Western Force players and supporters turn on ARU after Super Rugby culling

WEST Australians, led by Andrew “Twiggy” Forrest, have condemned the actions of the ARU after they scrapped the Force.

Andrew Forrest vows to fight the ARU’s ruling.

FURIOUS Western Force players and supporters labelled the ARU as cowards after their decision to axe the franchise from Super Rugby.

The Force will continue to fight for survival, signalling an appeal in the Supreme Court after losing their arbitration case against the ARU.

The team’s most influential backer, billionaire mining magnate Andrew Forrest, warned that the battle may have been lost on Friday but the war is far from over.

“We want leadership from the Australian Rugby Union, not cowardly litigation,” Forrest said.

“But if they want to continue to fight us, we will happily take them on for as long as it takes.”

He added that axing the Force was “like dumping the fastest improving athlete or the silver medallist from the Olympic swimming squad and leaving the worst performer in there. It is a ludicrous and unfair legal initiative by the ARU”.

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Force players past and present lashed out at the decision on social media, with legend Nathan Sharpe saying “the biggest mistake the ARU could have made - Time to clear the decks and start fresh”, while hooker Heath Tessman simply wrote “cowards”.

Forrest, who publicly vowed to support the Force in their legal case after the team’s final home game, dismissed suggestions he could have save the franchise by stepping in earlier, claiming the ARU’s decision to remove them had been made “100 days ago”.

It's time to get behind rugby in Western Australia and #OwntheForce!

Head to https://t.co/upmdM8ospi to register your interest! #SeaofBlue pic.twitter.com/EZxNhRQBoH

— Western Force (@westernforce) November 9, 2016

“If an injunction is possible, I will certainly be prepared to stand behind that injunction,” Forrest said.

“This would be a gross injustice.

“The three people who are the architect of this decision inside the ARU [Bill Pulver, Rob Clarke and Todd Day] have resigned.

“I don’t blame them for that, but I can say that every time I spoke to the chairman of the ARU or to anyone else involved in this decision they could not fault the logic that supporting the Western Force is the only possible logical decision.

“This could be a try against us, but it’s not the end of the game … we’re not giving up on this.”

West Australian ARU board member Geoff Stooke resigned from his position in protest of the decision.

Andrew Forrest vows to fight the ARU’s ruling.

Force chief executive Mark Sinderberry said they could not understand the ARU’s position, which the governing body said they had to take to save the game from financial ruin.

“There’s a bunch of players, supporters, staff, a whole organisation that is really hurting and struggling to understand the decision,” Sinderberry said.

“We’re absolutely convinced this is the wrong decision. We’ll be taking every possible means to ensure that we turn this decision around.

“We’re shortly speaking with the lawyers and we’ll get a better understanding of that, but there’s certainly an option to appeal.

“If not, we’ll be taking out an injunction.

“The whole rugby community is hurting. There’s a lot of people over a lot of years who have put a lot time into seeing rugby grow in this state.”

Originally published as Western Force players and supporters turn on ARU after Super Rugby culling