Maria Folau reposting Israel’s GoFundMe page doesn’t breach netball rules

Liz Ellis labels Netball SA’s response to Maria Folau’s support of her husband “not good enough”.

Maria Folau will not face any action from netball bodies for reposting her husband’s GoFundMe campaign. Picture: AAP

Former Diamonds captain Liz Ellis has labelled Netball South Australia’s response to Maria Folau’s support of her husband’s crowdfunding campaign “not good enough” in a tweet that quickly went viral.

“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 Maria Folau play netball I do not want my sport endorsing the views of her husband,” Ellis said.

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

The tweet has been shared more than 450 times, attracting almost two thousand likes in a few hours.

Earlier today, Netball SA issued a statement that said Folau had not breached her team’s social media policies by sharing her husband Israel’s controversial crowd funding campaign.

Netball SA chief executive Bronwyn Klei said that while the organisation, which owns the Adelaide Thunderbirds, in no way endorses Folau’s reposting, it did not break the team’s rules.

Klei stressed that her organisation is “fiercely determined to provide an inclusive environment” but that it also “believes in fairness and perspective”.

“Maria is a key member of the Thunderbirds,” Klei said.

“We continue to support her as we support all our players.”

Netball Australia and the Super Netball league echoed that support in a separate statement.

“We are aware that Adelaide Thunderbirds’ athlete Maria Folau re-posted her husband’s GoFundMe page details via social media. There is no action required by the league.

“We will continue to support Maria as a valued member of the Thunderbirds and the Suncorp Super Netball league.”

Israel Folau launched a crowdfunding campaign on Friday to support a legal fight against his former employer, Rugby Australia.

Maria had been silent on her husband’s controversy all year, but shared his social media posts that morning, and linked to the campaign on her own profile.

So far, the campaign has raised more than $600,000.

Folau is due to join the New Zealand Silver Ferns this week on the Sunshine Coast for a team camp ahead of next month’s World Cup in England. Netball New Zealand is yet to respond to the situation.