Rainbow flag banned during Folau debut
A woman was asked to remove a rainbow flag protesting at Israel Folau’s homophobic social media posts when the Australian made a tryscoring Super League debut.
Alison Grey claimed she was told by club officials that the flag contravened health and safety rules and later that it was against club policy when she produced it at the Catalans Dragons game against the Castleford Tigers yesterday.
Her brother Chris Grey first revealed on Twitter: ‘‘This is my sister at the Dragons vs Castleford game. She has been asked to remove her rainbow flag at homophobic Israel Folau’s debut.
‘‘Absolutely disgusting.’’
Chris Grey later tweeted: ‘‘Catalans have signed a known homophobe who cannot be registered to play rugby in Australia, and are now acting like this. Action must be taken. It is unacceptable.’’
Folau was sacked by Rugby Australia last May for a social media post suggesting ‘‘hell awaits’’ homosexuals, drunks and others.
Folau marked his English Super League debut for Catalans with a try as the Dragons ran out 36-18 winners against Castleford.
Folau scored a try with his first touch of the game and had French supporters on their feet every time he touched the ball in Perpignan.
The 30-year-old’s controversial Twitter posts on homosexuality saw him banned by Rugby Australia but he hit the ground running in Super League.
Ten years after his rugby league career began in Australia he returned to the 13-a-side code as if he had never been away.
The world’s media descended on Stade Gilbert Brutus but any attempt by Castleford to steal the headlines were thwarted as early as the second minute when former NRL star James Maloney found a gap for Sam Tomkins to
stride under the posts.
Before the match, Castleford coach Daryl Powell said of Folau: ‘‘It does take a bit of time to adjust back to the game when you’ve been out so long’’.
‘‘Sonny Bill [Williams] saw that last week, although it is different when you’re playing in the outside-backs [as Folau will be],’’ the Castleford coach told the Total Rugby League website.
Powell said that Folau was ‘‘a big, athletic player’’ and was ‘‘similar to Sonny Bill Williams in that there’s a bit of an unknown there’’.
‘‘We’ve watched a lot of footage of him and we’re aware of that right foot step, which is really dominant.
‘‘He hasn’t played rugby league for 10 years so we want to see if he’s still any good at it.’’