Folau fronts up at Rugby Australia headquarters in bid to save rugby career
Israel Folau has fronted up at Rugby Australia headquarters on Friday after posting a controversial social media image that has left his rugby career in tatters.
Folau entered RA’s building at Moore Park just after midday, less than 24 hours after the game’s governing body said its intention was to sack the Wallabies star for posting a photo to Instagram that listed “homosexuals” as one of eight various groups that would go to hell.
The 30-year-old did not return calls from RA in the 24 hours after his post went viral and caused widespread outrage but Folau has been pulled into line and forced to front up.
RA has not confirmed who the meeting was with but it is understood the meeting went for about 10 minutes.
Wallabies coach Michael Cheika was also spotted leaving the building around the same time.
Earlier in the day, Folau was spotted at a cafe in Sydney’s eastern suburbs with Rugby Union Players’ Association boss Prataal Raj. Folau’s wife, Maria, was also present.
RA came down hard on Folau for yet another inflammatory social media post directed at homosexuals that came almost a year to the day since his Instagram comment that gays were destined for “HELL”.
A joint statement on Thursday from RA chief executive Raelene Castle and NSW Rugby Union boss Andrew Hore said: "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."