It seems to be taken for granted by the left-media that if anyone is bullying brown people, it just has to be evil “right-wing nutbags” and that the only religion even capable of being persecuted is the cuddly “religion of peace”.
The idea that the very public head-kicking dealt out to Israel Folau might be part of a wider pattern of persecution of Christians is met with derisive guffaws from the lofty pinnacles of the left-media elitism. As is the notion of leftist “soft-racism” which ruthlessly punishes “POCs” who refuse to stick to the left’s script.
Christian, Pasifika rugby players beg to differ.
Christian Wallabies felt muzzled by Rugby Australia during the Israel Folau saga last year, leading to division in the locker room before the World Cup, explosive court documents reveal.
Senior players Sekope Kepu and Samu Kerevi filed affidavits in November supporting Folau’s wrongful termination legal case against RA and condemned the governing body’s handling of the situation.
According to the players, Rugby Australia ruthlessly controlled the narrative around the whole affair. The narrative was that Folau was an isolated figure with no support. Rugby was supposedly a united front. The truth, some players claim, is that anyone who refused to accede to the approved narrative was ostracised.
The newly revealed court documents written by Kepu and Kerevi, obtained by The Australian on Tuesday, expose the marginalisation Pacific Islander players felt throughout last year to the point Kepu refused to attend a Wallabies camp in protest.
“My perception was that the media was briefed to approach people who would toe the ‘anti-Israel’ line and were discouraged from approaching potential Israel’s supporters (including Christian players),” Kepu wrote.
The players also noted the radical double-standards of rugby management, who covered up and tolerated truly shocking misconduct from some players – yet harshly punished a plain statement of Christian faith.
Kerevi, who regularly fronted media as captain of Queensland last year, added: “It seemed to me that Israel was being sacked for simply expressing his faith. I found that very difficult to square up with the way others had been treated.
“It seemed to me that most types of conduct could easily be forgiven by management, but that conduct involving religion was different. All this made it difficult for me to counsel the more junior players in the locker room.
“At the time I wanted to support Israel publicly. I couldn’t because the players (including me) were told by management not to comment on the issue.”
Kepu said he was pulled from a NSW Waratahs media opportunity due to fears he may speak in favour of Folau.
Can’t have any “uppity” brown Christian folks wandering off the plantation, after all.
Nonetheless, Rugby Australia is sticking determinedly to its script.
However, the Waratahs’ media manager at the time, Lauren Ryan, said this was not true[…]
[Raelene] Castle rejected the claim any player had been muzzled from expressing their opinions[…]
“We wrote to all players to remind them of their obligations under the code of conduct and our social media policy, but no player was prevented from speaking about the issue.
theaustralian.com.au/sport/rugby-union/we-were-muzzled-during-israel-folau-saga-say-senior-wallabies/
One of those things is not like the other. No one was prevented from speaking, but they were obviously left in no doubt about what would happen if they did. At the very time that the “code of conduct” was used to bully and sack one of rugby’s biggest stars, who would take that “reminder” as anything but a veiled threat?
If you enjoyed this BFD article please consider sharing it with your friends.