There has to be quid pro quo for the Force.

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  11. #56
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    A minimum of 20% of the finances would be my call

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    C'mon the

  12. #57
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    If the Force play in this thing, by no means certain, chances are it means relocation.

    Eagles, Dockers could be in a similar boat.

    A lot of hurdles yet for WA sports teams.

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  13. #58
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    Not us,” said Davis. “I think it would be one of the minnows.”

    It’s nice to see how NSW sees other participating states in “their” game.

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    Generally speaking you aren’t learning much if your lips are moving!!!

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    If Clarke “doesn’t believe” that RA is facing insolvency and is confident it is still a going concern, then why doesn’t he release the 2019 accounts to the member unions at least? It’s bullshit. Weasel words.

    If KPMG - who have been their auditor mates for years - won’t sign the audit certificate, there is something seriously wrong with those accounts that can’t be hidden, even by Clarke.

    If the Force do decide to team up with RA for 2020, it had better be on the Force’s terms and in a contract that the Minderoo lawyers have drawn up and have ensured contains no last minute Trojan horse additions by RA as happened with the 2016 Alliance Agreement.

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  15. #60
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    Quote Originally Posted by Alison View Post
    If Clarke “doesn’t believe” that RA is facing insolvency and is confident it is still a going concern, then why doesn’t he release the 2019 accounts to the member unions at least? It’s bullshit. Weasel words.
    Clarke can't publicly admit to believing anything different because once he forms a belief that the business is no longer a going concern he then becomes liable for any trading whilst insolvent penalties.

    This spin allows him the plausible deniability of saying he wasn't presented an accurate picture and it certainly looked like a going concern right up until he realised it wasn't at which point he put the business into voluntary liquidation.

    The only other option he might have is the promised loan from World Rugby, he could be basing his lies on that and, if it doesn't save their bacon until the end of the reporting cycle all he needs to say is that they had budgeted for it to be more than they got.


    You gotta read any of Clarke's comments with the arsehole shyster that he is in mind. I tend to look for what he's NOT saying

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