Rugby Australia can’t win, Israel Folau has lost

Both parties have been punished enormously and among the scattered ruins there are no winners, writes Andrew Slack.

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Dreadfully sad is the only way to describe the go to whoa unfolding of the Israel Folau contract termination.

If you set your standards by your own conscience, no party has done anything terribly bad and yet both parties have been punished enormously. RA can’t win. Folau has lost.

I don’t like it much but I respect how and why the decision was reached.

What would you do in this case? You run a firm and an employee acts in a way that can potentially harm your business. You counsel them and try to understand why they acted that way. They apologise and promise not to behave in such a manner again.

Twelve months later, the same thing happens, except this time without apology. And here’s the deal breaker — the employee refuses to guarantee they won’t act the same way again in the future.

It has been a sad end to Israel Folau’s time as a Wallaby. Picture: Matt King/Getty Images

So you see your brand being damaged over and over by the same employee. This is the short and the long of why Folau was sacked. Forget freedom of speech, inclusiveness or any of the rest. He was not prepared to abide by his employer’s wishes.

He was given every chance by the tribunal to take down his post, to apologise for any harm caused and promise to not do it again. He refused, which in many ways, is admirable, but it also left little wriggle room for a more lenient outcome.

The question many are asking is whether Folau’s “offence” really does causes damage. I understand that there are numerous loud voices in the “yes” camp.

Vulnerability though, is everywhere if you want to find it and it could be that we help the vulnerable best by minimising the noise around what might be interpreted as harmful, rather than turning up the volume. You can’t say the volume hasn’t been turned up in this instance.

I understand there is no “one size fits all” solution to that, but it’s hard not to come back to Folau’s constant plea that he doesn’t hate anybody. He’s probably ahead of the game to most people on that front.

Raelene Castle had the duty of letting Israel Folau know that his contract was terminated. Picture: Don Arnold/Getty Images

What seems to be happening is that all parties, including society at large, are displaying an ever increasing disdain for different opinions, whether held by minorities or the mob.

“Inclusive” has morphed into a buzz word. It’s almost a trendy word for “try and keep everyone happy” which we all know is impossible.

Israel Folau has not been sacked for not being “inclusive”. At no stage has he said he wouldn’t play with any individuals because of their sexuality, politics, religion or whatever.

Any purported Polynesian backlash would only worsen the situation.

Claims of bias against them are piffle. The many players of Pacific Island background in the game are treated like anyone else, and why wouldn’t they be?

Andrew Slack says he doesn’t agree with the Israel Folau decision but says it is a decision made with integrity. Picture: Mark Metcalfe/Getty Images

Were Pope Francis, the Dalai Lama, Richard Dawkins, Imran Khan or Prince Harry the star fullback for the Wallabies and acted as Folau did, I have enough faith in the fair-mindedness of rugby’s decision makers to believe the same fate would befall them.

I still mightn’t agree with it, as I haven’t with certain other RA decisions but questioning their integrity, as some have done, can be based only on bias and blind fury.

I made reference to this quote last year after the first of Folau’s posts, and atheists still with me need read no further.

I just wish Israel had adopted the same approach to his devotion to God as does Jim Tomsula, former coach of the San Francisco 49ers NFL team.

When asked about his faith, Tomsula, a practicing Catholic replied.

“God takes care of everything. I don’t give anyone religion lessons.”

Originally published as Rugby Australia can’t win, Israel Folau has lost