ARU’s broken promise sentences Rebels and Force to purgatory before Hell

DUE to the elongated time they’ve spent held hostage by the ARU, the Rebels and Force are merely shadows of their former selves, writes Matt Windley.

Rebels (pictured) and Force players face an uncertain future.

IT is now 72 days since the Australian Rugby Union said it would kill off one of its Super Rugby clubs within 72 hours.

As it stands all five franchises remain living and breathing.

But, due to the elongated time they’ve spent in purgatory, the Melbourne Rebels and Western Force are merely shadows of their former selves.

If you were a betting person, you’d still want your money on the Force being the side that gets the chop.

Rebels (pictured) and Force players face an uncertain future.

But given the shambolic way that this whole saga has been handled by head office you’d only want to be betting with the house’s money - and the house don’t have that much to wager.

It beggars belief that smart business people like ARU chief executive Bill Pulver and chairman Cameron Clyne would have nailed themselves to such a statement on April 10, declaring they would cut the Rebels or Force within 48-72 hours.

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For starters, you’d have thought the ARU would have had all of its legal ducks in a row to ensure it was actually in a position to pull the trigger.

And, in any case, did anyone truly expect the Rebels or Force to take any decision not in its favour lying down?

Tuesday’s Extraordinary General Meeting of ARU voting members in Sydney wasn’t expected to deliver much.

And, true to form, it didn’t, except to confirm yet again that a team would be given the chop ahead of next season.

But clarity on who that team might be or when this sorry tale might have an ending? Don’t be silly.

And so this incredible script continues to keep giving.

Force players after losing to the Hurricanes.

Players from the Rebels and Force - who play in what will be a morbid sort of derby on July 7 - are every chance to have their final two games of 2017 wrapped up before they know if they have a club to come back to in 2018.

Professional sport, generally speaking, is an entertainment business for the fans that invest time and energy into supporting it.

It’s not supposed to be life or death on the seriousness scale.

And so this elongated process would almost be funny if not for the very real personal toll it is taking on the human beings that work and play at the Rebels and Force.

Right now for them surely no answer on their future is actually worse than being told their’s is the club that will be culled.