Andrew Forrest addresses the Force players and coaches at nib Stadium in Perth.

Forrest said the decision by the arbitrator was just one more challenge for the Force to overcome and called on the ARU to allow the club the right to appeal.

Mining magnate Forrest addressed the Force after they finished second in the Australian Super Rugby conference this season and said he would do everything in his power to ensure the club’s survival.

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“This is like dumping the fastest improving athlete or the silver medallist from the Olympic swimming squad and leaving the worst performer in there,” Forrest said.

“It is a ludicrous and unfair legal initiative by the ARU.

“This would only get through litigation and never logic.”

Forrest claimed the Force had one of the strongest grassroots support bases in the country.

“We want leadership from the Australian Rugby Union, not cowardly litigation,” Forrest said. “But if they want to continue to fight us, we will happily take them on for as long as it takes.”

Originally published as Billionaire blasts ‘ludicrous’ Force axing