Western Force legal loss leads RugbyWA to enter voluntary administration

Having revealed that it cannot afford to pay legal costs being sought over two failed legal attempts to save the Western Force Super League franchise, RugbyWA is to enter voluntary administration.

With Western Force cut from the Super Rugby competition earlier this year, RugbyWA took legal action to try to save the team, but was ultimately unsuccessful.

Today the group confirmed KordaMentha had been appointed as voluntary administrators.

RugbyWA President Hans Sauer said Rugby Australia, formally known as the Australian Rugby Union (ARU), had pursued the organisation for about $1 million.

He said the organisation offered just under half that but was knocked back.

Sauer told the ABC "the amount of money that they are chasing us for is such that we just don't have the resources.

"We've made an offer and it was actually very generous.

"They rejected that, they want every single cent, every drop of blood they can get from us."

A statement from the RugbyWA board said they were hopeful the organisation's finances could be restructured and "put on a stable footing in order to serve the interests of rugby in Western Australia".

The statement said in addition to Rugby Australia's claim, the organisation had significant liabilities including a $1.14 million loan from the Western Australian Government for the 2009 upgrade of nib Stadium.

The statement advised "with the removal of the Western Force by Rugby Australia, revenue to service this loan has evaporated."

Rugby Australia has responded, claiming it is prepared to settle for less than one-third of this amount and has communicated this to RugbyWA on several occasions.

Rugby Australia Chief Excutive Bill Pulver advised "we respect the RugbyWA Board’s position but it is important to set the record straight that today’s decision by the RugbyWA Board to place the organisation into receivership is not the result of any action by Rugby Australia.

"Our view is that we were still in a negotiation to settle on costs awarded to Rugby Australia by the NSW Supreme Court.

“Our focus is on pursuing the high net-worth individuals that made commitments to RugbyWA to fund their legal battle and we are continuing to seek only a portion of the total costs.

“We have specifically rejected a RugbyWA proposal to have their community funding reduced to offset some of this cost, and in fact, plan on increasing its community funding.

“Ultimately, this is $1.7 million of cost to the game and this legal cost cannot come at the expense of the community game.”

The demise of RugbyWA is likely to have a major impact on the grassroots game in Western Australia with the likelihood that Rugby Australia will have to step in to set up a structure for competition in the State.

Image: The $17 million Western Australian Rugby Centre in the Perth suburb Mt Claremont, opened in 2011.

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