Leave Israel Folau in the past: no comparison with Mark Coyne case

Israel Folau is not a rugby league problem. Don’t try and link him to the Mark Coyne case.

Mark Coyne and Israel Folau have both found themselves in strife of recent times, for very different reasons. Picture: Tony Zerna/AP

Israel Folau is not a rugby league problem. Hasn’t been for nearly a decade. So can we stop throwing around comparisons when it comes to ARL Commissioner Mark Coyne and the incident that threatens his place on the game’s peak body.

Reading the comments section on any story can be a dangerous practice but invariably any yarn on Coyne finds a way back to Folau and chair Peter Beattie’s decision to black-ban him from the code.

There are some notable and significant distinctions between the situations. Coyne dropped a few f-bombs in the direction of Singaporean police while in a state of mild panic, no doubt exacerbated by the amount of alcohol he had consumed in the hours prior to his arrest.

Anyone who knows Coyne will tell you it was out of character. He has a reputation for equanimity among his peers. His actions were largely due to the demon drink. More fool him.

Folau was lucid in his thoughts and history suggests there was nothing out of character about what he posted on his social media feeds in regard to homosexuality and assorted other matters that he claimed would send people to hell.

He had done it before and there is every chance he will do it again. Sponsors would have been threatened and the code would have suffered irreparable damage.

Rugby league was right to run a mile. The other notable and significant difference is that Coyne has had an unblemished career at the highest levels of the game stretching back more than 30 years.

He has been loyal to the code and done his level-best to serve it with distinction. He was a saint — both literally and figuratively — as a player and a cleanskin as an official until unfortunate recent events that now threaten his place on the commission.

Folau spent four years in the NRL before he went chasing the almighty dollar in the AFL and then rugby union. He played more games for the NSW Waratahs than he did Brisbane and Melbourne combined.

He walked out on rugby league in 2010 and never returned, although you get the sense he would happily do so now given his options have run dry. He isn’t the ARL Commission’s problem and he won’t be on Beattie’s watch, given he and the commission have put a line through the dual international’s name.

Coyne, on the other hand, is a big problem for rugby league as the game’s hierarchy ponder his future on the commission. The clubs are divided and while Coyne has the support of a handful of heavy-hitters, others believe his position has become untenable.

Beattie will be back in town on Monday and the commission will meet on Thursday to decide Coyne’s fate. The smart money suggests he can’t survive without some form of sanction.

The commission may give him some time on the sidelines in the form of a suspension. Alternatively, they may sever ties with him altogether.

If that is to happen, Coyne will have to wait another three years before he can rejoin the commission. At least he has a way back. There is none for Folau when it comes to rugby league. Nor should there be.