Wallabies tested on Israel Folau ‘fault line’

Senior players are being sounded out over what should happen to Israel Folau to avoid a split.

Israel Folau and wife Maria outside Kenthurst Uniting Church in Sydney yesterday. Picture: Hollie Adams

Senior players in the Wallabies and Waratahs are being sounded out about their opinion of what should happen to Israel Folau as Rugby Australia moves to serve him with a breach notice today.

Should Folau accept the breach ruling, this extraordinary mess in which rugby finds itself could end today. But there is virtually no chance of that happening. Accepting the breach notice would mean accepting that RA and the NSW Rugby Union can terminate his $4 million four-year contract, but no one expects Folau to follow that course. His intention is to fight termination, which means that this is headed instead to a Code of Conduct hearing.

It is now five days on from Folau going on social media to post a warning that “drunks, homosexuals, adulterers, liars, fornicators, thieves, atheists and idolaters” are headed to Hell unless they repent, and the signs are that with each passing day, the waters are becoming more muddied.

It is understood that there was considerable debate within the two rugby bodies over whether a Code of Conduct hearing was the correct course. In the end it was decided that failing to go that route would leave rugby in the same boat as rugby league over the Jack de Belin case, having to fight endless court battles. A Code of Conduct hearing would not only ensure justice was done but was seen to be done.

“I see this heading to a Code of Conduct and then it’s in the lap of the gods,” NSWRU chairman Roger Davis said yesterday. “I don’t know where it is going to go but there will be tougher decisions after the Code of Conduct than before.”

Outcomes could range from no penalty or sanction through to contract termination and, as the former Australian Rugby Union discovered in the case of Kurtley Beale back in 2014, it could easily be left with an outcome over which it has no control.

Rugby Australia might attempt to paint this as a straightforward employment contract dispute — Folau agreed to accept $4m over four years in exchange for not broadcasting views that were inconsistent with the values of the sport — but there has been a fair weight of legal opinion that he could allege religious discrimination under national employment law.

While the rugby authorities are deeply concerned by the likely reaction of sponsors such as Qantas and Land Rover if Folau is allowed to remain in the code, there is as much angst over how teammates and fans would react to him being terminated.

Davis was unsure what the mood of the Waratahs players would be.

“Don’t know at this stage,” he said. “We have meetings today and tomorrow with our leadership group. I think Cheik (Australian coach Michael Cheika) has spoken to the Wallabies side, some of the Wallabies side, trying to take the temperature. I don’t think anyone has spoken to 35-40 players yet. You have to understand what the team view is here. I think that will colour everyone’s opinion.”

The dread, unspoken fear is that Folau could become the fault line on which the Wallabies split. Some 46 per cent of Australian rugby professionals are Pasifika players but if the Polynesians believe he is being persecuted for his religious beliefs while the Anglo-Saxon players are annoyed at him for going back on his 2018 word not to raise this issue again and subjecting the code to new turmoil just five months out from the World Cup, the easy harmony within the Australian side could be threatened.

One thing is certain, the NSWRU is in no financial position to pay out Folau’s contract. Whether RA is able to do so is also extremely doubtful, for reasons political as well as financial. It could hardly justify paying out millions of dollars in dead money just two years after finances forced it to cull the Western Force. So the bizarre end result might be that Folau continues to play for the Waratahs while the Wallabies — in order to keep faith with the values of their naming-right sponsor Qantas — refuse to select him.

“We were torn apart on the Western Force issue and there were pros and cons in that decision but it had huge community impact and this will have a similar community impact, but for different reasons,” said Davis.

The NSW boss has the greatest of sympathy for Rugby Australia chief executive Raelene Castle who faces a lose-lose scenario.