Perth Spirit Under Threat

[Thequeerone]

this is a paraphrase of an article in this quarters Inside Rugby:

The ARC lost 4 million - most of the losses were incurred with the Melbourne Rebels teams - as the ARU has to cover a lot of relocation expenses - due to our location the Perth Spirit were the next most expensive team to support - therefore the ARU are "considering" axing both the Melbourne Rebels and us

Sniffs of - not QLD or Sydney therefore we don't want em all through this article - devastating reading

[Mtbeaver]

Dang.

[GIGS20]

Stupid, You'd kill the two emerging markets for rugby, and two of the semi finalists, keeping the two worst performed teams simply because Melbourne and Perth are emerging markets and therefore short on infrastructure?

I simply don't understand how such a short-term focused suggestion can even see the other side of the doors of an ARU board meeting, surely if we're that broke, the entire cup needs to be axed!

Maybe we need to improve the sponsorship of other aspects of the game (like the HPU) in order to top up the coffers of this vital resource.

[JediKnight]

Hopefully this is just negative spin from the NSW/Qld idiots that think the world revolves around them. I really don't think that the ARU are so short-sighted that they wouldn't have planned for the nationwide growth of the game, including short-term losses.

[James]

Hopefully this is just negative spin from the NSW/Qld idiots that think the world revolves around them. I really don't think that the ARU are so short-sighted that they wouldn't have planned for the nationwide growth of the game, including short-term losses.

I'm with JK on this about the negative spin. I was under the impression the Rebels did badly because a) they had to accomodate all of their players since they were interstate b) rugby is a new thing there and only die-hard supporters would have gone and c) they probably didn't advertise or spread the word particularly well (not that anyone else did much better). They planned for financial losses in the first 2-3 years (something like 6 million for that time and I think they lost 3-4 million this year) but you can't expect millions of sponsors to jump on the back of something in its infancy and experience will help streamline things and reduce costs. Add a bit of better marketing/advertising and it'll eventually become sustainable.

The Rugby heads in NSW and QL are probably just panicky and wanting to get things sustainable as soon as possible but it will severely cripple the quality of the competition and its future if that involves taking out the Spirit and Rebels.

[jono]

further on in ther article was plans to rename the ARC the VFL II

[KenyaQuin]

Reading the article in today's paper there appears to be a slightly different spin on all this with suggestion of cutting the no of teams from Queensland and/or NSW so hopefully its not all doom and gloom for the Spirit.

[jono]

i doubt that the spririt are under that much pressure. there one of the better teams. relegating them would take away from the competition

[The InnFORCEr]

I have been told that there will be an announcemnet from the ARU tomorrow about the ARC which could be "interesting" for us......of course you heard it here first on TWF!

[The Lone Hydrangea]

You would think that Melbourne especially are a future market, while here with our crew are passionate and vote with their feet. What about those stuffed shirts on the east coast whose teams done SFA. Give them the short shrift, not us.

[jono]

lol yeah we dont even have a stadium! go easy on us!!!

[Burgs]

I have been told that there will be an announcemnet from the ARU tomorrow about the ARC which could be "interesting" for us......of course you heard it here first on TWF!

Don't know if "interesting" ended up being the best descriptor TIF

[The InnFORCEr]

Don't know if "interesting" ended up being the best descriptor TIF

Hey, don't shot the messenger mate

I also think at the time I was told they were under the impression that Dave Hughes was, which was that there would be a restructured competition with us in it.

[Thequeerone]

Hey, don't shot the messenger mate

I also think at the time I was told they were under the impression that Dave Hughes was, which was that there would be a restructured competition with us in it.

Dave Hughes seemed to have got that impression from Geoff Stooke (at least that was who was quoted/ interviewed for that article) guess both these gentlemen would be as flabbergasted and upset as us about the actual decision as us.

Who honestly believes that 9-13 games a year is enough for the non-wallaby type rugby player - get more upset every time I think about it - that's a whole 8 months of pre-season training. Club rugby just doesn't fill the gap - it's not competitive enough.

[Burgs]

I guess it is now (assuming no ARU backflip and no lead from Wonder JO'N) up to the RWA to make our Club Rugby competitive by attracting a better standard of player and being creative in looking for competition for a Rep team.
Perhaps alliances need to be formed with a Currie Cup team etc.
Perhaps a "Club" team entered into the NSWRU, QRU or ACTRU competition.
With the current resources boom, RWA should be making every post a winner in developing team and competition sponsorship deals.
At the risk of sending Fulv to ICU, perhaps the time is now right to form a new layer in the local scene between Premiership and S14.
Basically the scene as it stands today is not a sustainable one for the EWF and their player recruitment/development and something will have to change if we are to go forward.