Ex-PM John Howard: a ‘great shame’ Wallabies sacked Israel Folau
The Breakdown podcast goes inside the boardroom at Australian rugby for the ‘heavy’ debate that ended in the superstar’s sacking.
Former Prime Minister John Howard has called the loss of the Israel Folau from Australian rugby a “great shame”.
In an exclusive interview with The Australian for hit new podcast The Breakdown, Howard described the sacking of Australian rugby’s biggest star, after two outbursts on social media, as a disappointing moment for the code.
Howard, who is a rugby fan and dedicated supporter of several senior figures in the game, including Michael Cheika, said the handling of the issue was a low point.
“I like Michael a lot and it was difficult, and I know it was … a sensitive issue, but it was a great shame that we lost Israel Folau,” Howard told The Breakdown in Episode 5, available now via The Australian’s app.
“It was a great shame that arguably the (player) some people regarded as the best player in the code anywhere at that particular time; we lost him. It was terrible. One way or another it was a great pity that it happened, but it happened.”
In 2017, as Australians prepared to vote on legalising same-sex marriage, Rugby Australia had declared its support for the Yes case.
Folau took to Twitter, declaring: “I love and respect all people for who they are and their opinions. But personally, I will not support gay marriage.”
In April 2018, an Instagram follower of Israel Folau posed the question: “What’s God’s plan for homosexuals”. Locking his caps, Folau replied: “HELL … UNLESS THEY REPENT OF THEIR SINS AND TURN TO GOD.”
Six months later he wrote on Instagram that “those that are living in Sin will end up in Hell unless you repent”.
He also posted an image about who else was going to hell: “Drunks, homosexuals, adulterers, liars, fornicators, thieves, atheists and idolaters.”
That post would end his Australian rugby career, start a war with Rugby Australia over his termination and end up with an out-of-court settlement understood to be $4 million.
One of Australia’s leading business figures, Ann Sherry, a long-time Rugby Australia board member, told The Breakdown Folau’s posts were “deeply offensive” to not only members of the rugby community but many of their sponsors.
“The Folau issue came twice if you recall and the first time rugby was very conciliatory with him,” Sherry said.
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“So there was always the tension of someone who was a magic player, who brought life to the game and had incredible skills against someone who was using his position as a star, marquee player, to proselytise views that were deeply offensive, not just to the many in the rugby community, certainly not all but many, were deeply offensive also to many of our sponsors who made it possible to pay him the big bucks and were, from a social point of view, painting rugby into a corner that we didn‘t want to be in.”
Three sources told The Australian that Qantas did not tell rugby to sack Folau.
Rather, Qantas said: make this problem go away.
Sherry, who was on the board for seven years, said Folau’s future was intensely debated at board level.
“It was very heavily debated,” Sherry said. “So it wasn‘t just management, it went backwards and forwards a lot. I mean, ultimately, the day-to-day stuff sits with coach and the CEO but certainly all of those issues came to the board, it was a heavily debated at the board. It was very heavily debated. So it wasn’t just management, it went backwards and forwards a lot.”
Also in Friday’s episode, Cheika opens up for the first time on trying to unite a team after Folau’s social media posts.
Cheika also revealed he endured verbal and written threats after Folau departed from the code.
“I felt that I felt the negative end of that, you know, face-to-face and on several occasions and I knew that would be the case because you’re … one of the faces of where the stand has been coming from,” Cheika said. “That’s going to happen. And that does take its toll.”
Cheika revealed the private Wallabies meeting that took place in the May 2019 at a camp in Brisbane.
“We had a camp, we got together and we broke it up into small (groups) … we had to acknowledge it and discuss it,” Cheika said.
“So we could get everything off anyone‘s chest and at least start a process that awards getting the team connected because that type of connectivity is super important … if you’re going into a tussle (the 2019 World Cup) where you’re not going in as favourites.
“So we needed to be totally aligned and I had to try and make adjustments because there was a misalignment — I don’t think through anyone’s fault either. I’m certainly not looking to point the finger at anyone for that. But when you take certain actions, they’re going to have a reaction at the other side. And that splintered a few areas that I wanted to try to get back together and which I think we did pretty successfully.”
In the sixth and final episode of The Breakdown, available on Saturday, we speak exclusively to new Rugby Australia chairman Hamish McLennan about the state of the game when he arrived, and hear from leading rugby figures about suggestions the code’s governance needs radical reform.
We’ll also explore why Aussie rules goalposts are springing up at elite private schools — once the heartland of schoolboy rugby union?
Come back tomorrow for Episode 6: What now?
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