RUGBY AUSTRALIA HAS lashed out at Israel Folau for disrupting the sport after an explosive letter accusing the governing body of leaking details of his code of conduct hearing was made public.
Folau sent the letter to the Rugby Australia board after Sydney’s Daily Telegraph ran a series of stories last week on his dramatic fall from grace for homophobic comments on social media.
The reports included intimate details of his tribunal hearing, which was meant to be private.
Super Rugby’s record try scorer opted not to appeal against the ruling that he was guilty of a “high level” breach of the sport’s code of conduct and instead launched legal action, asserting he was simply posting a message from the Bible.
In his letter, which was also obtained by the Telegraph and published on Saturday evening, Folau alleged that Rugby Australia was the source of the leaks, which he called “blatantly unfair”.
“For example, I am not ‘sick of rugby’ and whoever told the media that I am is telling lies.
“Another example is the way the media has been told that your expectations were made clear to me by Ms (Raelene) Castle. We all know that is far from the truth,” he added, referring to Rugby Australia’s chief executive.
Rugby Australia hit back in a statement, saying the “media campaign” being run by Folau’s camp was affecting all levels of rugby and had overshadowed a crunch Super Rugby match between the NSW Waratahs – Folau’s former team – and the ACT Brumbies in Sydney.