0
If he goes ahead what about the IRB I thought they said unless the useless Rats arse were behind the IPRC then it's a no go..
Is it possible for World Rugby to reprimand or penalize any of the other nations interested in the IRPC if Twiggy does end up going down the Rebel competition route?
IRB Said without Rat's Arse endorsement they wouldn't endorse it, but that doesn't necessarily slam the door.
Twiggy might just get pissed off enough to run it as a Rebel League, that is the nuclear option, but it could hardly be characterised as anything other than a retaliatory strike.
the IRB endorsement is most likely tied to the "Home Union" for the competition, If Twiggy is looking to host it as an Australian league that other nations compete in then he would need RA approval to do so. The game probably changes if he gains the approval of the Hong Kong Union to run it as a Hong Kong league that a West Australian team competes in. In that instance I would assume that RA would need to endorse the team for it to play in a league that is ties to the IRB.
If this is the way it goes, I can't see any downside for Twiggy, RA has already given in-principle agreement to the Force participating in IPRC, their only apparent complaint is the supposed massive player drain from Super Rugby. therefore they've binned any prospect of Wallaby Eligibility etc. If the players choose to play IPRC, it's no different from playing in Europe, however they're closer to home, playing in a friendlier timezone and still unable to play for the Wallabies. There's plenty of good young players already making that decision in the prime of their careers so that's not going to hurt that much.
The last Option is to set up the whole thing as an overseas comp. Have a Western Force, but don't headquarter either the comp or the team in Perth. By far the least preferable, but probably the path of least resistance. RA would basically have no legal leg to stand on if the Western Force play out of Denpasar. Twiggy only needs to negotiate with friendly unions and governments who will be gaining tourism dollars, so the setup would happen in no time (comparatively)
The downside would be no home games in Perth and limited chances of getting one, since RA would need to endorse it. If Twiggy is forced to go that way, I'd suggest the relationship would be.......strained. Not sure how much impact a State Government who could see potential tourism dollars and support for the game scoring them political points could have, but I'd expect we'll only be watching them on Ali Baba Sport channel (which would out rate Foxtel for sports broadcasting in WA since nobody gets Fox for the Footy!)
C'mon the
Or they just set each team up as an independent company. They do lots of good work on rugby development, become a sponsor of the local Union, some of the local (amateur) union members might even work for them as a day job, but the same organisation...absolutely not, heaven forfend, honestly guv!
The sport ran for a century as shamateurs. I'm sure they could manage it again.
Potential backers of Asian franchises might be wary of a rebel league if they have existing business relationships with governments and/or unions too (e.g. Jack Ma to the tune of US$100 million since that's a name people like to throw around on here).
Certainly that's one of the risks of a small r rebel league, however this being the expensive option I don't think it's going to be the preferred pathway.
I would guess, if they went that way, they would cover any financial loss the unions might suffer, that sort of stuff. Along with setting up rebel reffing panels and all the other infrastructure, is what would make it so expensive.
I personally ama fan of just getting Hong Kong rugby to endorse it to the IRB and then 90% of the problems disappear.
C'mon the
If they were going to do that, they should have thought things through more and done it first time around. Wouldn't fly now...would just be an obvious workaround.