Israel Folau supporters call for boycott of rugby and Qantas after sacking over anti-gay social media post
- Sydney-based financial adviser is among thousands who say the devout Christian should not be discriminated against for expressing his views
- The 30-year-old requests a code of conduct hearing to challenge Rugby Australia’s decision
Thousands of supporters of controversial Wallabies player Israel Folau are creating online petitions calling for the boycott of rugby union and sponsor Qantas.
Users have gone online en masse with petitions calling for Rugby Australia to give Folau his job back after the former Wallaby and devout Christian was sacked because of an anti-gay message he posted on Instagram last week.
Folau, 30, on Wednesday requested a code of conduct hearing to challenge Rugby Australia’s decision.
Malcolm Orchard, who started his own petition on change.org as well as signing up to other pro-Folau campaigns, said the player was being denied the freedom to express his views.
“He’s basically being picked on by all these different groups in the sense that he’s got a right to his opinion,” said Orchard, a Christian and Sydney-based financial adviser. “He hasn’t vilified anyone and he’s just quoted from a text, which happens to be the Bible. So I would support him on many grounds, not just Christian grounds.
“Yes, he probably shouldn’t have put a homophobic word in there, although the actual Bible quote doesn’t say it but it could be inferred, I suppose.