Israel Folau has been criticised for setting up a GoFundMe page.
Israel Folau has been criticised for setting up a GoFundMe page.
Israel Folau has been savagely roasted on social media over his controversial public plea for $3 million in donations.
On a busy morning for the sacked former Wallabies star, Folau gave his first interview since being kicked out of Australian rugby just hours after launching a GoFundMe campaign to help pay for his legal fees.
Folau has asked for supporters to help raise $3 million to fight his upcoming employment termination case against Rugby Australia in the Supreme Court.
He said on Friday morning he and wife Maria have already exhausted more than $100,000 in legal costs to get his case to this point — and the legal costs are expected to rise above $1 million should the case progress to the Supreme Court.
The former Wallabies star was sacked for a homophobic social media post earlier this year and had his $5 million contract torn up after being found guilty of a code of conduct breach.
Having taken his termination case to the Fair Work Commission, Folau will meet with Rugby Australia officials next week to further discuss a possible resolution that would stop the matter heading to court.
In the first three hours after Folau first promoted his crowd sourcing campaign page, the cause had received more than $200,000 in public donations and was the most visited page on the GoFundMe site in Australia.
The donations soared above $250,000 by 3pm (NZT) on Friday.
The small fortune raised in the opening day of the appeal has infuriated many Aussie commentators, including Wallabies great Drew Mitchell.
YOU are in a fight that YOU chose to be in after YOU broke the terms of YOUR contract, the kids below are in a fight they NEVER wanted to be in & yet YOU think YOU deserve donations more than they do??!!
The former Waratahs winger took to Twitter on Friday afternoon to accuse his former teammate of being motivated by "greed".
His post included an screengrab image of GoFundMe's "top fundraisers" page which shows Folau has asked for donations far in excess of all other causes on the site, including many sick children needing funds to afford life-saving medical procedures.
"YOU are in a fight that YOU chose to be in after YOU broke the terms of YOUR contract," mitchell posted on Twitter.
"The kids below are in a fight they NEVER wanted to be in & yet YOU think YOU deserve donations more than they do??!!
"It's no longer about religion, it's about YOU and YOUR greed."
Folau has stressed his decision to pursue Rugby Australia in further legal action is motivated purely by his Christian principles and is not about money.
Israel Folau. Photo / Photosport
However, his public plea for millions, despite having amassed more than $10 million in salary payments alone during his career in the NRL, AFL and rugby, left many Australian fans and commentators with a bitter taste in their mouths.
Folau was roasted on Twitter, where his first tweet promoting his GoFundMe campaign received more than 500 responses in the first three hours.
Using your own rules as a guide - prepare for the fires 🔥 of hell Izzy! Any multimillionaire who asks for money - from many who genuinely can’t afford it - is infact a thief. Believe in your words, then back it up with your own cash! 💰 #HypocrisyPersonifiedpic.twitter.com/Bw3gkoPNEl
Perhaps the best joke off all was executed by a donator claiming to be Rugby Australia boss Raelene Castle — the woman who pushed for Folau's sacking — with the account user donating $100 to Folau's cause.
Many other Australian sporting commentators were simply seething over Folau's brazen money grab.
Is Israel Folau kidding? Here's a bloke who jumped form sport to sport looking for the biggest paycheck and now wants fans to bankroll his efforts to make people feel shit about themselves. Piss off mate. #IsraelFolau
In a matter of hours Israel Folau’s Go Fund Me has rocketed to top fundraising list with a tally almost more than the other top 4 combined. And those are for sick children or people fighting for life not a multi million dollar payout. #priorities#disgracefulpic.twitter.com/hm9cuiMQm7
This is just so offensive. People out there can’t pay their medical bills, fees their kids, afford a place to rest their head at night, and he’s begging for money. Might want to go back to reading that bible mate and see what it says... https://t.co/BzUM8Su10F
Folau: "Could you make a donation, within your capacity to give, in order to support my action? I have the fight of my life on my hands and every little bit will help"
So...where did Israel Folau's millions of dollars from earnings in three codes, including representative bonuses, numerous sponsorship and endorsement deals, in a career spanning 12 years go? He's seriously saying he can't afford legal costs? Get real.
Not preaching hate is a pretty common requirement in most areas of employment.
You wouldn't vilify an opponent on the field for their sexual orientation.
Try that approach off-field too.
— Richard Ings : 🇦🇺 Stay COVID Safe 🇦🇺 (@ringsau) June 20, 2019
I’ll stick to helping @MarkHughesFdn with brain cancer research and so many other wonderful kids charities that make a difference So that’s a NO to Israel
Folau's biggest claim in his first interview with 2GB's Alan Jones on Friday morning was that his legal pursuit of Rugby Australia is not being motivated by money in any way — and he is being driven purely by the principles of his Christian faith.
"It's been a tough few months for myself and my wife Maria and my family," he said.
"A lot of this stuff doesn't make any sense, you know. It's been a little bit inconsistent. It's been tough.
"My principles and my faith is what's been driving me from the get go.
"The goal for me is to stand up and to stand up for the word of god. That's what's most important to me."
He maintains that Rugby Australia never excluded him from expressing his faith on social media — as long as he did it in a respectful way.
He says quoting the passage of the bible that he did was still respectful to the people targeted, which included "drunks, homosexuals, adulterers, liars, fornicators, thieves, atheists and idolaters".
"When I share things from the bible it comes from a place of love and wanting people to understand that I'm not speaking to them personally," Folau said on Friday.
"There's things that the bible might go against, things that people are doing, but from my perspective, I'm all about doing that from a place of love and believing in the bible that if people have an opportunity to hear that so that if they do choose to repent and turn away from that then they have an opportunity to be in heaven one day, which is what I long for people to do."
The former NRL and AFL star said earlier he has already spent more than $100,000 of his own money in fees which are expected to rise to millions of dollars.
The 30-year-old also said he was "shocked" after hearing two particular public comments from star teammates Bernard Foley and Nick Phipps.
Phipps two weeks ago said there were a lot of players in the Waratahs' dressing room "extremely disappointed" with Folau. He claimed Folau's saga "distracted" the team and threw them of the rails this Super Rugby season.
Foley said in April, Folau had "hurt the team" by putting his interests ahead of the entire playing group.
Folau finally got his chance to respond to the backlash on Friday, suggesting his teammates may have simply said what they were told to by rugby officials.
