Anthony Mundine drags Fraser Anning into 'racist' Folau saga
Anthony Mundine has lashed out at Rugby Australia for their sacking of Israel Folau, labelling the organisation as ‘racist’.
In a post to Facebook on Friday evening, Mundine contrasted Folau and hard-right politician Fraser Anning.
Mundine said it was ‘racist’ that Folau was heavily punished for his Instagram post, yet Anning was allowed to use his ‘foul mouth’ with relatively few consequences.
“That’s how racist this county is that Izzy Folau can be sacked for quoting a scripture from the bible!” Mundine wrote.
“But Frazier (sic) Anning can say what the hell he wants with his foul month & still have a job?!
“When a high profile brother expresses his views the system got to shut that s**t down quick!
“You ain’t even free to say what you believe what a joke.”
It isn’t the first time Mundine has voiced his opinion on the ongoing Folau saga.
Earlier this month, Mundine did an interview with Channel 7 in which he first aired the view that Folau was being punished for his race.
"People are missing the point here, it's not about the Bible or the Biblical quote that Izzy put up, it's a black man expressing it,” he said.
RA's big admission in Folau saga
Rugby Australia boss Raelene Castle admits it would be wrong to suggest the Israel Folau saga couldn’t have been handled better.
RA on Friday terminated the Wallabies and NSW Waratahs superstar’s four-year, $4 million contract after an independent three-person panel found his controversial social media posts warranted his sacking.
‘INCOMPETENT’: Alan Jones tees off over Israel Folau decision
Folau last month posted a biblical quote which said “drunks, homosexuals, adulterers, liars, fornicators, thieves, atheists and idolaters” would go to hell unless they repented.
Castle said the decision would change the landscape for sport across Australia and perhaps internationally.
Folau later released a statement saying he was “deeply saddened” by the decision and that he was considering his options.
He has until Monday afternoon to appeal.
If he decides to do that it will necessitate a second code of conduct hearing, which would add to the significant financial costs already incurred by both sides.
Castle said there had been discussions between both sets of lawyers regarding a possible payout to Folau, but they had never advanced far enough to be brought to the RA Board.
Asked if RA could have better handled the situation regarding the negotiations of Folau’s last contract Castle said: “You couldn’t go through an issue like this and not say that you couldn’t do things better.
“You’d be crazy to say that. But it’s often done with the benefit of hindsight and the sequence of events that happen.
“So out of this we will certainly do that review to make sure we understand that we’ have got the right contracts in place.
“That will be a discussion that we will need to have with RUPA (Rugby Union Players’ Association) around whether the code of conduct is delivering the best outcomes from a financial delivery viewpoint.
“That will be something that we’ll be looking to discuss with them as we come to a new collective bargaining agreement.”
