RugbyRebels

So Andrew Forrest has vowed to start a new "Indo-Pacific" league to give the Force somewhere to play now their exclusion from Super Rugby has been confirmed. Who else could be involved?

http://www.espn.com.au/rugby/story/_/id ... peal-fails

Aparently he's got 6 teams lined up already and says that he's spoken to people in his own state and around the world. I know he's got his own money but presumably there will need to be some broadcast income to make it viable. A lot will also depend on the ARU's stance. I think (but stand to be corrected) that any team will need ARU (if not IRB) approval to play in a non-ARU competition. The attractiveness of the competition will alos be diminished if Aussie players in it will not be considered for the Wallabies (as you would expect in a full "rebel league" scenario).

"Indo-Pacific" is a pretty vague term. Obviously other Aussie teams would be a starting point. It would seem silly to cannibalise WA support for the Force but maybe a South Australian (or, less likely, Northern Territory) team could be put together? I can't see any headway being made in the remaining Aussie Super Rugby states/territories.

The next obvious candidates would be the Pacific Islands. That would draw TV interest in NZ and probably the UK. If the ARU are not supportive, then the Fijian Drua team in the NRC could be put in jeopardy though.

I don't know if "Indo-Pacific" includes South Africa, but given the Pro14 deal, Forrest seems to have missed the boat there. An outside bet might be other African nations - Kenya has an Indian Ocean coast, after all. Zimbabwe/Namibia might be more competitive but politically difficult; Zimbabwe generally and Namibia due to its reliance on the South African Union.

Hong Kong and South Korea are next cabs off the rank after Japan in Asia. I just can't see them being able to put up competitive sides. They would be like the Sunwolves but much, much worse.

So good luck to Mr Forrest. I'm all for growing the game but I think this will be a tough one to pull off.

I should also mention Sri Lanka, which has strong domestic interest in rugby but curiously little ability at the top level. It might be somewhere to base a team but would need top rely heavily on imported players which in turn needs $$$$

I'm guessing it'll be the rugby version of the ICL.

EDIT: Put another way...

Being Australian, I wouldn't be suprised if they came up with some novelty laws...

First of which being to get rid of both props so there's more space on the field for the backs. As there would be no players capable of scrummaging safely, scrums would be uncontested. Lineouts would also be scrapped and replaced with tap restarts as, without the props, there would be no players capable of lifting the locks.

zer0 wrote:First of which being to get rid of both props so there's more space on the field for the backs. As there would be no players capable of scrummaging safely, scrums would be uncontested. Lineouts would also be scrapped and replaced with tap restarts as, without the props, there would be no players capable of lifting the locks.

Maybe even give the ball to the opposition after 6 phases... It could catch on you know.

As mentioned on the Force to Play in Japan thread, I'd go with a Super 6 involving the Force, Fiji, Hong Kong, Shanghai, Singapore & Sri Lanka. Fiji's involvement in Australian domestic rugby is being funded by World Rugby, so perhaps they could be withdrawn from that competition and the same funds re-directed to their involvement in Super 6. Singapore already hosts Super Rugby games, and would surely draw bigger crowds to see their own team in action - albeit stacked with foreign imports, of course - while Chinese officials were recently quoted in the Samoan observer as saying they wanted to host some big games. If a couple of Japanese teams could also be involved, making it a Super 8, even better. But the game in Korea revolves primarily around the armed forces, as far as I know, so it's doubtful professional rugby would be an option for them.

rowan wrote:As mentioned on the Force to Play in Japan thread, I'd go with a Super 6 involving the Force, Fiji, Hong Kong, Shanghai, Singapore & Sri Lanka. Fiji's involvement in Australian domestic rugby is being funded by World Rugby, so perhaps they could be withdrawn from that competition and the same funds re-directed to their involvement in Super 6. Singapore already hosts Super Rugby games, and would surely draw bigger crowds to see their own team in action - albeit stacked with foreign imports, of course - while Chinese officials were recently quoted in the Samoan observer as saying they wanted to host some big games. If a couple of Japanese teams could also be involved, making it a Super 8, even better. But the game in Korea revolves primarily around the armed forces, as far as I know, so it's doubtful professional rugby would be an option for them.

I think that's probably a good guess on the teams. Forrest spoke of going to places with a large population for big broadcast rights and Singapore, Sri Lanka, Shanghai and Hong Kong certainly hit those marks. Plus, I think the Chinese RU would probably be interested in being involved considering their recent surge of investment into the sport.

All in a relatively similar timezone (apart from Fiji, who would be needed for the quality) and with an enthused millionnaire bankrolling it (and possibly a couple of very rich unions with China and Singapore), it could be a goer. Would very much depend on the ARU and their support. If I were them I'd be seizing on this as an ideal opportunity to a) make Forrest go away, b) hedge their bets outside of SANZAAR, and c) develop some new revenue streams. They should be supporting this enthusiastically.

Puja

Yes, all I seem to be hearing people talk about in the pro era is 'markets,' and I'm not really a business-minded person myself, but this does seem to hit the right notes in that department. As mentioned, Fijian involvement would probably depend on World Rugby's willingness to transfer their financial support from the Druas involvement in Australian competition to their inclusion in such a tournament instead.

rowan wrote:Yes, all I seem to be hearing people talk about in the pro era is 'markets,' and I'm not really a business-minded person myself, but this does seem to hit the right notes in that department. As mentioned, Fijian involvement would probably depend on World Rugby's willingness to transfer their financial support from the Druas involvement in Australian competition to their inclusion in such a tournament instead.

TBH, if Forrest was willing to put £50m down to bribe the ARU to keep the Force in Super Rugby, then he could support a Fijian/other PI nation team even without financial help from the IRB.

Puja

I watched a bit of Kandy's narrow loss to Bahrain this afternoon and theyre nowhere near the same level as the Force. They'd certainly need to import some players to beef up the forwards, just to start with.

Who'd have thought?

Well, I do know there are multitudes of Fijians playing professionally there, and that the island has more players than Scotland, according to World Rugby stats.