Paul Kent: Israel Folau saga shows political correctness is ruining sport

Shrieking voices are hijacking sport and bullying administrators into a world that might be difficult to come back from, writes Paul Kent.

Near enough to 50 years ago, Palestinian terrorists were slaughtering Israeli athletes inside the athletes village and Olympic boss Avery Brundage, filled with ego, revealed how far world sport was removed from the realities of life.

“The Games must go on,” Brundage declared, and the stadium roared when he said it.

So athletes continued competing for plated trinkets even while, elsewhere, their competitors lay murdered on the Munich campus.

It was a gross denial for the horror the world would come to feel, a grand display of sport’s bloated self-importance.

It was not the case everywhere.

By then, Muhammad Ali had already mixed the boundaries between sport and the real world by forcing sport to accept a social conscience.

Six years earlier, Ali refused to fight the war in Vietnam, even when it meant getting stripped of his heavyweight title. All because he wanted the same basic human rights in America as the white fighters he fought against.

Clearly times have changed.

Ali’s stance was not popular at the time while Brundage received majority support.

Yet, nowadays, it would be fair to say the opposite would be true.

Doesn’t necessarily make it better, though.

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The Dragons could not even handle criticism for two days before backflipping on their interest in Israel Folau. Picture: AFP.

This summer has revealed how far the pendulum has swung the other way, into what is equally dangerous group think, with potentially disastrous consequences.

Shrieking voices from the left are hijacking sport and bullying anaemic administrators, trying to please everybody, into a world that might be difficult to come back from.

It flared again this week when St George Illawarra’s board rolled over, under the mildest of criticism, and withdrew its interest in Israel Folau.

Having spent the best part of a month luring Folau, working covertly with the NRL to make it happen, the Dragons board could not face even two days in the heat before surrendering to left-wing agendas.

Any sense of perspective is gone now.

Few agree with what Folau posted on Instagram some years back, which saw him sacked as a Wallaby and ostracised from Australia’s football codes. It was naive and ignorant.

But how long must Folau be punished by the perpetually offended?

Folau, who was rightfully punished for his social media post that condemned gays to hell, gave every indication to the Dragons he was prepared to meet them halfway.

He certainly understands the consequences of what he did but that is not enough for some, who demand he be banned forever.

Any hope he might seek to redeem himself — and the NRL is nothing if not a redemption playground — has gone.

Just two days after announcing their interest in Israel Folau the Dragons had given up. Picture: Brett Costello.

The greatest lesson those condemning him for being a homophobe could hope for is now lost.

That the Dragons board succumbed to the light tar and feathering is concern for the fans, revealing a club without the bottle to make and then own the tough decisions.

At the first resistance, they rolled.

On a larger scale, though, it is a concern for us all, and not just Dragons fans.

Politically correct decision makers, without the entire sport’s welfare considered, will ultimately weaken any sport it infects.

An online poll revealed fans thought Folau should be allowed to play in the NRL by a ration of two to one. So who, by listening to the vocal minority, are the Dragons and NRL really listening to?

A minority of angry and noisy fans.

There was talk St George Bank was concerned at the public backlash, as was Wollongong University, which will soon build a high-performance joint venture with the Dragons. Again, that would be to ignore the silent majority.

Fans might also take a second look at their jersey, frightfully light on genuine superstars, and remind themselves of this: the jersey would be more valuable with Folau in it than not in it.

Unfortunately, anaemic policy from sports administrators, with a light moral compass themselves, is an illness that is catching.

Cricket Australia’s decision to ignore the call to rebrand Australia Day as simply January 26, then seek to defuse the debate by simply refusing to enter the conversation, was another example of an organisation with no clear idea what it stands for.

According to polls, only about one in four Australians want the Australia Day changed yet the basket weavers at Cricket Australia thought it a good idea to appease the minority. Why, they still haven’t explained.

Again, it is a sport not listening to its fans.

Why shouldn’t Israel Folau be allowed a chance to redeem himself? Picture: AAP.

Politicians have long flip-flopped on policies, according to their party’s left or right leanings and what the opinion polls dictated.

As voters, we had the right to choose our political persuasion.

And when Ali made his stance, it was as an individual representing something bigger. Fans around the world supported him or turned from him, again according to their political persuasion.

It was a consequence Ali embraced, as did his fans and enemies.

In the years since, other athletes around the world have often made their stances, whether it was Billie Jean King fighting for equal opportunity or the recent taking of a knee in the Black Lives Matter protests.

All took a stand for what they believed in … much like Folau did.

Now, most athletes take a stand that is inevitably socially popular to boost their likes on social media. Nothing like having more followers to sell to sponsors.

And sports are being lured into the same thinking.

Former NRL boss Todd Greenberg even proposed in the wake of last year’s bushfires that the NRL come out in support of climate change, which would have been time to pack up the caravan if it had happened.

Ali was widely considered wrong at the time of his protest and was later proven to be right.

Brundage was considered right and later proven wrong.

If Folau said what he did around the time of Ali’s stance, he would have been celebrated. Now he remains nailed to the wall, an act of stupidity forever marking him as the go-to when it comes to left-wing causes.

Time changes beliefs as much as anything, the most solid reason there is why sports and teams should not get involved in identity politics. Leave that for the fans.

Make a decision for the good of the sport. For the longevity of the sport.

Find their own right and wrong, which often remains different from social agendas.

Shrieking voices come and go and change over time.

Brent Naden was punished more for breaching COVID protocols than he was for taking cocaine. Picture: Getty Images.

SHORT SHOT

Penrith’s Brent Naden has already served his one-month suspension in the off-season for taking cocaine the night before the grand final, the NRL announcing on Friday he was being fined $5000 for breaking the code’s biosecurity rules.

It was a tougher sanction than the taking of the drug itself.

So riddle me this, Batman …

When — ever? — will a player caught taking cocaine admit to taking the drug as a performance enhancer and not claim it was for social use, even if the whole intent was to improve performance?

Cocaine is a performance-enhancing drug. It is a stimulant.

Years back, in the good old days, or the bad old days, depending how you view it, greyhound trainers at Harold Park and Wentworth Park were notorious for giving their dogs a thumbnail of cocaine as a little “go-fast” before a race.

It was easy to tell which ones had the drug — they were the dogs that couldn’t stop talking.

It has the same effect on humans, too, which is why it was put on the WADA banned list.

But if athletes know they can take it as a performance enhancer, then claim they took it at five minutes to midnight the day before and get away with it, it is just a matter of time before its use is common.

Like a lot of what happens in rugby league, there will be a lag between the law being enacted and athletes exploiting it, but it will eventually come.