Israel Folau tweets 'no' on same-sex marriage but I disagree

ISRAEL, WE NEED TO TALK

Which brings us to Israel Folau and his gentle tweet on Wednesday to the effect that – because of his religious beliefs – he will be voting "no" on the same-sex marriage plebiscite.

Israel Folau expressed his view on same-sex marriage on Twitter.Credit: Stuart Walmsley/ARU

"I love and respect all people for who they are and their opinions," he wrote, "but personally, I will not support gay marriage."

Good on him for expressing his views, even though they clash with those of Australian Rugby, his employer. And let Folau be the exemplar of those without an ounce of homophobia in them – he's been strong in his support of removing homophobia from sport – who nevertheless intend to vote no. But, I can't resist. May I be equally gentle in return, in expressing my disagreement?

Illustration: John Shakespeare

Israel, like many of my Christian friends – and my wife notes how odd it is, that, as an atheist, I seem to gravitate to Christian nutters regardless – I'm told your view is that your God created man and women to procreate within the bounds of matrimony only. Where does that leave, then, the staggering 70 per cent of Australians who now get married using celebrants only? Do they have lesser marriages, because they're not marrying under your God's umbrella? What about people from other faiths that get married? Are their marriages worth less? And as Hugh Riminton points out, what about women over 50 getting married? Is that OK, even though their procreation years are behind them?

Look, you believe all that religious stuff, which is your perfect right. And you can live by that. But is it not a tad presumptuous as to try and push that on the rest of us? The fact is, marriage is a civic institution, a contract between humans, which then has – at one's taste – whatever religious bells and whistles you like, attached. Israel, see you are engaged to a fine woman, and good luck to you. But when the great day comes, and the preacher says, "I now pronounce you man and wife," you won't actually be married. In the eyes of the law, that only comes when you put your two signatures to the Marriage Certificate presented.

And here's something else, Israel. As Mia Freedman has pointed out, back in 1962, when a white man in Virginia, Richard Loving, married a black woman, Mildred Jeter, the police raided their home, arrested them, and threw them into jail. The judge annulled their vows, ruling, "Almighty God created the races white, black, yellow, Malay and red and He placed them on separate continents. The fact that He separated the races shows that He did not intend for the races to mix."

Get it? This was your God, being cited as the reason for appalling discrimination, and the ruling was overturned by the US Supreme Court in 1967.

Now, we all look upon their arrest and the subsequent ruling, as appalling. But at the time, it received huge support, with 70 per cent of Americans agreeing with the original ruling! As Freedman has pointed out, the institution of marriage has evolved. The current issue, in my view, is like what happened in America in the 1960s, except it pertains to sexuality, not skin colour. In a few years, we will look upon the current discrimination against gays as incomprehensible. Israel, I hope you think on it, and offer my warm regards, regardless.

FIGHTING FOR DAVEY MOORE

Aficionados of Bob Dylan will remember his famous anti-boxing song, Who Killed Davey Moore? It turned on the story of black American boxer from Ohio, Davey Moore, who on March 21, 1963 fought the Cuban, Sugar Ramos, at Dodger Stadium for the World Featherweight title. Late in the 10th, Moore was thought to be ahead on points when Ramos unleashed a left hook to wake the dead and kill the living. Moore reeled, even as Ramos went in for the kill, hitting him with blow after blow as the commentators exulted, the crowd roared and Moore's brain smacked again and again and again into his skull. Moore finally fell, his neck hitting the bottom rope as he collapsed. Somehow, extraordinarily, he still got back to his feet, allowing Ramos to double the dose, resulting in yet more exultation from all, until the ref stopped the fight. Moore made it back to the dressing room, where he went into a coma, and died 75 hours later, leading to an outcry that included – thank you, Wikipedia – Pope John XXIII calling, boxing "barbaric," and "contrary to natural principles". For Ramos, it was the second time an opponent had died from his blows.

Ah, sing it, Bobby D!

Who killed Davey Moore,

Why an' what's the reason for?

"Not I," says the referee,

"Don't point your finger at me.

I could've stopped it in the eighth

An' maybe kept him from his fate,

But the crowd would've booed, I'm sure

"Not us, " says the angry crowd,

Whose screams filled the arena loud.

"It's too bad he died that night

But we just like to see a fight.

"Not me," says the boxing writer,

Pounding print on his old typewriter,

Sayin', "Boxing ain't to blame,

There's just as much danger in a football game."

Sayin', "Fist fighting is here to stay,

It's just the old American way.

"Not me, " says the man whose fists

Laid him low in a cloud of mist,

"I hit him, yes, it's true,

But that's what I am paid to do.

Four years ago, on the 50th anniversary of the fight, Moore's hometown of Springfield unveiled a bronze statue of him, with Sugar Ramos attending the occasion and meeting Moore's widow, Geraldine, for the first time since 1963.

Sugar Ramos passed away last Sunday, of cancer, aged 75.

MIKE COCKERILL FAREWELLED

We gathered about 1500 strong at the MA Noble Stand at the SCG on Thursday afternoon to give a proper farewell to Fairfax's mainstay football writer of the last three decades, Mike Cockerill, and it was a wonderfully heart-warming time for his family, friends and colleagues. Led by his brother Ian, his wife Jo, his children Toby and Daisy, speaker after speaker, including John Kosmina, Andy Harper, Neil Cordy attested to the great character of the man, his warmth, his professionalism, his devotion to his craft. Most amusing was the story told by The Sydney Morning Herald's Sports Editor, Ian Fuge, how, when news of Cocko's death broke, Ian called his long-time editorial deputy, Ben Coady, and they both noted how extraordinary it was that he was one of the few journalists whose copy you could just cut and paste into the paper, sight unseen as it was always pristine, and factually correct.

"I don't think he ever got anything wrong, do you?" Ian mused.

"Yes, once," Ben replied. "I called him up to see if he was alright!"

And so it went, on into the afternoon, as story after story brought him back to life. I tell you what, Cocko, few journos ever had a better send-off from this mortal coil than you, and after listening to all that, I realised more than ever just how much you deserved it.

STICKING AN OAR IN

Chase me, you pussies. I'm talking to you rowers of the 1st VIIIs of Kings, Shore, Joeys, Newington, etc, of the early 1980s, who used to roar past your humble correspondent in the Wesley Gentlemen's VIII, sometimes sneering unpleasantly. And look at me now! As of last Saturday, I am the NSW Indoor Rowing Champion, with a distance of 345 metres rowed in 60 seconds. I'm off to the Nationals in November! Catch me if you can. I want to crack 360 metres.

What They Said

Panther Tyrone Peachey was adamant he didn't touch the ball Manly accuses him of knocking on, in the action which saw him score the try that sunk Manly. "I didn't touch it, I promise. Check the snickometer."

Daly Cherry-Evans: "I thought I had a pretty good view of that and I swear black and blue it touched his hand. It's going to be disappointing to walk away having the game come down to that. Rugby league's a cruel game."

The Springbok front-row with their sledge of choice to young Wallaby hooker, Jordan Uelese, 20, when he made his debut off the bench against the Springboks: "Fresh meat!"

Uelese on playing for the Wallabies: "My No.1 goal in life was to put on that gold jersey and to fulfil that ... I've got to go find new goals now."

Todd Greenberg on the refereeing blow ups: "Unfortunately we've developed a culture in our game of blaming match officials for a loss. It sets a terrible example to fans and a terrible example to grassroots and it's got to to stop. It's time for the game to grow up." Correct in every particular, as TFF noted on Thursday.

Josh Dugan. "The people around me who are close to me and my teammates as well, and the staff members involved with me, they know who I am and what I'm about, and for me that's the main thing. But at the same time I also want to be able to walk [down the street] in public or put up a photo on Instagram and not get sprayed by everyone. It's a catch-22, I'm damned if I do and damned if I don't." Does he use "catch-22" correctly? Discuss.

Frank de Boer manager of Crystal Palace after their fourth straight loss: "The future is for other people to decide but while I'm the manager of Crystal Palace I will give 100 per cent." Frank? I think I have spotted the problem. In the history of sport, no one EVER survived giving a mere 100 per cent. You have to give 110, 200 or a 1000 per cent, or you are just not serious.

Wayne Bennett unimpressed after the Broncos loss to the Roosters: "We'd be lucky to beat the teams 15th and 16th with that defensive effort. Everybody was getting excited in the coaching box [after Ferguson's blunder] but I wasn't, I didn't think we could win."

Port Adelaide President David Koch hurting after the extra time loss to the West Coast Eagles: "We want players who want to win a premiership. If they're not prepared; if they're just playing for us because they love to play AFL, they're not players that we want." Harsh, David.

Sloane Stephens on winning the US Open: "It's incredible. I had surgery on January 23 and if someone told me then I'd win the US Open I'd say that's impossible. I should retire now, I'm never going to top this – talk about a comeback."

La Liga president Javier Tebas not happy with the PSG transfer of Neymar: "We've caught them peeing in the swimming pool. Neymar peed from the diving board. We can't accept this." Let he or she who has never peed in a pool throw the first stone.

Michael Hussey on Nathan Lyon: "My last message to him was 'you've just got to catch Warney now'. He's number two for Australian spinners, now it's time to catch Warney."

Michael Hooper on the fans chanting "Force, Force" before the Perth Test match: "Passionate fans is a great thing for rugby. Even though they weren't chanting Wallabies, it was still for an Australian team."

Jemele Hill, the African-American co-host of ESPN's SportsCenter program tweeted: "Trump is the most ignorant, offensive president of my lifetime. His rise is a direct result of white supremacy. Period."

Sarah Huckabee Sanders, the White House press secretary, in response: "I think that's one of the more outrageous comments that anyone can make, and certainly something that I think is a fireable offence by ESPN."

Team of the Week

Sydney Swans. Set an all-time attendance record for an AFL match at the SCG with 46,323 fans coming for the Essendon match, to witness a right royal Bombers' thumping. The three NRL Finals meantime, had 52,375 in total.

Matildas. Meet Brazil in a huge game today at Penrith's Pepper Stadium, before a 17,000 sell-out crowd.

Rafael Nadal and Roger Federer. For the first year since 2010, they won all four majors between them – this last one, the US Open, by Rafa.

Trundle Boomers RLFC. Previously known as "The Sunflowers", won their first premiership in 35 years beating the Cargo Blue Heelers 36-12 to win the Woodbridge Cup. The teams anthem, Horses by Daryl Braithwaite, has never been sung with such gusto!

Sloane Stephens. Joins Kim Clijsters (2009) as, now, the only unseeded women to take the US Open title in the Open era, which began in 1968.

Dan Vickerman Research Scholarship. Led by Dan's father, Les is raising money to look into what troubles athletes. Go to goo.gl/9LGtNh.

Burringbar Districts Sports Club. Their Waratahs Bobcats Hockey team is about to play in its 42nd CONSECUTIVE Grand Final in the district hockey competition this Saturday.

Gosford Kariong Storm Open Grade Rugby League team. Broke a 45-game losing streak, stretching back to 2011, to beat Toukley, their first victory in five years, 9 months and 29 days.

Australian cricket team. After the absorbing series against Bangladesh, are now in India playing meaningless one-day and T20 games. Who knew? Who cares?

Bondi2Berry. Sixty cyclists raising awareness of dementia pedalled 155km from Bondi to Berry last Saturday and raised $71,000 for Alzheimer's Australia. Not too late to give – bondi2berry.com for more details.