Former ARU board member Geoff Stooke says West Australians will never again embrace a professional rugby union team if the Western Force are axed.
The Force are on the verge of extinction after the Perth-based franchise was cut from the Super Rugby competition by the ARU last week.
RugbyWA will find out on Wednesday whether they will be granted a right of appeal to the NSW Supreme Court.
Stooke quit his post at the ARU in protest after the decision to axe the Force was handed down.
The former RugbyWA chairman said it was the wrong decision to axe an Australian franchise, and he was the only board member to vote against cutting a team.
If the Force lose their court case, there's growing talk the franchise could be reintroduced to Super Rugby ranks after the current broadcast deal ends in 2020.
Or if Super Rugby is ditched to make way for a trans-Tasman competition, the Force could return then.
But Stooke believes the ARU will have burned too many bridges in WA to be able to bring a team back to the west.
"If you pull a team out of Perth now, you'll never get it back," said Stooke, who was the RugbyWA chairman from 1988-2011.
"The bitter taste that will exist towards the ARU and rugby in general will be such that I don't think you'd ever recover it.
"Because West Australians, generally speaking, have had a gutful of being treated like second-class citizens in Australia.
"West Australians are being screwed on the GST, and continually there are things happening around the country where they leave WA out because they're so far away.
"West Australians are tough, but they've got good memories. Long memories."
Another option being thrown about is a merger between the Force and Japan's Sunwolves.
The Sunwolves' long-term future is on shaky ground, and they could benefit by forming links with the Force.
"But that's conceding defeat, and rest assured we have not conceded defeat," Stooke said of that prospect.
"That's something we'll worry about should it not go our way in the courts, or if we can't get a reversal of the decision."
A rally will be held at Force headquarters on Sunday to protest the franchise's axing.
The rally is being organised by fans, and Stooke will be among the guest speakers along with Force legend Matt Hodgson.
The Force's fight for survival is being backed by billionaire mining magnate Andrew Forrest.
Even if the Force lose their legal battle, Stooke hasn't given up hope that Forrest will be able to convince the ARU to reverse their decision.
Share
