Folau strife threatens to engulf wife’s game

Maria Folau has dragged Super Netball into Australia’s biggest sporting controversy.

Adelaide Thunderbirds star Maria Folau.

The Adelaide Thunderbirds have found themselves in a very tricky — if entirely predictable — quagmire after star Kiwi shooter Maria Folau joined her husband Israel in a public fundraising campaign as he fights his former employer Rugby Australia.

The netball community in Adelaide has been nervously watching Maria’s social media feeds for months after the Israel story exploded in April. Maria speaks frankly and is hard to predict.

Although she had supported her husband in the past, Maria has stayed silent in recent months.

The scenario was complicated by the sense that Maria wasn’t enthused by the situation.

When The Australian turned up to Sydney’s Truth of Jesus Christ Church to watch Israel preach, Maria was reluctant to pose for photos with her husband, and did so only at his insistence.

Collingwood star Ash Brazill recently told The Saturday Paper that Maria had supported her marriage to long-time partner Brooke Grieves in 2016.

Maria, apparently, has “always been lovely” to the couple, further muddying the picture.

But now she has taken the initiative, sharing Israel’s Instagram post, and linking to his crowd-funding campaign on her own profile. In doing so she has dragged the Thunderbirds, the Super Netball league, and the New Zealand Silver Ferns into Australia’s biggest sporting controversy.

The big question now is how netball responds to the situation.

Netball SA declined to comment. Ditto Netball Australia.

In April, Netball South Australia chief executive Bronwyn Klei, in an interview with The Advertiser, said that netball was an inclusive sport that rejected discrimination.

“We champion netball as a sport for anyone and everyone, from the players to umpires, spectators, clubs, and volunteers,” she said.

But it’s difficult to square that with the growing catalogue of comments Israel Folau has made regarding gay, trans, and gender-fluid Australians.

There are several gay players in Super Netball, all of whom enjoy the support of their club and teammates. Their presence in the sport has been entirely free of controversy for years.

More broadly, one of netball’s strongest and most marketable assets is its clean track record.

Themes of inclusion and support have driven much of the growing commercial appeal in women’s sport, too.

Coca Cola Australia’s current NRL advertising campaign includes the famous photo of NSW Blues forward Vanessa Foliaki kissing her Maroons partner Karina Brown after last year’s inaugural State of Origin match.

Netball South Australia must now assure fans its commitment to inclusion is sincere.

Failing that, will the Super Netball league step in? This is exactly the kind of issue the new league commission is suited to address.

What about Netball New Zealand? Folau figures as an essential part of the Silver Ferns’ World Cup campaign next month, and the story has been keenly followed across the ditch for months.

Many Adelaide fans, and the Australian netball community, reacted angrily when the Thunderbirds signed Folau last year. That anger has bubbled up again.

This news cannot have come as a surprise. Maria has backed her husband in the past, and the longer Israel’s saga goes, the less likely she was to stay silent.

If there was a contingency plan in place, so far it seems to be to batten down the hatches and hope netball can skate through a controversy that would engulf any of Australia’s major winter codes.