One of the Wallabies, the Australian National Rugby team, star player Israel Folau, the fourth highest scoring player in the Wallabies history, has recently had his contract terminated. In late 2019 he made homophobic comments on social media through his religious views. This brought much back lash towards Folau which ended with both his contracts, club and national, being terminated, ending his Australian rugby career. Having what many would consider the best player in the world kicked out of rugby is something unprecedented. Although many agreed with the termination of Folau’s contract, there were some that went against the Wallabies decision.
The most prominent point was that Folau’s views, although extremist, were religious in nature and it seemed as though that wasn’t considered. As Patrick Blennerhassett points out in the article, “Has Rugby Australia contradicted itself in the Israel Folau ruling?” The Inclusion Policy that they used to validate the termination of Folau’s contract also mentions religion. Blennerhassett goes on to say that if you “take [religion] out everything is fine, but by including [this] word, Rugby Australia is stating Folau has the right to play.” This seeming contradiction points out a flaw in the system where it seems like some citizens’ rights are more important and protected than others. This is especially important in Australia where a majority of its citizens are Christians and homophobia is a much deeper rooted problem.
What has this even accomplished? A question that many Australians such as Paul Karp has asked himself. In the article “Israel Folau’s beliefs are ugly but censoring him won't weed out homophobia,” he mentions that even though he doesn’t personally agree with Folau’s views, he realizes that in a predominantly Christian country, where there are many who share Folau’s views, whether they publish them or not, is a problem that has to do with more than just one individual. It’s not to say that all Christians share these views, in fact the majority probably don’t, but with such toxic views even a small percentage is dangerous. The Wallabies should have instead made it clear that Folau’s personal views in no way reflect those of the team. If they wanted to help the current situation against homophobia they should have pushed to influence Folau’s perspective. One thing is for sure, Folau has not changed his view, since he has used his outrage to have a long private legal battle with the Wallabies. In the long run this has shown that while these views are not acceptable, it doesn’t stop people from having them. Changing someone's viewpoints can only be achieved by talking to them.
The Wallabies have ultimately failed to help those that Folau has publicly insulted. Instead of trying to change the perspective of a Christian majority country they have told them to seclude the views that some of them currently have. In some ways, they’ve even put their values below those of others.