HCF becomes second netball sponsor to distance themselves from Maria Folau

The storm around Maria Folau shows no signs of slowing, with a second major netball sponsor taking aim at the Silver Ferns star.

First it was ANZ now another one of netball’s major partners has issued a negative statement on Maria Folau.

Health Insurance company HCF, who sponsor Folau’s Super Netball side, the Adelaide Thunderbirds, on Wednesday reportedly told Netball Australia: “We do not support Maria Folau’s stance.”

Further to that they expressed to Netball Australia the need for “a strong, clear and well-enforced social media policy and education amongst its players and staff.”

That edict came in the wake of Maria Folau reposting her husband Israel’s initial Instagram request for funds to fight his legal battle against Rugby Australia as she promised to support him.

“We appreciate the complexities of the Folau matter and acknowledge that views do differ in the community, however, we do not support Maria Folau’s stance on this matter,” an HCF spokesman said, according to Nine Media.

“There is no place in our society for discrimination of any kind, including on the basis of gender, religious belief, age, race or sexual orientation.”

HCF taking their stance came shortly after it was reported that banking giant ANZ had put pressure on Netball New Zealand over Maria Folau.

READ: Folau’s Instagram message to the haters

On Wednesday ANZ released a statement to distance itself from the accusations.

“We value our partnership with Netball NZ and any suggestion we have tried to pressure them is absolutely incorrect,” the statement read.

“ANZ NZ believes in diversity and inclusion. We’re very proud we have a rainbow tick as an employer and over the years have supported rainbow activities in the community.

“We do not support any views or actions that can be interpreted as supporting homophobia.

“We will continue to support Netball NZ and the tens of thousands of participants and supporters of the game.”

Over the course of the weekend Maria drew the ire of many who are against Folau’s views on homosexuality and Netball SA and Netball Australia released statements.

Netball South Australia chief executive Bronwyn Klei said she supported having a diverse and inclusive environment within netball ranks but also deemed it harsh to punish Ms Folau for sharing the link.

“We also believe in fairness and perspective,” Ms Klei said.

“Like millions of other people across Australia, Maria Folau uses her personal social media platform to share her life and beliefs with her family, friends and fans. This week, she shared her husband’s controversial GoFundMe post.

“While Netball SA in no way endorses the reposting, we do not believe Maria has contravened our social media policy.”

That response drew the ire of Australian netball legend Liz Ellis, who tweeted the following.

“Yeah nah not good enough,” Ellis tweeted.

Yeah nah not good enough.
How about this:
There is no room for homophobia in our game. Anyone who is seen to support or endorse homophobia is not welcome. As much as I love watching ⁦@MariaFolau⁩ play netball I do not want my sport endorsing the views of her husband. pic.twitter.com/IR5jecVm6O

— Liz Ellis (@LizzyLegsEllis) June 23, 2019

“How about this: There is no room for homophobia in our game. Anyone who is seen to support or endorse homophobia is not welcome. As much as I love watching @MariaFolau play netball I do not want my sport endorsing the views of her husband.”

READ: Maria Folau’s wedding day pledge

Ellis later clarified that her actual disappointment was with administrators of the game for not going far enough, not just Folau.

“I understand that my tweet was interpreted to mean specifically that Maria was not welcome. I get it. It was poorly worded from that point of view,” Ellis wrote in the Sydney Morning Herald.

“I would like to think we are well past the time where a woman is held to account for things her husband says. Just because Maria is married to a man who publicly states things that cause huge controversy, and that many people (myself included) find abhorrent, doesn’t mean that she has to answer for him.

“Until, of course, she re-posted something that is clearly related to those views.

Which brings me to my real beef, and the people to whom my tweet was aimed: those running our sport.”

Ellis, who played 122 games for the Australian team, retired from the game in 2007 and said the organisations should have gone further.

“The statements from the Thunderbirds and from Super Netball did not go far enough, and were not good enough,” she wrote.

“They could have given Maria her slap on the wrist, but combined it with something so much stronger. To say without equivocation, without weasel words, that homophobia is not welcome in our sport. To me, it was a lost opportunity to say to LGBTQI players, both in the league and in the suburbs, that they are welcome, they are wanted and they are supported.”

ANZ Bank also said it did not “support the views of Silver Fern Maria Folau and have made our views known to her employer Netball NZ,” in a statement.

As of the time of writing Folau’s campaign for $3 million run by the Australian Christian Lobby has eclipsed an astonishing $1.8 million.