Forrest to go the rebel route

– Mining magnate Andrew “Twiggy” Forrest (above) announced plans yesterday for a rebel Indo-Pacific rugby competition after the Western Force lost a legal appeal against their axing from Super Rugby.

Forrest, a backer of the club’s parent body RugbyWA, said six teams would be involved, including the Force, with the league starting “as soon as possible”.

“It will involve key countries across the Indo-Pacific region who have approached us or who have publicly stated their deep conviction to rugby if they could be included in an Indo-Pacific arena,” he said in Perth.

“We will include strong and powerful players, broadcasters and fans of rugby all across the Indo-Pacific region where some 60% of the world’s people live in our time-frame right here.”

Forrest, founder and chairman of Fortescue Metals, said he planned to kick off the competition with an international game.

“It will be as soon as possible and certainly much faster, I think, than the ARU could ever organise,” he said.

Forrest has been an outspoken critic of the Australian Rugby Union and its decision to axe one of five Australian teams in the Super Rugby competition.

The Perth-based Force were informed they would be cut last month and yesterday the NSW Supreme Court in Sydney dismissed their appeal.

They had appealed an original court decision that a new broadcast deal for 15 teams was legally binding, therefore nullifying a agreement between the ARU and the Force guaranteeing them survival until the end of 2020.

Sanzaar, the governing body of Super Rugby, acted after the unwieldy four-conference 18-team model lost favour with fans and led to a slump in television viewers. – AFP