Rugby star Israel Folau looks set to rescue his sports career – just months after posting on social media about homosexuals going to Hell.
The player, who has previously represented Australia at rugby league and Australian rules football, will again play international rugby. Tonga today announced it was selecting him to play for its national team. Folau has Tongan heritage.
Folau was previously sacked by Rugby Australia after his controversial comments posted earlier this year. The organization said he’d breached its players’ code of conduct.
Related: Unhinged rugby star goes on another crazy homophobic tirade, likely won’t face any consequences
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The 30-year-old, a devout Christian, has always maintained that his right to religious freedom is being curtailed. He is currently suing Rugby Australia over his sacking. His dismissal resulted in him not taking part in the current Rugby World Cup taking place in Japan and significant loss of earnings.
Tongan National Rugby League chairman George Koloamatangi today released a statement saying the national team was picking up Folau and his younger brother, John Folau, 24, to play in the Oceania Cup in New Zealand next month.
Related: Homophobic rugby player asks fans for $3 million to cover his legal bills after being fired
The team says Rugby League International Federation (RLIF) has cleared both players to play for Tonga.
The Tongan side will play against Britain on October, 26, and against Australia on November, 2.
In response, Folau issued a statement saying, “I’m so grateful to have the opportunity to represent God, my family, my heritage and the people of Tonga.”
Chrisk
He’s making peanuts @ 25,000 per year as opposed to the millions he was make annually before. Not to mention the bigger loss of endorsement deals.
VincentBrown1212
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Cam
No surprise, a country where the Mormons have such a strong foothold goes out of it’s way to hire a bigot.
Chrisk
Ha. Even before I looked I knew that they’d have some real neanderthal laws there. Not at all shocking that they have a 10 year prison term for being gay. Being a religious bigot is considered an asset in Tonga. The missionaries have done their work well.
Melanesian
Except Folau & his family denounced Mormonism & are Assembly of God (Evangelists). Either way, out of the frying pan & into the fire?
PLAYS WELL WITH OTHERS
One can only hope he suffers a traumatic brain injury on his first moments on the field!
Joseph
I hope you can stop being an arsehole
PLAYS WELL WITH OTHERS
Joseph: I hope you stop being a Dbag loser troll with no life who’s only pleasure in life is trolling Gay sites ..
Be gone!
Joseph
Why would you wish someone has a traumatic brain injury, it isn’t very nice.
Cam
@Joseph
Why would he wish millions of people into hell. That isn’t very nice either now is it?
Chrisk
Joseph
Tsk tsk. Looks like you just signed up and you’re already attacking others.
The team asked him to tone it down but he just amped the hate speech up. He got booted from Go fund me because it was considered hate speech. Then he got a cool 2 million from the dumb ass haters. He’s still got a multi million dollar lawsuit going though. Most likely it will lose. Courts don’t allow BS.
Now he says he’s doing the work of God. Lol He’s just a greedy douchebag bigot looking out for himself.
jjose712
But the RLIF representative said that they didn’t discussed Folau at all.
And i don’t know with rugby, but in most sports you need to have the nationality of the team you represent
Melanesian
Exactly! What both Tonga & Folau has said is not a done deal. The RFIL which oversees the Rugby League World 9s Cup hasn’t approved both Israel & his brother John to play just yet. I don’t think they will let him. The Chair of the ARLC, who is also Deputy Chair of RLIF, has said he’s not welcome back into the game months ago when he was sacked from Union.
@jjose712 just to clarify there are different eligibility options to play international games in the RLIF with nationality being one. It also may be different in other parts of the world.
James
TONGA SOUNDS LIKE THE DUMPING GROUND FOR LOSERS.
Joseph
Tonga is a beautiful country
Vince
Tonga is not a country. It’s a Polynesian kingdom of 170 islands.
Joseph
Glad you can read Wikipedia Vince, have you actually been to the main island?
Cam
@Joseph
Tonga arrests LGBT people. So it is a bigoted country that attacks and arrests people for nothing. There, I fixed it for you.
PLAYS WELL WITH OTHERS
Cam: Thanks for a nice summary to put the troll in it’s place ;-p
dhmonarch89
Folau is a complete hypocrite, but what he said IS in the Bible- it does condemn us to Hell….so if you ban him, you should also ban the Bible (I’m ALL for that!)
Vince
To be fair the bible also condemns people to hell for wearing mixed fabrics, adultery, cursing your parents, etc. I don’t think anyone would be alive to today if we went by that.
dhmonarch89
that was partly my point- it forbids tattoos and Folau is covered in them
gregj777
Tonga gave him the second chance but in his comments he thanks God first and Tonga last. If God did have anything to do with it then it was Tonga who listened so there is nothing logical about his statement. In fact using the word logical in this comment isn’t even logical.
Aires the Ram
Don’t go to Tonga for a vacation. They don’t want you there. No need to protest them. Just don’t go there and give them so much as one dollar of your money.
Jerry
Towanda! -fgt
GymMan456
The legacy of the British Aristocracy.
They colonized and forced their culture revolution upon all their subjects. And now they make silly faces surprised someone took them seriously. But their attitude is clear, servants, slaves and other subhumans are not supposed to have fun, or lead a natural life.