ARU statement in response to Andrew Forrest Media Conference
The Australian Rugby Union (ARU) has rejected claims made by Perth businessman Andrew Forrest today that its process to reduce one Australian team from Super Rugby has been a “charade” and that a decision was made to exit the Western Force “in February”.
ARU Chairman, Cameron Clyne said: “The decision to discontinue the Super Rugby licence of the Western Force was made by the ARU Board on August 11, 2017, and this was communicated publicly immediately when that decision was made.
“For the record, RugbyWA has been provided several opportunities to put its best business case for the Western Force to the ARU Board, from April 10 right up until our final request for this information on August 2, 2017.
“Andrew, in his press conference this morning, referred to a document or documents which indicated that a decision had been made to remove the Western Force in February. This was not the case and there are no documents which contain this information.
“At various stages of this process, the ARU Board has requested recommendations and information from ARU management to assist in making its decision.
“I can only assume that Andrew has been provided with a document that contains some of the analysis that was undertaken by ARU management at the request of the Board, to assess the many implications and considerations for exciting each of the three teams we originally assessed, which included the Brumbies, Melbourne Rebels and Western Force.
“As we have previously announced, there was an extensive analysis conducted on each of these teams and one of the key issues we assessed was the legal risks associated with any decision to exit one of those teams.
“These legal risks were factored into our decision but the Board still had options outside of legal avenues to pursue its course to remove a team.
“At its April 9, 2017, meeting in Sydney, the ARU Board decided to further assess those options for the Force and the Melbourne Rebels.
“Around this date, ARU commenced discussions with the Melbourne Rebels owners with a view to assessing the option of acquiring the Melbourne Rebels licence. These discussions were confidential so we are not able to disclose the exact details. The Western Force Super Rugby licence was owned by ARU.
“Very late in the process, and at a time after the ARU Board requested a “best and final” position from the Western Force, the Melbourne Rebels licence was sold to the Victorian Rugby Union. Our discussion with the Melbourne Rebels owners had continued until this date, August 4, 2017.
“It was after this event, on August 4, 2017, that ARU did not have the option to acquire the Melbourne Rebels licence.
Clyne reaffirmed that Mr Forrest’s offer of support came too late in the process for it to be a factor in the Board’s decision.
“Andrew’s offer, which was incredibly generous, was not made until after the Board’s decision had been made.”
ENDS
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