Matt Hodgson: The beating heart behind the business case
Matt Hodgson has never taken a backwards step on a rugby field. With the future of the Western Force now hanging in the balance, he refuses to take a backwards step off it, writes Scotty Stevenson.
Last night, following his side’s victory over the Kings, Matt Hodgson lamented the Australian Rugby Union’s acquiescence of SANZAAR’s call to cut three teams for the Super Rugby programme. He did something else, too: he showed us the beating heart behind the business case.
There is no man who has shed more blood than Hodgson for the Force. A foundation starter – he played in the club’s maiden Super Rugby game against the Brumbies in 2006 – Hodgson has pummelled himself 131 times for the cause. No player pummels himself like Matt Hodgson. Invariably he was a top-five tackler in the competition. He has been honoured as club man of the year four times. He played six games for his country.
If Hodgson played for a big name team, he’d be a big name player. At the very least he would be a cult hero of gnarly battlers the rugby world over. The reality is, he barely rates a mention outside Australian rugby circles. Maybe that’s because he has been marooned on the west coast, playing for a team that very few people give the time of day. That’s not his fault, and neither is the Force’s current, precarious position.
Perhaps that’s why last night’s questioning about the future of the Force finally got to him. Sitting there in his playing kit, Hodgson talked about how he got his opportunity to play professional rugby purely because the Force existed. He talked about coaching kids in Western Australia who, eleven seasons later, are now playing alongside him in the team. He talked about how distracting the restructuring of the competition has been for the players in the side.
You could be forgiven for thinking it was all a carefully orchestrated performance, an eleventh hour plea for clemency with the cameras rolling and the platform his. You could have thought that, until he talked about his own child. At that point, you realised everything Hodgson had said was heartfelt and honest, the way he always has been about this game, and the club.
[rugbypass-ad-banner id=”1473723684″]
On the verge of tears, his voice breaking, Hodgson said: “You don’t know where to put your kid now. Do I put him in rugby or do I put him in, to stay in Western Australia, AFL?
“For kids to turn up here now, that’s great. But they don’t know if the Western Force is going to be their future.”
And still no one knows if the Western Force has a future. That call will be made in the next “48-72 hours” according to Australian Rugby, who held their own press conference this morning to clarify the decision to axe one team from their professional landscape. The Waratahs, Reds and Brumbies are safe from the chop. Hodgson, like everybody else invested in the game, will now have to wait to see if the Force or the Rebels are destined for exile.
If this is all about economics, the Force are toast. The Rebels are privately owned while the Force have been the beneficiaries of millions of dollars of ARU investment. If this is about growing the game in Australia, the Force perhaps can legitimately claim to have a chance to cement rugby union as a higher-ranking choice of code, given the absence of an NRL side in the west and Melbourne’s obsession with AFL.
If this is about legal ramifications, the Rebels may well pose a sterner challenge to the ARU in the courts, and they would be foolish not to be seeking counsel while this decision continues to drag on.
Of course, none of this has anything to do with players like Hodgson. That’s the shame of it all. Hodgson deserves better from his governing body. Over his eleven seasons he has given back tenfold what he has taken from the game, and through his words and his deeds he has helped to give rugby union a profile in Perth. You would have to have plaque in the soul not to feel for the man.
Hodgson saved the Force countless times on the rugby field. He’s trying to save them once more. Whatever happens, he needs to know that he has done all he could. He wore his heart on his sleeve last night and the blood flowed blue.
Acknowledging that is the least we can do.
Watch every match of Super Rugby streaming live on rugbypass.com, home of the best online rugby coverage including news, highlights, previews & reviews, live scores, and more!
Comments on RugbyPass
Not sure exactly what went wrong for him at Glasgow but it’s pretty clear he ain’t Franco’s cup of tea. Suspect he would have been better served heading out of Scotland around the same time as Finn, Hoggy and Jonny!
1 Go to commentsBulls disrespected the Northampton supporters and the competition. Decide quickly, fully in or out.
24 Go to commentsI wonder if Parling was ever on England’s radar as a coach? Obviously Borthwick is a great lineout coach, but I do worry he might be taking on too much as both head coach and forwards coach.
1 Go to commentsJason Jenkins has one cap. When Etzebeth was his age he had over 80 caps. Experience matters. He will never amount to what Etzebeth has because he hasn’t been developed as an international player.
1 Go to commentsSays much about the player picking this gig over the easier and bigger rewards offered to him in Japan. Also says a lot about the state sanctioned tax benefits the Irish Revenue offers pro rugby players, with their ten highest earning years subject to an additional 40% tax relief and paid as a lump sum, in cash, at retirement. Certainly helps Leinster line up the financial ducks in a row to fund marquee signings like this!!! No other union anywhere in world rugby benefits from this kind of lucrative financial sponsorship from their government…
5 Go to commentsTrue Jordie could earn a lot more in Japan. But by choosing Leinster he’ll be playing with 1 of the best clubs in the world and can win a champions cup and URC…..
6 Go to commentsThanks for that Marshy, noticed you didn't say who is gonna win it. We know who ain't gonna win it - your Crusaders outfit. They've gone from having arguably the best Super Rugby first five ever, to having a clutch of rookies. Hurricanes all the way!
1 Go to commentsGeez you really have to question the NRLs ability to produce players of quality. Its pathetic. Dont the 25mil in Aus produce enough quality womens players. Sad.
1 Go to commentsBulls fan here, and agree 100% with the conclusion (and little else) of this article. SA sides should absolutely f-off from the champs cup until we get fair scheduling, equal support for travel arrangements and home semis. You know, like all the european teams get.
24 Go to commentsI’m yet to see why Grace would be an ABs contender. He’s pedestrian and lacks the dominance required of a top flight 8.
11 Go to commentsGee my Highlanders were terrible. They have gone backwards since the start of the season. The trouble began when we left Millar behind to prep as the 10 against the Brumbies and he was disconnected from the team that came back from Aussie. We rested Patchell for that game and we blew an avalanche of ball in good attacking positions in the 1st half. Against the Rebels we seem to of gone into a pod system with forwards hanging off from the breakdown leaving Fakatava to secure our ball!
80 Go to commentsPot Kettle, the English and French teams have done it for years.
24 Go to commentsHas virtually played every minute of previous games. Back row of Li Lo Willie , Grace and Blackadder would be the 1. Crusaders issue is a very average 1st 5 who cannot run. Kicking in general play is also below par They need to put Yong Kemara in. He must have so.e talent for them to bring him down from Waikato. Hoehepa would struggle to play in so.e club sided
11 Go to commentsI hope this a good thing making all these changes!
3 Go to commentsThe Hurricanes are good, especially with a decent coach now. However, let’s be real, the Crusaders and Chiefs are clearly a good degree weaker without the players they’ve lost overseas now. The Canes lost one player. It’s also why the aussie teams ‘seem’ to be stronger.
9 Go to commentsOr you could develop your own players instead of constantly taking from the SH competition and weakening it in the process? With all the player and financial resources these unions have compared to SH countries you’d think they could manage that, or is weakening the SH comps and their national sides an added bonus? Probably.
3 Go to commentsNot so fast Aaron, we might need you in black yet lol. God knows he’d be a lot less nerve-racking than hot and (very) cold players like Perofeta. It’s really a shame Reuben Love isn’t playing 10, we’ve got enough 15 options.
4 Go to commentsAnd those from the NH still seem to be puzzled (and delighted) why NZ’s depth isn’t what it once was. Over 600 NZ players overseas, that’s insane. This sort of deal is why Super Rugby coaches have admitted they struggle now to find enough quality to fill out their squads.
6 Go to commentsArticle intéressant ! La question devrait régulièrement se poser pour les jeunes français originaires de Nouvelle-Calédonie, Wallis-et-Futuna et de Polynésie entre la Nouvelle-Zélande et la Métropole… Difficile pour la fédération française de rugby de se positionner : soit le choix est fait de dénicher les jeunes talents et de les faire venir très tôt en Métropole, au risque de les déraciner, soit on prend le risque de se les faire “piller” par les All Blacks qui, telle une araignée, essaye de récupérer tous les talents des îles du Pacifique… À la France de se défendre en développant l’aura du XV de France et des clubs français dans ses collectivités d’Outre-mer !
3 Go to commentsWrong bay. He needs to come to the REAL BAY which is Bay Of Plenty and have a crack at making the Chiefs.
3 Go to comments