I am saddened by the cutting of the Western Force and the impact this will have on rugby generally in this country and in particular in growth area like WA. I am pretty calm and chilled about it all though as I think I had come to the realisation of the utter mismanagement of the ARU the professional game is going to the crapper and with their limited capabilities / strategic foresight and immense financial strain professional game under I could see them only taking this option (more because of what the ARU as organisation represents in terms of its limited capabilities and/or ability to execute proper strategic management that this would be the only option it would and could take).
I really had some weeks ago switched off the professional game due to inpet way seen ARU gone about this, and will still watch Wallabies and oz team Super Rugby team matches on TV (but not with great fervour as have in past seasons). But I am doubtful like seasons past go to live Tahs and Wallaby games as the whole sorry business lost me a while ago (and hence first time in 10 seasons not gone to a Tahs game). I will however watch more Shute shield and keep up my interest in NRC games.
I just don't see the professional game having any future in this country while we have such an inept organisation in place called the ARU running our game. So cutting my losses.
If the ARU are removed and replaced by another body with fresh faces and rebranded I 'may' be more interested in going back to the level of support I use to provide our professional teams but just completely disinterested at this point.
Well done ARU as there are so many rusted on fans like me you have turned away from the professional game. If ever a justification for a complete clean out of an organisation and to start again, the ARU is the classic candidate.
Unlike South Africa which has come up with a Plan B that actually makes the professional game stronger in South Africa there will be no such plan for the ARU as they are completely incompetent and unfit to run any major sport, let alone our own diminishing game that have helped to make so minor and insignificant.
RIP Rugby and well done to the ARU for putting the final nail into our ability to be a great professional rugby nation.
Fully understand Nutter, and like the passion.
I watched the NZ sides this year in SUper more than I did the Australian sides because they played some good rugby. No Australian side played anything more than a 50 minute game this year, and that wasn't a complete rugby performance with so many glaring holes in skills.
I have gone back to Club Rugby for my weekly fix of decent rugby and it has been good. Super Rugby regardless of how many teams are involved is rubbish in Australia, the teams have under performed badly, all of them, some like the Tahs with less excuse than others, but nobody has any excuses for the prolonged rubbish they have served up, and no one season performances after which they believe their own hype are just not good enough to sustain the levels of expenditure the players, administrators and hangers on expect.
I do not gloat at all, but this situation has been coming for years, it is just the Force who have seen the axe fall first. The ARU would try to sell you the proverbial pig in a poke and tell you now that Rugby will be sustainable in Australia, but they have not addressed the core issues ever, or even acknowledged the existence. Will cutting the Force improve the sustainability of the Tahs, Reds, Brumbies or especially the Rebels? Of course not, but lets kick the can down the road a bit further and milk those last drops from the cow as she bleats her last.
We still have four unsustainable sides in a competition that has a serious disconnect with the fan base.
