KEY DATES AND EVENTS IN THE DECISION TO CULL THE FORCE FROM SUPER RUGBY:
April 9 - SANZAAR confirms one Australian and two South African teams will be cut from the 2018 Super Rugby competition, with the respective national unions making the decision on who is cut
April 10 - The Australian Rugby Union confirms a local team will be cut and says it will be the Melbourne Rebels or Western Force, and it expects to make a decision within 48 to 72 hours
April 11 - The ARU gives the Rebels and Force more time to state their case for survival after both franchises had threatened legal action
May 17 -The Rugby Union Players' Association (RUPA) votes unanimously to support the Victorian Rugby Union (VRU) in requesting the convening of a special general meeting of all Australian Rugby Union voting members
June 20 - The ARU board proceeds with plans to reduce one Australian Super Rugby team from the 2018 season after an extraordinary general meeting. Resolutions from RUPA and the VRU that Australia maintain five teams in Super Rugby until at least the end of 2020 and the decision to reduce the number of local teams in the competition be reconsidered, are both defeated
July 31- August 1 - The ARU and Rugby WA are involved in an arbitration hearing
August 4- The ARU receives confirmation from a third party that ownership of the Rebels is transferred from Imperium Group to the Victorian Rugby Union
August 11 - The ARU axes the Western Force immediately after winning the arbitration hearing. RugbyWA, backed by Andrew Forrest, vows to appeal the verdict
August 13 - RugbyWA wins an injunction against the ARU's decision to axe them
August 22 - ARU chairman Cameron Clyne and two of his board members knock back an offer of around $50 million from Andrew Forrest to re-instate the Force
August 23 - RugbyWA wins the right to appeal in the NSW Supreme Court. The appeal is heard that day. Justice David Hammerschlag presides. At the heart of the matter is the "alliance" deal signed by the two parties that guaranteed the Force's future until the end of the broadcast deal in 2020. The ARU argued that guarantee no longer stands because a new broadcast deal had since been negotiated
August 30 - Andrew Forrest calls on ARU chairman Cameron Clyne to resign. Forrest reveals the ARU board received legal advice back in February that the Force would be the easiest team to cut because the legal ramifications were low
September 5 - The ARU wins the Supreme Court appeal, giving it the legal right to complete its axing of the Force
September 5 - Andrew Forrest says he will consider appealing to the High Court. He also vows to launch a new Indo-Pacific rugby competition for the Force to play in
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