The Israel Folau saga

[tragic]

The islanders are a pretty tight knit group and are very strong in their religious beliefs.
I really hope this doesn’t spiral out of control.
It’s already got far more airtime than it deserves and probably would have just slipped through to the keeper if the media hadn’t got a hold of it.
I wonder how RA would deal with a collective response from the islander community.
There’s a real can of worms here waiting to open

 

[dru]

By all means defend his actions, but let's not make him into some sort of hero.
.

Ofc Izzie will be put on a pedestal of pure white as this progresses. Niaive to think otherwise.

 

[Wilson]

Apparently Cheika has said he won't pick Folau anymore:


Looks like it's now just about how much of his contract he walks away with

 

[sidelineview]

Yes indeed FP.

I'm not even that sure that he's that much an outlier in terms of his beliefs, but clearly he is in terms of how he speaks about it.

I dont think he's an outlier within his own Christian community and he probably wouldn't be espousing his religious views any differently to his peers.
To state the obvious, he's a public figure and sports star whose social media postings get scrutinised.

 

[sidelineview]

Gezzz QH, I really think that's extremely far fetched and I don't believe Izzy's heritage has been an issue with this at all. By in large, race and culture have stayed out of the debate.

What I would suggest is, in Australia at least, most people are getting sick and tired of the extreme's (both left and right) who are unable to see grey in the world. Whether it be the White Supremacists in Blair Cottrel/Fraser Anning to the Vegan Protests shutting down Melbourne.

No I dont think its a racial thing at all and I dont think the Australian Polynesian community is too much different to many other Christians. However, by the same token, I think they do tend to be attracted to certain types of Christianity such as the Mormon church and pentecostals.

They cant be described as right or left wing from a political perspective and shouldn't be bundled into that box. They just believe what they believe.

 

[Quick Hands]

By all means defend his actions, but let's not make him into some sort of hero.
.

Well I'm not quite sure how the passage you quoted makes him out to be a hero. It's nothing more than a statement of fact based on the available evidence.

he truly believes what he is saying and is willing to accept the consequences

 

[fatprop]

The wagons are circling, we now have an argument about money and cancelling contracts

Wallabies coach Michael Cheika says Israel Folau won’t be picked, captain Michael Hooper says it will be tough to take field alongside him

................... Wallabies coach Michael Cheika said that a “line had been crossed” and it would be hard to pick his star fullback going forward regardless of whether he is eventually cleared to play.

“As it stands right now, considering what I just said, you wouldn’t be able to,” Cheika told reporters at the Waratahs’ training base at Daceyville, alongside NSW coach Daryl Gibson and captain Michael Hooper.

https://www.foxsports.com.au/rugby/...y/news-story/cca44a27bc6fc4556d81ab474918315f

 

[RugbyReg]

I have huge respect for Hooper turning up to be a part of this press conference. It's probably quite unheard of as a skipper to be so involved in such controversy. It would have been easy to leave it all to the coaches, but for the skipper to do it, I think, is exceptional.

 

[Braveheart81]

 

[Dismal Pillock]

maybe it's time to split Soup Rugby up into denominational lines. Enough of this manufactured franchise rivalry and its rootless "clutching the badge" bollocks. Put some real sting into the tackles if you're fighting for the holy - or unholy - righteousness of your very core belief. As well as the all-too-real disgust and contempt you hold the other party in.....

Agnostic Front
Atheist Attack
The Adultery Booty Callers XV
Mardi Gras Men
The Biggest Bigot Boys
Klepto Klub
Champagne Rugby
15 Men For Jesus
Western Idolaters
The Compulsively Onside Liars
The Fifteen Fornicators

 

[Finsbury Girl]

That's what I call thrown under the bus.

I guess we know where some peeps loyalty lies.

 

[Derpus]

The Fifteen Fornicators

Shotgun

 

[Braveheart81]

... and here we are at the point where the thread gets closed.

 

[James Pettifer]

How many great players with religious beliefs will rugby need to ostracise/sanction?

And how many potentially great players who are gay have been historically ostracised?
How many have been quiet about their sexuality due to comments such as Folau's?

Jason Ball (AFL player who came out as gay) discussed the impacts that these sort of comments had on him - https://www.news.com.au/sport/sport...t/news-story/9d0cbca1cbf5a45dd352d00efa0eac90

What if one of the current or future Wallabies is gay? Do we expect them to be able to play to the best of their ability knowing that one of their team mates believes that they are a sinner destined to go to hell?

 

[Slim 293]

If we're lucky, maybe the mods will wipe a few posts over the last couple of pages and we can get back on topic?

 

[Finsbury Girl]

Time to move on methinks, between calls for censorship and name calling for having a different opinion, I'd say this fred has run its course for me.

 

[Quick Hands]

This whole issue could have been avoided if Israel adopted the saying every mother tells their child 'If you don't have anything nice to say, don't say anything at all'.

If anything, it should serve as a lesson that twitter or instagram or whatever aren't the places to be discussing topics which are highly complex and require careful language.

His rugby career is now in the hands of a code of conduct tribunal, should he wish to contest the decision of RA. Without condoning his post, I think it's a shame that a such talented athlete and a person who seems to me to be a very decent young man has put himself in this position. Regardless of where things go from here, I wish him all the best for the future.

 

[Up the Guts]

Does this actually say what I think it does? Seriously?

Here ends the thread.

 

[Slim 293]

Here ends the thread.

It went downhill rapidly...........

Edit: It looks like we've had a good clean up.

 

[dru]

Here ends the thread.

Silly of me to have left the quote in.