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WATCH: Details emerge about Perth's breakaway rugby competition
By Online Editors
Perth mining billionaire Andrew Forrest surprised many with his seemingly out of the blue idea for an independent rugby competition based out of Western Australia.
However, according to Brett McKay on The Short Ball, plans have advanced to a stage where the Force will be apparently playing an international side in the near future.
McKay's revelations did little to quell the skepticism of Short Ball hosts Scotty Stevenson and Mils Muliaina, whose facial expressions speak volumes.
While examples of breakaway competitions historically working do exist, they are few and far between. The most obvious parallel to what Forrest is proposing would be World Series Cricket in the 1970's, which was headed by Australian media baron Kerry Packer. However, the main difference between the introduction of one-day cricket and a new rugby competition is the fact that one was new and the other is not.
The fact is that the Force, while popular in Perth, are not the sort of drawcard that can anchor an entire competition - especially in an Australian rugby market that is already struggling.
It'll be fascinating to watch the reaction to the Wallabies when they run out onto nib Stadium, in front of a crowd that have made it clear that they're fed up with the way the game is being run.
LISTEN TO THE FULL PODCAST:
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Latest Comments
GB is England, Scotland, Wales. They are the 3 constituent countries in Great Britain. Ergo playing only those three countries is a tour of GB. The difference between GB and the UK is Northern Ireland. It's not a huge deal to be accurate and call places by their correct name. But please refrain from your idiotic attempts to BS that GB=UK. It doesn't.
Go to commentsThe 2023 draw was only criticized when it became apparent that the top 5 sides in the world were on the same side of the draw. Nowhere did they discuss the decision to backtrack to 2019 rankings which ensured that England and Wales (ranked #12 in 2023) were ranked top4.
The parties who trashed out the schedule were England Rugby, NZ Rugby and ITV. It is bordering on corrupt that a Rugby nation has the power to schedule its opponents to play a major match the week before facing them in a QF.
You won't find commentary by members of the relevant committees because a committee did not make the scheduling decision. I have never heard members of World Rugby speak out on the draw or scheduling issues.
For example in 2015 Japan were hammered by Scotland 4 days after beating SA. The criticism only happens after a cock up.
A fair pool schedule is pretty straightforward: The lowest two tanked teams must play on last pool day but not against each other. That means that TV can focus on promoting big matches with a Tier2 involved for that Friday.
Why does NZ Always get its preferred slot playing the hardest pool match on day 1?
Why do other teams eg France, Ireland, Scotland get so often scheduled to play a hard match the week before the QFs?
If you believe the rules around scheduling are transparent then please point me in the right direction?
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