Rugby Australia puts sponsors first when breaking news of Israel Folau’s sacking

RA chief executive Raelene Castle and the board’s handling Israel Folau’s first social media controversy back in 2018 is under close scrutiny after several damning factors emerged during The Daily Telegraph’s investigation into Folau’s recent sacking.

• Chapter One: How Folau’s fate was sealed by his dad’s advice

• The real cost of the Folau firestorm

Read part two of The Sunday Telegraph and Daily Telegraph four-chapter special on the Israel Folau saga.

Israel Folau was made the highest-paid employee in Rugby Australia, on a deal worth more than $5 million, with no additional social media training to ensure he would not plunge the game into crisis as he had last year.

After posting on Instagram that gays were destined for hell in April 2018, Folau was given no breach notice, kept the post up, declared to RA he would never back down from his religious beliefs, and was given a handsome pay rise later in the year.

Folau was re-signed on a base salary of $4.8 million over the four years — $1.2 million annually — while additional money for clinics, appearances and Test match payments would have taken him well past $5 million.

One four letter word beginning with ‘H’ is the source of all Israel Folau’s problems with Rugby Australia.

RA chief executive Raelene Castle and the board’s handling of the 2018 controversy is under close scrutiny after several damning factors emerged during The Daily Telegraph’s investigation into Folau’s sacking.

The lack of additional social media training or discussion with religious experts, and failed attempt to insert specific social media clauses into Folau’s new contract had left RA so concerned ahead of his code of conduct hearing last month, their legal team offered him close to $2 million as a settlement offer to walk away.

Folau rejected the offer and was ultimately sacked after a tribunal found him guilty of breaching his players’ code of conduct.

Folau is incensed by RA’s actions, believing they stacked all the cards against him, which is why he opted not to appeal the hearing’s decision with a second code of conduct, and is instead exploring legal action against them for unfair dismissal due to religious discrimination.

SPONSORS WARNED

Six RA sponsors — Qantas, Vodafone, Land Rover, ASICS, Accenture and HSBC — were notified of their intention to sack Folau before he was told by any of his bosses.

This was due to Folau avoiding phone calls, and RA’s communications strategy to give their financial backers advance notice before making public statements.

All six sponsors had indicated they would discontinue their relationship with RA if Folau was either not sacked, or made a strong public apology, removed the post and signed documents ensuring he’d never do it again.

Another partner, furniture manufacturer Koala, even refused to attend an RA sponsors lunch that week because they did not want to be associated with the Folau drama.

Folau posted the offending Instagram on April 10, then did not return calls from his manager Isaac Moses that evening, nor from Castle, Waratahs boss Andrew Hore, Wallabies coach Michael Cheika and NSW coach Daryl Gibson on April 11.

Castle was asked at Folau’s code of conduct hearing if on April 10, she emailed Qantas chief customer officer Vanessa Hudson a draft press release stating RA’s intention to terminate Folau’s contract.

Rugby Australia Chief Executive Raelene Castle announced that Rugby Australia had terminated Folau's contract in May. Picture: Don Arnold/Getty Images

“She definitely testified at the hearing that on April 10, she sent Vanessa Hudson from Qantas an email saying it was Rugby Australia’s intention to terminate Folau’s contract in the absence of compelling mitigating circumstances, which was 36 hours before Folau or the public was told,” an insider said.

Evidence obtained by the Telegraph suggests Castle was mistaken in her testimony, and confused the termination email for the email sent out by RA on April 10 merely stating that their integrity unit was investigating the “unacceptable” post by Folau.

The termination draft email was forwarded to Castle at 5.17pm on April 11. Qantas, Vodafone, Land Rover, ASICS, Accenture and HSBC were immediately alerted, before that email was sent out publicly at 5.56pm.

Folau finally surfaced late on April 11, and a meeting was held the following morning in which he was told for the first time by his employer in person that it was their intention to sack him.

The following Monday, a press conference was held by Cheika, Gibson and Waratahs captain Michael Hooper at 10am, at which they all expressed their disappointment in Folau’s actions and said how difficult it would be to accept him back into the state and national teams.

But Folau still had not been given his breach notice, outlining the reasons RA were seeking to sack him.

That only lobbed at 2pm, allowing a four-hour media narrative to run about Folau letting down his teammates and being all but ruled out of the Wallabies’ World Cup campaign, with Folau still unclear as to which clauses he had supposedly breached in his contract.

RA insiders said their lawyers were delayed in sending Folau the breach notice because there were several complex points to cover off in the three-page document.

If so, the press conference — which RA specifically requested that Cheika attend — should have been delayed, and this new revelation reflects poorly on the organisation.

HEAVEN AND HELL

After his 2018 post, Folau was hand-delivered a written warning and a copy of the code of conduct in an envelope.

Over five meetings with Castle, Hore and Cheika last year, Folau said he understood where the line was between religious expression and offensive material.

As an experienced high-profile athlete who has played three football codes, all with similar contractual clauses around social media and bringing their games into disrepute, it would seem obvious.

But as one of Folau’s friends put it: “You’ve got to understand how the Tongan culture works, it is a three-tiered patriarchy; the king, nobles, and commoners.

“Commoners could never talk to a king, and would be lucky to speak to nobles.

“So questioning or talking back to your parents, elders and people of authority is unthinkable.

“A lot of times you just nod and say ‘yes’ to things even if you don’t understand, because it’s not natural to challenge those above you.”

Wallabies star Israel Folau leaves a Code of Conduct hearing in Sydney, Tuesday, May 7, 2019. Picture: AAP Image/Joel Carrett

Castle’s leadership style is more nurturing than aggressive, so instead of slapping Folau with a breach notice last year, she accepted his explanation in his lengthy column for the Players’ Voice website outlining how he is completely guided by the Bible.

In the first meeting, Castle asked Folau if he could not put a more positive spin on his reply to the follower asking what would happen to gays, and instead of using “hell”, say those who do not repent their sins will not go to heaven.

Folau took this under consideration.

But in the end he chose to ignore the advice, and this was the crucial element of the case against him this year.

“Everyone has missed the key here, have a look at the post, it says ‘Warning’ and ‘Hell’, but the Bible verse does not mention either word,” a source said.

“Izzy was getting told he’d go to hell if he took down the post, but if he had removed that image and re-posted word for word what the verse says, they couldn’t have sacked him.”

Corinthians 6: 9-10, says: “Do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor homosexuals, nor sodomites, nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners will inherit the kingdom of God”.

Another source agreed that if Folau had replaced the direct Bible verse for the modified meme, RA would have struggled to sack him: “Certainly, it would have been a more problematic prosecution.”

CLAUSE FOR CONCERN

Feeling satisfied he’d made his stance clear to Castle and RA, and having been given a big contract extension while his 2018 comment still remained up, Folau believes RA’s lack of an offer to guide him with specific social media training set him up for failure.

Folau completed an online multiple-choice module on social media use that all players must do each year.

After Folau signed his big new contract in October, RA realised they were exposed and sent Moses a follow-up letter with specific social media clauses, which he advised his client not to sign but forwarded to Folau’s inbox. Folau never even opened the attached letter.

A concerned Castle then sat down with Folau at The Lensbury Hotel in London last November, and for the first time specifically mentioned the gay community when discussing his use of social media.

Again, Folau said he understood where the line was.

But in his mind, that was making his own comments about homosexuals, not repeating what is said about them in Biblical verses.

Those close to Castle, who earns $815,000 a year, say her greatest regret is not putting Folau through a specific social media course around this issue.

It is why RA offered Folau nearly $2 million to avoid the code of conduct hearing.

When Castle said the RA board never considered a settlement figure for Folau, it was truth on technicality.

She and the board were fully aware their lawyers were putting that $2 million figure to Folau, but because his team did not take it up or come back with a counter-offer, they never officially had to sign off on a number.

The rejected settlement deal set up the most intriguing code of conduct hearing in Australian sports history.