Now, it’s been revealed Folau was actually the face of the Bingham Cup, the biennial world championships of gay and inclusive rugby.
Rugby Australia has vowed to terminate Folau’s multimillion-dollar contract unless he can explain his social media post, in which he declared that hell awaits “drunks, homosexuals, adulterers, liars, fornicators, thieves, atheists and idolaters”.
Jones said that Rugby Australia, in making its decision, was only worried about the potential loss of sponsorship money. “It has nothing to do with Israel, or rugby, or religion, homosexuals, or whatever. Where are we in this country on free speech?” the broadcaster said.
I don’t think Alan Jones gets it… To me, it’s fine to use free speech to promote what you think is right, but NOT to denigrate the choices other people make.
I think Israel was wrong to effectively say things like “if you don’t believe in God, you are going to hell”. That’s a personal choice and there’s absolutely nothing wrong with that choice.
He should just promote his values/beliefs under free speech and leave it at that eg. love thy neighbour.
He clearly broke the organisation’s code of conduct and presumably some social media clauses from his contract too. RA were left with little choice.
The man is an idiot.
Which is a surprise for him. Guess he’s looking forward to hell.
Israel Folau has today said he will not reconsider the comments he made last week and stands by them, telling the SMH.
He also says he is happy to walk away from rugby if it is God’s will.
There has been some misinformation in the media about where Folau goes to church, with media outlets claiming this past week that he goes to an Australian Christian Churches-Assemblies of God church. He doesn’t. The Australian clears it up by reporting that he attends the Tongan service at the Kenthurst Uniting Church, with the service also going by the name of the Truth Of Jesus Christ Church as reported by the SMH.
https://twitter.com/australian/status/1117370621086666753?s=19
God these fundamentalist religious types are infuriating.
Israel Folau has been sacked. He can however lodge an appeal within the next 48 hours if he chooses to.
2019 RWC coverage (via RNZ)…
- Japan v Russia LIVE / Friday 20 September / Pool A, Match 1 (opening match)
- NZ v South Africa 1hr delay / Saturday 21 September / Pool B, Match 4
- Fiji v Uruguay 2hr delay / Wednesday 25 September / Pool D, Match 10 (streamed only)
- Tonga v Argentina LIVE / Saturday 28 September / Pool C, Match 13
- Scotland v Samoa 2hr delay / Monday 30 September / Pool A, Match 18 (streamed only)
- NZ v Canada 1hr delay / Wednesday 2 October / Pool B, Match 20
- South Africa v Italy LIVE/ Friday 4 October / Pool B, Match 23
- NZ v Namibia 1hr delay / Sunday 6 October / Pool B, Match 27
- Fiji v Wales LIVE / Wednesday 9 October / Pool D, Match 32
- NZ v Italy 1hr delay / Sunday 12 October / Pool B, Match 34
- NZ quarter final 1hr delay TBC, assuming the team progress past the pool stage /
- Semi-finals, Match 45 LIVE / Saturday 26 October
- Semi-finals, Match 46 LIVE / Sunday 27 October
- Final, Match 48 and medal ceremony LIVE / Saturday 2 November
Otherwise all other games only on Spark (formerly Telecom) Sport. Here’s hoping there’s not another Optus-type failure ala the last Football World Cup!
I’ve never heard of matches being streamed and available on delay ONLY.
That sounds very odd?
They are free games for non-subscribers. It’ll be live for paying subscribers.
I would expect Folau to take immediate legal action once the penalty is announced.
No appeal from him, so he is now terminated.