'Couldn't have sacked him': The two words to blame for Israel Folau's demise

It’s been revealed that two words in Israel Folau’s controversial social media post ultimately led to his sacking.

It’s been reported that Folau’s main defence was the fact that he’d simply quoted a Bible passage and wasn’t necessarily using his own words.

However that wasn’t exactly the case.

A ‘source’ close to the case has told The Daily Telegraph how Folau actually added two words to his post - two words that made it very difficult for him to defend his actions.

Folau shared a meme on Instagram which said: "WARNING Drunks, Homosexuals, Adulterers, Liars, Fornicators, Thieves, Atheists, Idolaters HELL AWAITS YOU Repent! Only Jesus Saves".

“Everyone has missed the key here, have a look at the post, it says ‘Warning’ and ‘Hell’, but the Bible verse does not mention either word,” the source reportedly said.

“Izzy was getting told he’d go to hell if he took down the post, but if he had removed that image and re-posted word for word what the verse says, they couldn’t have sacked him.”

The actual passage in Corinthians 6: 9-10 says: “Do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor homosexuals, nor sodomites, nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners will inherit the kingdom of God.”

‘YOU’LL GO TO HELL’: How dad's advice sealed Israel Folau's sacking

The Telegraph claims a second source agreed with the summation that Folau might have survived if he’d simply quoted the verse word-for-word.

“Certainly, it would have been a more problematic prosecution,” they said.

Rugby Australia boss Raelene Castle had previously warned Folau about his social media posts, asking him to put a more positive spin on his words.

Instead of saying sinners would go to hell, Castle suggested Folau say they would go to heaven if they repented, but he clearly ignored that advice.

The Telegraph report also claims that six key sponsors were notified of RA’s intention to sack Folau before he was.

Qantas, Vodafone, Land Rover, ASICS, Accenture and HSBC all reportedly indicated that they wouldn’t stand by RA if Folau was spared the sack or apologised and deleted his post, which is still up.