Rugby Australia boss Raelene Castle defends her role in Israel Folau saga

Rugby Australia boss Raelene Castle defends her role in the Israel Folau saga. 

Israel Folau with his wife Maria in Melbourne on the day they settled with Rugby Australia. Picture: Aaron Francis

Rugby Australia chief executive Raelene Castle has defended her role in the Israel Folau saga, arguing she didn’t get anything wrong as she claimed it was cheaper to settle his unfair dismissal case than go to trial.

Speaking to the media in Sydney on Thursday morning, a day after Rugby Australia and the sacked Wallaby star agreed to a confidential settlement, Castle said the code’s stakeholders wanted the case resolved to give some certainty instead of it dragging into the new year.

She rejected calls for her resignation and said Rugby Australia “at every stage looked to .. ensure the very, very key value of inclusiveness stood up’’.

READ MORE: Castle should resign over Folau disaster, writes Janet Albrechtsen | Rugby chief calls for cool heads | Fast-track religious freedom, Israel urges | Folau case will continue to rumble, writes Wayne Smith | Where to now for Folau? | Marathon 12-hour Folau mediation talks

“We didn’t back down ... we needed to give the game cost certainty and the feedback we were getting from our rugby community was that they wanted this matter settled,’’ she said.

“They wanted to go into the new year, knowing that they can go in with a clean slate and start talking about rugby again instead of talking about this case.’’

Castle said the settlement deal was a “commercial decision” but she dismissed a reported figure of $8 million as “wildly inaccurate”. She said Rugby Australia won’t have to make changes to the budget or take money away from community rugby to pay Folau.

“No we didn’t get it wrong, at the end of the day, we stood up for the values of rugby Australia, the person that chose to breach the Code of Conduct was found guilty and his contract was ultimately terminated,’’ she said.

Castle said she felt she was still the right person to lead RA, and backed the way she and the board had handled the matter. “I do because at the end of the day this has been very difficult — there’s not a business leader that leads an organisation that I’ve spoken to that hasn’t looked at this situation and gone, this is a very difficult thing. Ultimately we’ve had extensive support from the rugby community and also from the wider business community.”

On Wednesday Folau said he has been “vindicated” by Rugby Australia’s apology and he was now “looking forward” to the Morrison government passing laws protecting the right to religious expression. 

The banished Wallaby superstar, with wife Maria by his side, spoke of his happiness on Wednesday at reaching a confidential settlement with Rugby Australia, ending a $14m legal battle that has embarrassed the sporting body.

The Australian understands Rugby Australia has agreed to compensate Folau several million dollars under the terms of the settlement. It came after 15 hours of negotiations this week, bringing to an end one of the most damaging periods for rugby in Australia.

The code sacked the deeply ­religious Wallaby for making ­social media posts that said homosexuals, adulterers, fornicators and drunkards were going to hell. 

“We are extremely pleased with the settlement reached today,” Folau said, in a video posted to his website.

“With today’s acknowledgment and apology by Rugby Australia, we have been vindicated and can move on with our lives to focus on our faith and our family.” 

The parties released a joint statement in which Rugby Australia said it “acknowledges and apologises for any hurt or harm caused to the Folaus”.

Similarly, the statement said Folau “did not intend to hurt or harm the game of rugby and acknowledges and apologises for any hurt or harm caused”. In the video, posted after the joint statement, Folau said the legal action was taken to protect the rights of people of faith and he looked forward to the federal governme­nt enshrining the freedoms in law. 

Read the full Rugby Australia statement here

“We started this journey on behalf of all people of faith to protect their rights of freedom of speech and religion,” he said. 

“We now look forward to the federal government enacting the legislation necessary to further protect and strengthen these rights for all Australians … Maria and I would like to thank God for his guidance and strength,” he said.

“Thank you to our supporters for their thoughts and prayers, in particular our families, our con­gre­gation as well as Martyn Iles and the Australian Christian Lobby.” 

Religious lobby group ACL raised $2.2m to fund Folau’s legal campaign against Rugby Australia after he was sacked.

Mr Iles said donors to Folau’s cause would be contacted and get their money back. “Donors who gave to the Folau campaign will be contacted in due course and are entitled to refunds on a pro-rata basis, in accordance with our original commitment,” he said on Twitter. “Thank you all for contributing to an important result for religious freedom.”   

Donors who gave to the Folau campaign will be contacted in due course and are entitled to refunds on a pro-rata basis, in accordance with our original commitment.

Thank you all for contributing to an important result for religious freedom.

— Martyn Iles (@MartynLloydIles) December 4, 2019

Rugby Australia terminated the $5.7m contract of the former Wallaby after his April Instagram post that read: “Drunks, Homosexuals, Adulterers, Liars, Fornicators, Thieves, Atheists, Idolators: Hell Awaits You. Repent! Only Jesus Saves.” A year earlier, Folau also said on Instagram that gay people would go to hell unless they repented.

The joint statement said Folau did not “intend to harm or offend” anyone with the post.

“Mr Folau wants all Australians to know he does not condone discrimination of any kind against any person on the grounds of their sex­uality and that he shares Rugby Australia’s commitment to inclusiveness and diversity.”

Rugby Australia CEO Raelene Castle. Picture: AAP

Scott Morrison’s draft religious discriminat­ion bill includes the Folau clause, which would prevent big companies from firing staff for sharing religious views outside work unless it was necessary to avoid financial hardship. Mr Iles said he hoped the settlement would set a precedent and that the religious freedoms bill was needed to protect people of faith.

“People of all faiths need clear protections to speak openly about their beliefs,” he said.

“It is wrong for them to be ­silenced by the fear of litigation or lawsuits by activists.”

Anna Brown, chief executive of Equality Australia, said the settlement drew a line between what was acceptable and unacceptable, which proved the religious freedom bill was unnecessary.

“While the details are confidential, it is clear Rugby Australia did not back down on its support for the LGBTIQ+ community, and have indicated again that they do not agree with the damaging and hurtful statements made by Israel Folau,” she said.

“We commend them for standing by the principles of equality in the sport. They have taken a stand for inclusion.”

The joint statement said Rugby Australia “do not in any way agree with the content of the social media post. Inclusiveness is one of rugby’s core values and it welcomes all people to the game, including all members of the LGBTI community.” 

Folau was seeking $14m and an apology in compensation, according to court documents, which included an assessment the Walla­bies would have performed better at this year’s World Cup had he been in the team and that he might have been named captain.

A spokesman for Folau said he wouldn’t be making any immediate comment about his sporting future, while RA said the 30-year-old wouldn’t be playing rugby in Australia again under the current administration.