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Israel Folau's secret meeting in a bid to save career
Disgraced Wallabies star Israel Folau has fronted Rugby Australia bosses in Sydney in a desperate bid to save his career two days after publishing two controversial posts on social media.
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Folau was seen entering RA headquarters at Moore Park just after midday on Friday, according to the Sydney Morning Herald.
The revelation comes less than 24 hours after RA chief executive Raelene Castle and New South Wales CEO Andrew Hore announced their intentions to terminate the 30-year-old’s multi-million dollar contract after he publicised anti-gay sentiments on Instagram and Twitter for the second time in 12 months.
Folau and his representatives did not return calls from RA prior to the Castle and Hore’s announcement, but instead opted to meet with representatives in person.
It is not known who the meeting was with, although Wallabies head coach Michael Cheika was seen leaving the building around the same time, and it is believed the meeting lasted about 10 minutes.
Earlier in the day, Folau was spotted by 9 News cameras for the first time since the controversy began at an eastern Sydney cafe with wife, Maria, Rugby Union Players’ Association boss Prataal Raj, and an unidentified figure.
When approached and asked by reporters whether he regretted what he posted online, he replied with “no” before before getting into a car and driving away.
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Folau created widespread outrage on when he posted an image on Instagram on Wednesday which stated that “Hell awaits” eight different types of people, of which included “homosexuals”.
He accompanied that with a post on Twitter which read “The devil has blinded so many people in this world” in response to Tasmania becoming the first Australian jurisdiction to allow gender to be optional on birth certificates.
Castle and Hore released a joint statement on Thursday in response to Folau’s posts, which said:
“Whilst Israel is entitled to his religious beliefs, the way in which he has expressed these beliefs is inconsistent with the values of the sport. We want to make it clear that he does not speak for the game with his recent social media posts.
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“Israel has failed to understand that the expectation of him as a Rugby Australia and NSW Waratahs employee is that he cannot share material on social media that condemns, vilifies or discriminates against people on the basis of their sexuality.
“Rugby is a sport that continuously works to unite people. We want everyone to feel safe and welcome in our game and no vilification based on race, gender, religion or sexuality is acceptable and no language that isolates, divides or insults people based on any of those factors can be tolerated.
“As a code we have made it clear to Israel formally and repeatedly that any social media posts or commentary that is in any way disrespectful to people because of their sexuality will result in disciplinary action.”
Watch – Folau sparks controversy again:
