Israel Folau ‘taking money away from grassroots’

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Israel Folau ‘taking money away from grassroots’

Post by Beaussie »

Seriously, this guy is like a parasite with his legal actions and constant code and club hopping. Now grassroots football is set to suffer.

Do RL fans even want to see him playing again in Australia?

Folau legal battle ‘taking money away from grassroots’, says QRL
By Adrian Proszenko
June 6, 2021

The Queensland Rugby League will have to divert at least $50,000 that could have been used to support grassroots football towards legal fees in order to defend its handling of the Israel Folau registration saga.

Folau is seeking a Supreme Court injunction against the QRL in a bid to play for the Southport Tigers next weekend. The QRL is prepared to approve Folau’s bid to play in the third-tier competition on the Gold Coast on the proviso he obtains a release from his contractual obligations with Catalans Dragons.

Those terms haven’t been enough to placate Folau or his backer, billionaire businessman Clive Palmer, with the matter now heading to the Queensland Supreme Court. The case is set for a directions hearing on Thursday and a favourable outcome for Folau could result in the cross-code star making his debut for the Tigers against the Mudgeeraba Redbacks next weekend. The Tigers were recently hammered 88-0 by Burleigh and had won just one of their first four games going into the weekend.

The development comes as another controversial figure, Tony Williams, has been cleared to play for the Tigers. The former NSW and Australian back-rower has been officially registered by the QRL after his contracts with Windsor Wolves and US league team New York Freedom were torn up following statements he made on social media in support of convicted rapist Jarryd Hayne. Williams has apologised for the comments.

The registration of Folau, who is being paid a reported $250,000 by Palmer, is proving a trickier proposition. Catalans claim Folau is still under contract to them, while Folau’s camp claims the contract was broken when the French club failed to meet its financial obligations to him.

Palmer has accused the Super League club of treating Folau “like a slave”, but Dragons football manager Alex Chan remains unmoved.

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Clive Palmer and Israel Folau discuss their options at Owen Park on the Gold Coast.CREDIT:GETT

“Our position is still the same,” Chan said. “We still have Mr Folau on our register and if he and Clive Palmer wish to register elsewhere, we are open to negotiations.”

Billionaire businessman Palmer has vowed to throw his considerable resources into Folau’s quest to return, which could result in a series of costly and protracted legal battles. The QRL estimates that they will spend at least $50,000 defending their legal position at a time when participation is dwindling at grassroots level.

“You can assume that will be the case,” said QRL managing director Robert Moore. “Any money that we have in the surplus will be invested in the future. You’re always looking for new programs, new projects, new things you can invest in.

“There’s no doubt at all that you don’t want to be spending your money on court cases. That’s a pretty common view. People would question why you would have to spend time on that at this time of year when you have plenty of other things to do. It just doesn’t sit right.

“Our position is pretty straightforward: we have a rule that says you need to be cleared from your previous club before you can register at a new club. That happens all around the world.

“Until such time as Israel is cleared, he can’t be registered. We’ve said he will be registered as soon as he is cleared.”

Folau’s legal team is expected to use an obscure clause in the QRL rules that relates to international clearances.

Asked about Palmer’s claims that Folau has been treated like a “slave”, Moore said: “I don’t buy into any of the comments that are made in relation to the case because, in our point of view, we’ve already said Israel will be registered once he is cleared to play from his previous rule.

“That’s the rule that everyone follows. I don’t see that it’s that difficult to do that, it just means he has to negotiate a clearance with the previous club.”

https://www.smh.com.au/sport/nrl/folau- ... 57ydg.html
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Re: Israel Folau ‘taking money away from grassroots’

Post by Quolls2019 »

Does seem he hops around and changes his mind a bit and is money driven.
Still think he was treated very unfairly by being kicked out of rugby initially, I don’t agree with what he said and I am not religious in any way, but if it was so offensive where is the push to ban the book that agrees with him.
And I’m sure the QRL can divert money from somewhere else rather than any grassroots fund, the NRL would surely want to contribute because if he wins against th3 QRL, the NRL will be next.
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Re: Israel Folau ‘taking money away from grassroots’

Post by Terry »

Quolls2019 wrote: Sun Jun 06, 2021 1:14 pm
Does seem he hops around and changes his mind a bit and is money driven.
Still think he was treated very unfairly by being kicked out of rugby initially, I don’t agree with what he said and I am not religious in any way, but if it was so offensive where is the push to ban the book that agrees with him.
And I’m sure the QRL can divert money from somewhere else rather than any grassroots fund, the NRL would surely want to contribute because if he wins against th3 QRL, the NRL will be next.
Well inEquollity, I actually agree with ya!!! If they're going to make every person who quotes from the bible lose their job and basically be un-employable for life there should be millions of Australians in the same boat as Folau.

It was all the idiot's who publicised what he said that bought all the attention to his meme. If they ignored it no-one outside his circle of friends would have known.

In any case I believe Folau will win any court case just as he did with RA.

As for funding grassroots: Folau has zero to do with it. It's a beatup plain and simple!!!!!
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