On this day, 20 years ago in 2004, Rugby WA’s bid for a Perth Super 14 franchise was successful, effectively becoming the birth of the Western Force.
It was December 10 2004 when the Australian Rugby Union (ARU) confirmed Rugby WA had won the race, with the Perth bid beating out Victoria’s submission for a team, despite Melbourne’s larger population and lauded sporting history.
Approximately 150 people had gathered at the Perry Lakes rugby headquarters to learn the ARU’s verdict that day, set to select either bids from WA or Victoria to enter the competition which was booming following the popular 2003 World Cup hosted by Australia where Jonny Wilkinson’s right boot denied the Wallabies the ultimate glory.
There was nervous tension throughout the Perry Lakes room, with all the attention on Rugby WA chairman and bid lead Geoff Stooke’s mobile phone, where the news would be delivered. With TV cameras and the eyes of the room on Stooke, that tension was heightened when his wife called him to tell of an ABC radio report claiming that Victoria had won the bid.
At 10:30am, the phone rang again, this time with ARU chief executive Gary Flowers on the line, requesting Stooke and WA sports minister Bob Kucera step away from the glare of the onlookers to learn the bid’s fate.
The good news was delivered privately, but Stooke and Kucera were told to keep it quiet for 45 minutes, before the official announcement was delivered.
They put on their best poker faces, before the synchronized announcements at 11:15am, ushering in scenes of celebration.
At that time, the Perth bid didn’t have a name, logo or colours, nor any staff. It was headed up by Stooke, who is one of organisation’s life patrons to this day.
Geoff Gallop was WA premier at the time and heavily involved too. When the bid was won, he said: “This has been a real people’s bid. It has been based upon the strong support and the passionate support that people in Perth and Western Australia have for rugby.”
People power was underlined on November 14 2004 when 6,500 like-minded WA rugby fans stood under the midday sun at Subiaco Oval to spell out in giant letters “Super 14 for Perth”.
That rally was suggested by a then-15-year-old Tobias Hoskins, who this season brought up to 250 WA Premier Grade games for Cottesloe.
Flowers said WA’s “connectivity” between the game and community was compelling too, giving it the edge of the more populous Melbourne bid.
Stooke said: “I think a major factor was that we have proved we have the financial support through the sponsorship and hospitality. We had the government support and they knew it would be a high-profile sport in this town.”
It was reported that the ARU needed only an hour to ratify the findings of its evaluation committee that Perth’s bid for a Super 14 team was better than Melbourne’s.
Kucera added: “You could see they were genuinely interested in it becoming a true national game and a true international game. But having said that, it’s still great to rip one off the Vics.”
Among the other key figures in the triumphant bid were Rugby WA president Tony Harvey, executive members Steve Fink and Brian French and rugby development co-ordinator Dominic O’Connell.
The following day, rugby was on the front page of the local paper The West Australian, with the headline “Super!” celebrating the bid’s triumph.
On the back page of the paper was a hit list of potential Force player signings, including Wendell Sailor, Clyde Rathbone, Matt Burke and Nathan Sharpe among others, while the discussion turned to appointing a head coach and the club’s first CEO to establish interim management and lead recruitment.
The newspaper coverage also included early speculation about the team’s name, with monikers like the Maulers and Eucalypts floated.
As part of the 20th season celebrations, we’ll bring more stories like this from the Force’s history across the next 12 months.
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