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Home > Rugby Australia set to axe Israel Folau

Rugby Australia set to axe Israel Folau [1]

Sydney, Australia

Friday, April 12, 2019 - 11:19.  Updated on Friday, April 12, 2019 - 11:31.

Photo Credit: Australia Rugby.

The CEOs of Rugby Australia and the New South Wales Rugby Union issued a joint statement yesterday announcing intentions to terminate contracts with Wallaby and NSW Waratahs star player Israel Folau because of a meme he recently shared on Instagram calling on “drunks, homosexuals, adulterers, liars, fornicators, thieves, atheists and idolators” to repent. Israel stated under the meme that "Those that are living in Sin will end up in hell unless you repent. Jesus Christ loves you and is giving you time to turn away from your sin and come to him".

The joint statement said “As a code we have made it clear to Israel formally and repeatedly that any social media posts or commentary that is in any way disrespectful to people because of their sexuality will result in disciplinary action.

“In the absence of compelling mitigating factors, it is our intention to terminate his contract.”


Statement from Rugby Australia Chief Executive, Raelene Castle and NSW Rugby Union CEO, Andrew Hore:

"Rugby Australia and the New South Wales Rugby Union have made repeated attempts to contact Israel both directly and via his representatives since 6.30pm on Wednesday, and at this point he has failed to communicate directly with either organisation.

"Whilst Israel is entitled to his religious beliefs, the way in which he has expressed these beliefs is inconsistent with the values of the sport. We want to make it clear that he does not speak for the game with his recent social media posts.
 
"Israel has failed to understand that the expectation of him as a Rugby Australia and NSW Waratahs employee is that he cannot share material on social media that condemns, vilifies or discriminates against people on the basis of their sexuality.
 
"Rugby is a sport that continuously works to unite people. We want everyone to feel safe and welcome in our game and no vilification based on race, gender, religion or sexuality is acceptable and no language that isolates, divides or insults people based on any of those factors can be tolerated.
 
"As a code we have made it clear to Israel formally and repeatedly that any social media posts or commentary that is in any way disrespectful to people because of their sexuality will result in disciplinary action.

"In the absence of compelling mitigating factors, it is our intention to terminate his contract."

To read the full statement click here. [2]
Israel Folau [3]
Australia Rugby [4]
New South Wales [5]
disrespectful speech [6]
discrimination [7]
Rugby Union [8]

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Source URL:https://matangitonga.to/2019/04/12/rugby-australia-to-axe-israel-folau

Links
[1] https://matangitonga.to/2019/04/12/rugby-australia-to-axe-israel-folau [2] https://matangitonga.to/2019/04/12/official-statement-rugby-australia-regarding-israel-folau [3] https://matangitonga.to/tag/israel-folau?page=1 [4] https://matangitonga.to/tag/australia-rugby?page=1 [5] https://matangitonga.to/tag/new-south-wales?page=1 [6] https://matangitonga.to/tag/disrespectful-speech?page=1 [7] https://matangitonga.to/tag/discrimination?page=1 [8] https://matangitonga.to/topic/rugby-union?page=1