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Where to for Twiggy Rugby?

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Rugbynutter39

Michael Lynagh (62)
Think Twiggy is in London for the World Rugby General Assembly. Maybe it's coming England time

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Success of pi nations in league World Cup has me worried. Twiggy’s Indo pacific comp is very timely to attempt to thwart rugby becoming less relevant in our region.


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kiap

Steve Williams (59)
Press release:

November 21, 2017

Indo Pacific Rugby Welcomes Asia Rugby Council Endorsement

Indo Pacific Rugby (IPR) welcomes the endorsement by Asia Rugby of the Indo Pacific Rugby Championship (IPRC) and, in particular, the unanimous support from all 31 Asia Rugby Council Member Unions.

IPR Chairman, Mr Andrew Forrest AO, congratulated Asia Rugby’s newly elected President, Mr Aga Hussain, acknowledging he had big shoes to fill from Mr Koji Tokumasu.

“We are thrilled to be working with Aga and his team, as we share the same vision: grow the rugby family throughout the Indo Pacific by promoting the values and collegiality of rugby and creating a new innovative product on, and off, the field,” Mr Forrest said.

Mr Michael Lynagh, IPR Ambassador, also endorsed the collective excitement about furthering collaboration with World Rugby to achieve its growth objectives in this key priority market. Mr Lynagh, a former Wallaby Captain, acknowledged the support of Mr Trevor Gregory, Asia Rugby’s World Council Member, as integral to this process and to ensuring rugby capitalises on this amazing opportunity.

“The IPRC is more than an exciting new club rugby competition. It is a platform to develop government, business and community relationships throughout the Indo Pacific region”

Ms Eugenie Buckley, Head of Commercial (IPR), said gender equality was a cornerstone of IPR values and this competition stands for.

“This is why we are providing a professional playing path for the best female players, around the world, to compete for an IPR club,” Ms Buckley said.

Ms Ada Milby, Asia Rugby’s new women’s representative to the World Rugby Council, supported this: “We will see the creation of our own rugby heroes, male and female, whom Asian fans can follow and aspire to be.”

As a proud West Australian, Mr Forrest is delighted that, with the introduction of the IPRC, there remains a professional playing, coaching and officiating path for local West Australian talent.

“It is so important to the local community that the best talent can stay and play their trade in Western Australia,” Mr Forrest said. “All Australians will be able to watch their heroes compete against the best in the world in a Perth time-friendly zone.” ENDS

https://www.iprugby.com/2017/11/indo-pacific-rugby-welcomes-asia-rugby-council-endorsement/
 

ForceFan

Chilla Wilson (44)
The Quick Facts from the above Press Release give some idea of the competition:

+ Indo Pacific Rugby Championship is the new premier, professional club rugby competition
+ Six clubs from six cities in the Indo Pacific region
+ Time zone that captures 60% of the world’s population
+ Region has 90% of economic market growth
+ Men’s and women’s XVs played as double headers on a home and away basis
+ Competition Window from February to May 2019
+ The competition comprises 10 rounds with a top four finals series (total of 12 weeks and 33 matches)
+ IPR will appoint two Marquee Players, per club, to be the faces of a global marketing promotional campaign
+ IPR will establish an Elite Player Pool of the best players from around the world to be allocated to IPR Club playing squads, where required, to supplement local talent
+ IPR is also staging both men’s and women’s Rugby 7s to be played on a tournament basis as part of an annual series
 

James Pettifer

Jim Clark (26)
The Quick Facts from the above Press Release give some idea of the competition:

+ Indo Pacific Rugby Championship is the new premier, professional club rugby competition
+ Six clubs from six cities in the Indo Pacific region
+ Time zone that captures 60% of the world’s population
+ Region has 90% of economic market growth
+ Men’s and women’s XVs played as double headers on a home and away basis
+ Competition Window from February to May 2019
+ The competition comprises 10 rounds with a top four finals series (total of 12 weeks and 33 matches)
+ IPR will appoint two Marquee Players, per club, to be the faces of a global marketing promotional campaign
+ IPR will establish an Elite Player Pool of the best players from around the world to be allocated to IPR Club playing squads, where required, to supplement local talent
+ IPR is also staging both men’s and women’s Rugby 7s to be played on a tournament basis as part of an annual series

Sounds good. Love the Rugby 7s - it is so undersold in Australia and really is Union's equivalent to 2020 cricket.
 

andrewM

Herbert Moran (7)
Something interesting just popped up
To All Rugby Fans, I would like to personally invite you and your club players, supporters, families and volunteers to join me in looking forward and coming together to take on the new chapter in Rugby in WA." SUNDAY DECEMBER 10TH between 10:00 and 12:00 noon UWA Rugby Club, McGillivray Oval Don't miss the big announcement of the Future of Western Australian rugby. This family friendly event will include fun for the whole family, with opportunities to meet Force players, Australian Youth Commonwealth Gold medallists, as well as activities including highball, Viva7s and kicking competitions. The first 1000 people receive a FREE T-shirt. Entry to this event is free, with all welcome. Celebrate Rugby in Western Australia and the be part of the announcement of the Future of Western Australian Rugby.

https://www.facebook.com/rugbywajun...785505884132/1928071773888829/?type=3&theater
 
T

TOCC

Guest
There won’t be a Western Force team at the Brisbane 10s, they won’t have the players for a competitive team so were withdrawn


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Shaker

Ron Walden (29)
rugbywa_juniors#Repost @seaofblueforce (@get_repost)
・・・
It is with great disappointment that I write to tell you we are going to have to postpone our Rugby Community event on 10 Dec.
We have now hit a major road block with Rugby Australia in relation to the endorsement of the Indo Pacific Rugby Championship. We are continuing negotiations, but the current RA position is so uncommercial & unreasonable that it ensures the failure of the IPRC before it even starts. We have been trying to meet with the Chair of the Rugby Australia working group but he is unavailable till next week even at this critical time.
It remains obvious to us after three months of continuous negotiations that RA doesn’t have the best interest of the WA rugby community at heart. RA’s demands include money to support East coast based programs rather than supporting the WA community, even as they are crippling our local rugby infrastructure. We will not be sending any more money over east, our money will remain for our people & to grow our game in WA.
We are not giving up – far from it. We will be moving the event to the new year to have a greater build up & focus on the celebration of the Rugby Community of WA.
Please rest assured that the future of rugby in WA is at the forefront of our minds & we are taking this time to sit down with Rugby WA, Rugby Juniors & Future Force & plan what the future will look like
As a professional rugby player, who is now not only a fan but also a coach & father, I know how important the game is to all. I will be doing everything I can to give the rugby community a positive future. The professionalism & enthusiasm that has mobilized behind our efforts to save WA rugby is beyond anything I have seen in all my years involved with the sport. I look forward to working with everyone to continue making rugby a success in WA.
Please maintain the hope & strength that makes the Sea of Blue the formidable force that has always fuelled rugby in this state. We have never backed down & remain strong because we have the biggest heart & passion for our game.
 

ForceFan

Chilla Wilson (44)
I wonder if we'll ever get to see the spreadsheet behind what's going on here.

So much for the EARU's undertakings to maintain the development pathway for WA-based Rugby players!
 

kiap

Steve Williams (59)
I might've called this a month ago …
If there's any chance they can get away with nixing this comp, I reckon they'll do so.

Why do you think they would want to stop it?

They don't want anyone cutting their lunch. That's how the ARU rolls.

There's "still a fair bit of talking to be done", and it will be delayed for as long as can be got away with … unless the blowtorch is sufficiently applied to the belly.

Clyne has sown a little seed – "it can’t in any way diminish or dilute club rugby, NRC, or Super Rugby" – to be used if needed.

And whichever calendar window is chosen, the IPR will overlap these comps.
 

half

Dick Tooth (41)
rugbywa_juniors#Repost @seaofblueforce (@get_repost)
・・・
It is with great disappointment that I write to tell you we are going to have to postpone our Rugby Community event on 10 Dec.
We have now hit a major road block with Rugby Australia in relation to the endorsement of the Indo Pacific Rugby Championship. We are continuing negotiations, but the current RA position is so uncommercial & unreasonable that it ensures the failure of the IPRC before it even starts. We have been trying to meet with the Chair of the Rugby Australia working group but he is unavailable till next week even at this critical time.
It remains obvious to us after three months of continuous negotiations that RA doesn’t have the best interest of the WA rugby community at heart. RA’s demands include money to support East coast based programs rather than supporting the WA community, even as they are crippling our local rugby infrastructure. We will not be sending any more money over east, our money will remain for our people & to grow our game in WA.
We are not giving up – far from it. We will be moving the event to the new year to have a greater build up & focus on the celebration of the Rugby Community of WA.
Please rest assured that the future of rugby in WA is at the forefront of our minds & we are taking this time to sit down with Rugby WA, Rugby Juniors & Future Force & plan what the future will look like
.
As a professional rugby player, who is now not only a fan but also a coach & father, I know how important the game is to all. I will be doing everything I can to give the rugby community a positive future. The professionalism & enthusiasm that has mobilized behind our efforts to save WA rugby is beyond anything I have seen in all my years involved with the sport. I look forward to working with everyone to continue making rugby a success in WA.
Please maintain the hope & strength that makes the Sea of Blue the formidable force that has always fuelled rugby in this state. We have never backed down & remain strong because we have the biggest heart & passion for our game.
I can tell a very similar story about Newcastle wanting to enter a team in the NCR before it got off the ground. The folks at Newcastle pulled out as the demand for money, who played, where they played, the coach etc was all done in Sydney HQ
 

mst

Peter Johnson (47)
In some respects I am wondering if this is heading towards the perfect storm. RA's grip on the game is potentially becoming increasingly tenuous as both this and other events continue to unfold. We might see the players weigh in given the chance with the CA yet to be sorted.

So you have a bloke locally that's got a $100mil war chest and support building in Asia who wants to see game being played. You would rightly figure at some point one of the current unions would be seriously thinking "future" considering that his budget is double the Super Rugby earnings. It could certainly help most Super Rugby franchise and thus their union to be in a far better position and you have to questioning the sanity of your continuing allegiance to the RA.

Would twiggy potentially realign his plans to start the IPRC comp with Aussie teams initially with a view of adding the Asian teams as they come on line? All it would take is one union to break ranks (especially if they were essentially bust) and the cards would start tumbling.

Its not inconceivable that the NRC could be the catalyst. With the WA team potentially gone and if one other team were to pull the pin the competition may start disintegrating
 

ForceFan

Chilla Wilson (44)
Rugby Australia put brakes on Twiggy Forrest’s grand plan

Wayne Smith The Australian 5 Dec 2017

The planned Indo Pacific Rugby Championship, into which Andrew “Twiggy” Forrest is scheduled to pump $100 million a year for the next 10 years, is in danger of falling over as talks with Rugby Australia grind to a halt.

A term sheet sent by RA to Forrest’s people sets out four pages of conditions that will have to be met before Australia will give its permission to the new competition. And unless RA signs off on the IPRC, then World Rugby has made it clear that, however much it wants a major competition in Asia, it will also withdraw endorsement.

In that event, Forrest could be forced to take his competition offshore — which defeats the initial purpose of providing some significant rugby in Perth following the closure of the Western Force — or to set up a rebel league.

Neither prospect greatly appeals to him but there clearly is growing exasperation with RA, with a spokesperson describing the latest term sheet — the third such document in three months of negotiation — as so restrictive that no investor would be prepared to accept the conditions. “We’re negotiating but there is little hope RA will be reasonable,” the spokesperson said.

A planned state-of-the-art Rugby Centre of Excellence in Perth, to which Forrest planned to contribute between $10m and $15m, has been placed on hold.

“There is no point having a high-performance centre without a high-performance competition,” she said. “We don’t know what it will turn into. It could be a community one in the future but for the moment it’s just on hold, sadly.”

Little by little, further details are coming out on the IPRC, including the fact that Forrest wants to fund the first professional women’s 15-a-side rugby competition in the world, as well as using his six competition centres — five in Asia as well as Perth — to host a men’s and women’s sevens competition annually.

It still has not been decided which five cities will host an IPRC franchise, but it is understood the list has been whittled down to 10. Each team will have a number of marquee players but that will vary from city to city, depending on the strength of the local competition. Japan, for example, might warrant only two marquee players, whereas a team based in India or China might have as many as 15.

Similarly, what access the IPRC is given to the club players around Australia has become a major sticking point. NSW has concerns for the Shute Shield, Queensland is prepared to allow a few players to join the new competition, while Canberra is taking a very entrepreneurial approach to the problem.

Nor has the fact that Forrest plans to invest $1 billion over the next 10 years necessarily impressed rugby authorities, with most of that money likely to pay for the establishment and playing rosters of Asian sides.

And that still leaves the major stumbling block of whether RA will enforce its existing rule that only players competing in Super Rugby will be eligible for the Wallabies. Forrest wants eligibility thrown open to the IPRC as well, but seemingly the best he can hope for is that overseas-based Wallabies repatriated to Australia to play in his competition might be granted eligibility on a person-by-person basis.

Until such details are finalised, it is unlikely that RA or World Rugby can give the IPRC the go-ahead. RA, indeed, believe it is acting with almost unseemly haste and it could be argued that Forrest would never have had such speedy access to World Rugby officials around the world had they not pulled strings for him.

As a businessman, however, Forrest works to an impatient “time is money” schedule. “I’m sure he thinks we’re stringing him along but by rugby standards this is all happening very quickly,” a RA negotiator said.

Former Western Force captain Matt Hodgson, who now is acting as a consultant for the IPRC, was asked what the group wanted to happen now. “

“Full endorsement,” he replied.

He also extended a welcoming hand to Quade Cooper and Nick Frisby, who have just been told by Queensland coach Brad Thorn that they are no longer needed.

“Everyone pays out people who go overseas of their own accord but then no one blows up at Australian rugby when they are forcing two greats away that may have had different interests from their coach,” Hodgson said.
 
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