Time for Israel Folau’s redemption but don’t hold your breath

Waratahs fans would love to see Israel Folau back in the sky blue jersey

The Easter weekend is behind us, but its message is enduring. If you remove the jargon and the mumbo jumbo surrounding it, Easter is about two important events, the crucifixion and the resurrection.

The crucifixion is, at root, an expression of the dark mystery of evil that increasingly, today, we see all around us, in particular, the vilification of innocent people and the language of hatred on social media.

The Easter message should make us pause to realise the burdens and the crucifixions that many have to bear, often at the hands of powerful people.

Easter Sunday reminds us of the resurrection and the triumph over evil.

Yes, this is a rugby column, but we have our own metaphor of the Easter message in Israel Folau.

By way of background, it is worth noting that Christianity is the dominant religion in Australia — 12 million Australians and more than 86 per cent of all religious Australians identify as Christians.

Not all Christians are hard core believers who quote from the Old Testament, but there are many from the Evangelical Christian community who do.

Included in this group are around 250,000 Pasifika people who now call Australia home.

Almost 50 per cent of all professional rugby league and rugby union players in Australia are Pasifika. Many believe the Bible is the word of God. This is largely the result of missionaries who introduced Christianity to the Pacific Islands.

Folau is a young man of Tongan heritage. He is a Christian. He was run out of our game for quoting scripture, his religious beliefs.

Even for those who have no religious faith, there surely comes a time to forgive and forget, the redemption that follows the crucifixion. If that time has not come, when will it come?

Or do we mouth platitudes about the spirit of Easter, but do nothing about honouring it.

There is plenty to be done on the Waratahs rebuild. When the Waratahs last won the Super Rugby title in 2014, Folau was their top tryscorer with 12 tries from 16 matches.

At 32 years of age, with more than 70 Wallaby caps, Folau clearly has a lot to offer a young Waratahs team.

The great Wallaby Toutai Kefu, also of Tongan descent, recently gave an interesting insight into the background and values of the Pasifika community.

Kefu said: “We all grew up the same way. We went to Sunday school and then there are different divisions of religion that we all grew up in. We certainly all support Israel and his views.”

By that he means believing in the teachings of the Bible.

Folau has enormous support in the broader community and most of the rugby people I speak to would love to see Izzy be part of the Waratahs. Most would love to see him back in the green and gold.

Queensland has benefited from offering James O’Connor an opportunity for redemption. The one-time bad boy of Australian rugby is now captain of Queensland and perhaps the best ballplayer in the country.

They say time heals all wounds. Does it?

Remember, Folau has committed no crime.

We have players in our game who have committed criminal offences and have been welcomed back into the fold.

Why not grant the same forgiveness from administrators to Folau, though why someone should have to apologise for citing religious beliefs is beyond me.

Clearly, the Waratahs need more than one key player to start the rebuild.

If I were running the show at NSW Rugby, there are some key priorities I would focus on.

The first is to ask serious questions as to whether the administration should remain. If it were a corporation, they would be gone.

They are all good people, most known to me, but they have presided over spectacular failure.

A new administration would then have to rebuild its roster and that starts with retaining the quality players coming off contract. Some of them, I know, are considering jumping ship right now.

Whenever a club is struggling there is a massive risk that your best young players get scouted from other teams around the world. Players such as Angus Bell are potential captains of the Waratahs and the Wallabies.

The Waratahs’ quality players coming off contract must be retained quickly.

How do you do that? Well, they need to get on with the process of finding a new coach, an Australian coach. There are plenty of young outstanding Australian coaches.

The first job is to make sure that people who know something about coaching and coaching success make the choice, not the blazer brigade.

If the coach selection process takes forever, the Waratahs won’t be able to sign quality recruits. All quality players want to play for a good coach. They won’t move to NSW until they know who the coach is. And they certainly won’t join the Waratahs if the roster is weak.

Then, once the new coaches are in place and the roster has improved, it is time to engage with the support base and get behind the team.

I believe Waratahs fans are open to seeing Folau back in the sky blue jersey and part of a new team.

No doubt, the PC brigade will be choking on their smashed avocado on toast as they read my column. Instead of leading our game with visionary decisions, they seem preoccupied with majoring in the minor issues.

It is interesting that while New Zealand Rugby are currently in negotiations to sign a jersey sponsor for $300 million, our administration is focused on being gender equity pioneers.

They seem more interested in appointing a female referee to a key Super Rugby contest.

Let me be clear, I do respect Amy Perrett, the female referee of the Rebels versus Reds game last week. But Amy was completely out of her depth. She struggled with decision making in the tackle area. Things happened too quickly for her and she made a couple of poor calls.

Amy Perrett should never have been given the job because she is not one of our top referees.

We need to prepare our best referees so that they can officiate at the next World Cup.

The appointment was a PC gesture, completely unwarranted; and what message does Rugby Australia send Angus Gardner and Nick Berry when they are overlooked for such a prime refereeing appointment?

And what message does it send to the players when the best referees are not in charge of the best fixtures?

Unfortunately, RA seem to be completely preoccupied with wokeness.

It would appear that all lives matter, except that of Folau.