Union chief of Australian Rugby, Bill Pulver faced aggressive questioning during a Senate hearing where it was advocated that the Melbourne Rebels had got over double the Western Force funding before the axing of the latter from the Super Rugby competition (SBC).
The hearing title was the “Future of rugby union in Australia”; however, the hearing was dominated primarily, by an issue, which related to the latest decision to dump the Force.
In the last three years, Force got funding of the least amount five teams of Australia and the most the Rebels, Linda Reynolds, the WA Liberal Senator, told the hearing, citing the statements of ARU.
The fund included the amount of $33 million to the Rebels, on the other hand, Force received the fund of just $15 million, she said. In addition, the Rebels also had a loan written-off of $13 million by the ARU, at the time when this franchise was bought by businessman Andrew Cox for $1 in the year 2015 before, giving its responsibility to the Victorian Rugby Union (VRU) this year.
Senator Reynolds told “Look at this, the Force has received the least amount of grants of these Super Rugby in comparison to any other team.”
In Pulver said that he does not have the trust on the figures of Senator Reynolds, which she said was shocking as he was the chief executive of the governing body. After some time, the questioning turned heated when Pulver clearly refused to disclose about the deals or support that were done with the Cox and Rebels declaring it a confidential agreement.
Pulver, who spoke to disgruntled Force fans briefly who turned for the hearing, he said the committee of the Senate was mocking him about that, on the other hand, Rachel Siewert, the Greens Senator said she was stunned hearing these words of him.