RUPA not seeking hostile showdown with ARU
May 18, 2017 - 4:41 AM The Rugby Union Players' Association insists it is seeking peace talks - not a hostile showdown - with the Australian Rugby Union in a bid to relieve anxiety levels in the Melbourne Rebels and Western Force playing ranks.It's understood RUPA and the governing body were locked in talks on Thursday trying to determine if the two parties can meet in an informal capacity in the coming week, or whether a special general meeting (SGM) is required next month.
Demanding transparency and a comprehensive update on the ARU's decision-making process, RUPA and the Victorian Rugby Union on Wednesday sought the SGM.
However, such a meeting requires a 21-day notification period to ARU voting members, meaning any such SGM couldn't take place until the day before the Wallabies' first Test of 2017 on June 10.
The ARU has offered to meet in the next seven days to provide major stakeholders with as much information as they require regarding the culling of one Super Rugby team.
But RUPA does not want it to come at at the expense of the SGM, where members could potentially vote to remove the ARU board.
The uncertainty surrounding which franchise the ARU will cut as part of SANZAAR's downsizing to a 15-team Super Rugby competition in 2018 has reached crisis point at the Rebels and Force.
RUPA president Dean Mumm said he still had faith they would resolve the saga and that the players' association could potentially scrap plans for an SGM if the governing body sufficiently satisfies RUPA beforehand.
"It's all been simmering on without much knowledge of what's been going on behind the scenes," Mumm said on Thursday.
"So we'd like to see things a little more open, get some accountability into what's been going on ... as the players are standing to lose the most out of this.
"As it stands as a team, either the Rebels or the Force people are going to lose their livelihood.
"So it's important that these guys get some clarity and understand what's going on in their life and what the next year is going to be for them.
"And importantly for them, contracting time is coming up. These people want to understand where they're going to be, what they'll be doing.
"If it's not going to be here, when it comes to Europe, those contracts are largely done."
Mumm said while RUPA's preference very much remains having five Australian teams in Super Rugby they won't be challenging the governing body to reverse its decision to remove either the Force or Rebels.
"It's more we're looking towards getting greater clarity in terms of what's going on, in terms of what's happening with the decision," Mumm said.
"The decision still remains wholly in the hands of the ARU. It's not our decision to make.
"(But) the longer it goes, the harder it becomes for players to have options in their favour going forward."
Source: AAP
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