Interim Rugby AU CEO Rob Clarke says he will be reaching out to the WA rugby stakeholders in coming days as he works to "unify" the rugby community moving forward.
Clarke was chief operating officer under former CEO Bill Pulver during 2017 when the decision was made to cut the Western Force from Super Rugby, a call that was controversial at the time.
Much of the WA rugby community protested against the side's removal and Clarke also gave evidence to a senate inquiry about the process.
Since then, the Force has been taken over by billionaire Andrew Forrest and begun to compete in its own Rapid Rugby competition.
With the coronavirus shutdown, the Force has been a part of plans for a domestic competition that could replace Super Rugby in the short-term, slated for a July start date.
Clarke said speaking to WA was among his plans for the coming days and he hoped that the Force might one day be back involved in the national competition.
"I'll be reaching out to WA, they're an important member union and there may well be an opportunity to re-engage the Western Force in future competition structures," he said.
"At the end of the day, a national footprint would be a wonderful goal to have.
"But decisions were made back then for reasons back then and some of those were driven by financial issues.
"I don't harbour any grudges, I don't have any negative feelings towards WA or anybody else.
"I can't speak for them, you'll have to ask them about how they feel about me but at the end of the day, my focus is really engaging all of our member unions, trying to unify everybody behind the challenges we have and if I can do that in my time here then I'd be really pleased."
Conversations with WA will be among phone calls that Clarke said he planned on having with each of the states' CEOs and chairmen in the coming days as he looks to hit the ground running.
On his first official day in his new role, Clarke said he was focused on moving forward in the game and not dwelling on the controversies and turbulence of the past.
"It's a new day - the past is the past and I don't think there's any advantage dwelling on the past," he said.
"My focus is the task the board's given me over the time I'll be sitting in the chair as an interim CEO, there's a lot to do and already we've had a management meeting and we're getting stuck into it."
Clarke was already working on speaking to a range of stakeholders after officially starting in his new role, addressing staff in a Zoom meeting on Thursday and also speaking to each of the board's directors.
The former Brumbies and Rebels CEO has also set up a meeting with RUPA CEO Justin Harrison for next week.
This article does not necessarily reflect the views of Rugby Australia or its member unions.
