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Thread: Folau RA mouthpeice B/S story

  1. #1
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    Folau RA mouthpeice B/S story

    Did anyone else see the utter B/S piece by RA mouthpiece Robinson on Folau last week. It was a beautifully crafted piece of RA spin disguised as a story.
    I was wondering why it suddenly appeared for no reason when F*** me the next day they announced another multi-million dollar waste of funds.
    Now I can't find the story but when I do I'll put it up unless someone can help me out and find it first.

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  2. #2
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    https://www.smh.com.au/sport/rugby-u...6yempmY8PDsseA

    Israel Folau is having his portrait taken in a bustling pedestrian alley in Harajuku, downton Tokyo, at dusk. His teammates, Bernard Foley and Adam Coleman, pose with novelty ice cream cones, baby pink and powder blue, with sugar bunny ears and garish orange cones.

    When it is his turn, Folau stands alone, unadorned save for the tattoos he wishes he never had inked. Tourists pass and neon signs flash, there's a shop selling kimonos for miniature dogs over his shoulder.


    He has just given one of the best interviews of his career, a 15-minute download on faith, identity and learning to move past people's differences.

    He's staying in rugby long-term, he's told reporters, despite the tumult of the previous six months. The gays-to-hell stuff, the frosty stand-off with his boss, Raelene Castle, and the widespread - but by no means universal - outrage.


    In the laneway, hands on hips, he smiles like he's lit from within. Too easy. Except it wasn't.

    Folau has paid a price for his outspokenness. Although he agreed to terms with Rugby Australia in October, it took countless meetings and some difficult conversations to get it all over the line.

    Now, on the eve of the Super Rugby season, a deal the organisation would otherwise be shouting from the rooftops - "four years, one of the most recognisable faces in Australian sport, he chose US!" - has still not been formally announced.

    Why? How long have you got.

    A private donor who funded a portion of his previous deal is no longer on board, there are social media clauses in his new contract, and he will pop up more than ever before at junior rugby camps and fan days, as RA learns to maximise his exposure among children and teenagers and minimise it among the game's largely secular, progressive and older fan base.

    "It’s a bit of a roller-coaster year, for me, more so off the field with what’s been happening but, to be quite honest, it might sound a bit crazy, but I kind of really enjoyed what was happening off the field," Folau said that day in Japan. "Not that it happened on purpose, but my identity is based around my faith in God. And I truly believe that from deep down inside, what was happening off the field, even though it was challenging and it was hard, it was actually moulding me into the person [I am] ... and taught me a lot of things that I needed to learn, and I’m still learning now.

    Not everyone associated with Folau "enjoyed" the fall-out from his April 3 comment on Instagram that gay people were destined for hell. Or the follow-up, a 10-minute sermon carrying strong anti-gay overtones. The Herald understands that Sydney's wealthy Salteri family, who made their fortune as one half of construction giant Transfield, chose not to renew their relationship with the decorated dual international on the back of the controversy last year.


    The Herald can reveal that the Salteris, listed in 2014 as Australia's ninth-richest family, had contributed to his previous deal through the Australian Rugby Foundation's high performance arm, which last year donated $622,000 to select teams and individuals.

    Offered the opportunity to contribute again to Folau's new deal, they declined, although they are in talks to continue their involvement in other areas of the game. The family, notoriously private, did not respond to the Herald's request for comment.

    The shortfall means Folau is likely to have settled for a slightly smaller overall deal than the previous three-year, seven-figure-per-season agreement he signed in 2015. The Herald understands there are also beefed-up social media protocols he must observe, and more appearances required at fan days. It was also reported last year that Wallabies sponsor Landrover took back the car they had lent the fullback.

    It is unequivocally a win for Castle and RA, who came under intense pressure to sanction Folau last April. At one point, the three-time John Eales Medalist took a swipe at his boss for suggesting he regretted his comments, and then said he would walk away from rugby, or any sport, before he would compromise his beliefs. Yet there he was in Tokyo six months later, praising Castle for the work she was doing in the wider game and telling his critics he loved them, too.

    "Obviously a lot of people will say negative things about what was happening, but it taught me to actually love and forgive them for obviously not agreeing," he said. "That’s something that I’ve learnt to take on."


    It is a testament to both parties' maturity that their differences - and egos - could be put to one side. Castle balanced strong freedom of speech imperatives against the clear hurt and potential for harm caused by the comments.

    It can't have hurt that she had a longstanding association with Folau's wife, Maria Folau (nee Tutaia), through netball in New Zealand (Castle was Netball New Zealand CEO for six years while Maria was one of the sport's biggest stars). In the end, Castle and Folau talked their way round to an understanding.

    The deal is not without risk for RA. They were roundly criticised for offering Michael Hooper $1.2 million per season for another World Cup cycle, and Folau will be 33 by the final year of this new agreement. Presuming it is still in the $1 million per season ballpark, is it money well-spent given the known potential downside?


    The organisation thinks so, for three main reasons. Folau remains a huge drawcard among children - he is the first face you see in the Waratahs new-season pitch for junior rugby players - and a beloved role model in the Pacific Islander community.

    He is also part of a strategy to lock down a small group of players around which Australia can build their next World Cup squad. Hooper is the other big name in that group, while Brumbies prop Allan Alaalatoa and teenage Reds sensation Jordan Petaia must be the others, given they were also locked in on four-year deals late last year.

    And at his best on the playing field there is no one like him. Whether he reaches that potential again over the term of the new deal, is up to him.

    So rugby and Izzy, back together for four more years. It won't always be a comfortable union, but it is a committed one.

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  3. #3
    Veteran Bakkies's Avatar
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    Of course he is going to praise her when there is money involved.

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    'I may be a Senator but I am not stupid'


    https://omny.fm/shows/the-alan-jones-breakfast-show/cameron-clyne

    Link to Senate Report http://www.aph.gov.au/senate_ca

    https://www.change.org/p/rugby-australia-petition-for-cameron-clyne-to-resign-as-chairman-of-the-rugby-australia-board

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    So his seven figure salary has been reduced by his percentage of 622k that is shared between him, other individuals and clubs, potentially 10% of that amount is his.

    Poor bugger must be doing it tough without his pocket change

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    C'mon the

  5. #5
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    TWAS and the RA talk about market dictating these high salaries which is bs. I have yet to see reports linking Hooper and Folau to European or Japanese clubs in the past few months while their contracts were under negotiation.

    Folau particularly after his homophobic tweets that would have turned a lot of French clubs given high profile gay people like Serge Simon and Max Guazinni are in prominent Rugby positions.

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    'I may be a Senator but I am not stupid'


    https://omny.fm/shows/the-alan-jones-breakfast-show/cameron-clyne

    Link to Senate Report http://www.aph.gov.au/senate_ca

    https://www.change.org/p/rugby-australia-petition-for-cameron-clyne-to-resign-as-chairman-of-the-rugby-australia-board

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    I don’t know how they can talkup Folau & Hoopers value in an underperforming team and neither have shown much to shout about on the field. What top players around are getting is irrelevant when as you say there doesn’t seem to be anyone beating the door down with offers. And the fact that Castle is telling people that Hoopers the next McCaw is laughable. RA are seriously living in some kind of bubble!

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  7. #7
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    They are just in denial.

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    'I may be a Senator but I am not stupid'


    https://omny.fm/shows/the-alan-jones-breakfast-show/cameron-clyne

    Link to Senate Report http://www.aph.gov.au/senate_ca

    https://www.change.org/p/rugby-australia-petition-for-cameron-clyne-to-resign-as-chairman-of-the-rugby-australia-board

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