Force caught in sponsorship crisis
Force caught in sponsorship crisis
By Wayne Smith
May 19, 2008
WESTERN Force officials insist that "issues" with the Firepower company's private sponsorship of four of their players can be resolved before they lead to any dissension within the club.
It is understood the four players, believed to be Matt Giteau, Drew Mitchell, Cameron Shepherd and Ryan Cross, are in danger of not receiving their full entitlements under the terms of the third-party agreements with the company that helped lure them to the west.
Inevitably, the problem has been linked with the National Basketball League crisis, with the Sydney Kings, whose owner, Tim Johnston - a one-third owner and chairman of Firepower, a fuel technology company - is in danger of being stripped of his licence for defaulting on payments to players and staff.
However, corporate sources have said the two matters are not directly linked and that the other principals of Firepower have committed to honouring all arrangements with Force players.
New Force chief executive Greg Harris said he had made settling this issue a high priority.
"At the moment I've walked into a situation that requires a little tender loving care," Harris said.
"I'm fairly confident the issue we have with Firepower and its commitments can be rectified."
Harris has spoken to the players involved, both individually and collectively, and also with their managers.
It is understood that to date all quarterly payments have been met but that Firepower has asked for more time to pay the next instalments.
Asked if the Force would make good any shortfall to the players, Harris replied: "If there was a shortfall - and I am not saying there is - we are not in a position to make it up.
"That's outside the (contracting) protocols."
But he insisted the Force would do everything in their power to ensure the problem did not affect the players.
"The welfare of our players is our number one priority. Everything will be done to safeguard their welfare."
While the third-party sponsorship payment is not looming as a major problem, it has coincided with a major internal review of all aspects of the Force's performance this season, in which the Perth side performed brilliantly on the road early only to finish in eighth place, one rung lower than in 2007.
Coach John Mitchell said he would be reviewing the player list, coaching and organisational structures and the high performance area.
"I expected us to be a little further ahead of where we finished this season," said Mitchell, whose side at least ended their campaign on a high, beating the Brumbies 29-22 at Subiaco Oval on Friday night.
"I don't deny we wasted an opportunity this year and I want to improve the standards of the club, both on and off the field."
Given the two crises that hit the club just before the start of the Super 14 - the first where players were found to have mistreated quokkas on a trip to Rottnest Island, the second when Matt Henjak and Haig Sare were involved in a punch-up that saw the former Wallabies halfback sacked and Sare suspended for eight weeks while he nursed a broken jaw - it was extraordinary how well the Force did early.
After a narrow loss to the Sharks in Durban, the Force accounted for the Cheetahs and Lions and almost beat the Crusaders before their first victories on New Zealand soil, against the Blues and Highlanders.
But a mid-season slump coinciding with the loss of Giteau to a head knock sent the Force into a tailspin. While Mitchell accepts the loss of Giteau as the fortunes of the game, he remains angry that the Australian Rugby Union continues to cram the contracting period into the Super 14.
"It's just ridiculous that team culture is exposed to selfishness because players are having to consider their own situation rather than think of the team," he said.
"I don't blame the players. I blame the system that forces them to be selfish. Clearly there is a better window for contracting around October-November."
The Force will stage a seven-match tour of Britain in August, playing major fixtures against Newcastle, Saracens, Northampton and Leicester as well as against three academy sides.
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