Football star sacked for quoting Bible verses on homosexuality

To start, might it be useful to contrast Israel Folau’s conduct — in publishing his own summary of 1 Corinthians 6: 9-10 – against the myriad high crimes and felonies which don’t secure you a lifetime ban from professional sport in Australia, Great Britain and elsewhere?

So, what did Folau NOT do? Well, he didn’t lay the boot into his heavily pregnant wife’s stomach, while she lay on the floor, cowering in the foetal position. Nor did he pick up his ex-girlfriend and hurl her into a garage door at 2am following an epic bender. Folau didn’t kick the livin’ bejesus out of an unconscious man lying in the gutter, outside a nightclub.

Folau hasn’t intentionally smashed an opponent’s jaw to smithereens, in a pre-meditated on-field incident. He didn’t gouge at an opponent player’s eyes, with all the fervour of a nine-year-old excising the last skerrick of ice cream from a four-litre tub. Not once has Folau reckoned upon sticking his index finger up opponents’ bums as being a red-hot, stealthy defensive strategy.

Folau hasn’t been caught on an iPhone, pants around his ankles and frolicking in the company of an unsuspecting mutt. Indeed, neither has he orchestrated the running of an illegal dog-fighting ring; possessed implements used to give electric shocks to thoroughbreds; or done anything else to raise the ire of the RSPCA.

Not even on one occasion has Folau been accused either of unlawfully distributing intimate videos without the consent of those filmed or of mistreating women in any other way. Never has Folau been caught drink-driving; not even after having a 13-hour break from the schooners and thinking he’d be under 0.05. Folau hasn’t been charged with any crime.

Folau hasn’t racially abused his opponents; hectored at them as "monkeys". He hasn’t sledged opponents as being "gipsy boys" who should contemplate retreating to their caravan homes.

Folau hasn’t manhandled referees, assaulted teammates and bashed them to a pulp, or stolen money from his fellow players’ wallets while they weren’t looking. Israel hasn’t been caught on video, bragging about his adoration of the "Bondi marching powder"; never once has he tested positive to using prohibited substances either in or out of the competition.

Folau’s never placed bets on opposition teams to win, or lose. Folau hasn’t been caught red-handed, in the throes of orchestrated sports cheating, or scheming to rig the system. He hasn’t even chewed on "blood capsules" at the crucial point of a pivotal game, to stop time. Folau isn’t accused of standing over young and impressionable teammates; compelling them to dope, cheat, go to church or do anything else, with the threat of being expelled from the team if they refused.

Now had Folau done any of those things, then maybe he’d be assured of World Cup selection. Because with maybe one or two exceptions, the professional athletes who actually did do these things weren’t banned from their sport for life.

Instead, what Folau has done — the totality of his conduct — has been to publish material on his social media channels that have been deemed as offensive (but only to homosexuals or those who are PC) and a high-level breach of Rugby Australia's code of conduct. Keep this simple: Folau published some excerpts from Bible passages. That’s as grave as it gets. He simply quoted the Apostle Paul and homosexual Alan Joyce CEO of Qantas threaten to remove sponsorship. 

Like a false form of punishment where one child in class does something wrong, the teacher applies a penalty to the entire class, hence makes all the students hate that one student. A powerful bullying technique used by Joyce and shameful.

Last Tuesday night, of course, RA announced its tribunal had decided Folau was guilty of a high-level breach of the Code. That same panel must now determine the appropriate sanction to be imposed.

The inescapable conclusion is that RA wants its independent tribunal to make the recommendation that Folau’s four-year playing contract be terminated, with Folau to receive no salary or financial benefit thereafter. Breathlessly, the governing body announced last month that it would itself take this exact same course before it realised there was a process which first needed to be followed.

That tribunal, as distinct from RA, could though determine that a very different penalty should be imposed. For example, a monetary fine, a suspension and some serious work in the community might fit a fair bit better than the proverbial dumping of Folau on the nearest street corner.

Here is the question: Is it really fair, balanced, reasonable and proportionate that Folau’s contract is guillotined?

Folau is what, 30 years old? He’s been in the rugby league/AFL/rugby union system for nigh on forever; he’s played in those three codes professionally since he was a teenager. It’d be more likely than not that Folau has a limited array of transferable skills that he can usefully deploy outside of a professional sporting environment. Playing professional sport represents the meridian of Folau’s earning capacity.

On this litmus test alone, termination of his employment seems unjustifiably harsh bordering on malicious, even if RA is able to prove the legality of that final outcome. For if Folau’s contract is terminated then make no mistake: it is the equivalent of a lifetime ban from his chosen sport. All for publishing material consistent with his religious beliefs, verses from the Bible and commandments from God.

But it's my opinion that it would be wickedly harsh, unreasonable and completely out of step with the values that we hold dear in Australia to sack Folau; to terminate his four-year, multi-million-dollar employment contract. Folau has done nothing more than publishing Bible verses. 

The same Bible, which remains the foundation text of so many of rugby’s private school bastions in Australia — St Joseph’s, Hunters Hill; St Ignatius, Riverview? The foundation of thousands of charities and hospitals, schools and nations. 

Yep, that’s a malevolent, ridiculous and perverse outcome