Aussie Pro Rugby
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@majorrage I'm not saying force him out - just don't offer a contract renewal next time around on the basis that he's not lifting the profile of anyone but Israel Folau.
I'm not saying he's unhealthy for Australian Rugby. But he's hardly a cure for its ills.
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@barbarian no doubt very high profile. Good on the field.
BUT has he won us any Bledisloes? World Cups? Helped Super Rugby crowds come back, has he?
His management are going to want more money next time, especially if the fish heads at RA are pissing their pants at the thought of losing him. And they've got history with overpaying players, which is why we're here.
One player is not bigger than the game.
We've got other things we could spend a couple of million a year on, like fixing the game. I was having a beer with @mariner4life and one of his QLD buddies recently in Surry Hills, and their eyes nearly popped out of their head when I said there was only 1 development officer for Western Sydney.
One person. Western Sydney.
For what Folau gets, minus what we could pay two fulltime players, you could triple that effort and start to get some traction we're sorely lacking out here.
The game is fucked at the moment, and throwing more money at one bloke isn't going to un-fuck it at anything like the pace it needs.
You wouldn't base a rugby club around one player, would you?
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Good on ya Brad Weber! Well put
"I can't stand that I have to play this game that I love with people, like Folau, who say what he's saying," Weber posted on his Twitter account.
"To think that I play against someone that says they'll go to Hell for being gay disgusts me."
When a commenter replied that surely Folau was entitled to express his opinion, Weber replied: "Yep. But so am I. And my opinion of his is one that disgusts me." -
@crucial said in Aussie Rugby in general:
Good on ya Brad Weber! Well put
"I can't stand that I have to play this game that I love with people, like Folau, who say what he's saying," Weber posted on his Twitter account.
"To think that I play against someone that says they'll go to Hell for being gay disgusts me."
When a commenter replied that surely Folau was entitled to express his opinion, Weber replied: "Yep. But so am I. And my opinion of his is one that disgusts me."Certainly he has a right to say what he did.
Looks like virtue signalling to me though.
It doesn't really add anything positive to this brouhaha in my opinion.
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@nta Two points:
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If you applied the 'have they won any Bledisloes' criteria then you wouldn't sign anyone. Or give any pay increases. What a ridiculous thing to put on him. But more importantly...
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The players get a set % of ARU revenue under their CBA. So as much as I agree with the sentiment, any pay rise Folau gets comes from the pockets of his fellow players, not the people of Western Sydney. And if you showed him the door, his millions would need to be redistributed to other players (none of whom have won any Bledisloes either).
Now is that % too high? Maybe. Although I think it's in line with other codes.
But certainly the neglect of the grassroots is an issue that can't be solved by booting Israel, or cutting his pay.
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Aus rugby very much needs Folau, certainly more then he needs Aus Rugby.
For all the "he hasn't won us the Bledisloe" he's won you a lot of games just by being able to score tries when everyone else is playing a bit shit.
He's the one guy in Aus rugby who people will actually get excited by watching him play.
Without getting all Fitzy on it, he's probably the only Wallaby who i would take to start for the ABs. He's a fucking great player (if not a great fullback).
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@nta said in Aussie Rugby in general:
only 1 development officer for Western Sydney.
that still astounds me. And i thought the QRU were grossly negligent.
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@siam said in Aussie Rugby in general:
@crucial said in Aussie Rugby in general:
Good on ya Brad Weber! Well put
"I can't stand that I have to play this game that I love with people, like Folau, who say what he's saying," Weber posted on his Twitter account.
"To think that I play against someone that says they'll go to Hell for being gay disgusts me."
When a commenter replied that surely Folau was entitled to express his opinion, Weber replied: "Yep. But so am I. And my opinion of his is one that disgusts me."Certainly he has a right to say what he did.
Looks like virtue signalling to me though.
It doesn't really add anything positive to this brouhaha in my opinion.
Bullshit. Read his second tweet:
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@milk Yep. Although it was very mild:
Waikato man Brendan Barraclough, who was at the hot pools with two friends, heard Allardice yell, "Here come the gays, here come the gays", followed by another comment.
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@milk said in Aussie Rugby in general:
Brad Weber hosts a new podcast with Michael Allardice and are clearly good friends... isn't Allardice the one who got in trouble for using the homophobic slur at the pool?
And who says that he hasn't talked to Allardice about this in private?
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Point 1: you put him on a pedestal. If he's our best player and so fucking important we're still not winning, then we're fucked anyway once he decides to pack up his toys and leave because Baby Jesus.
More likely, league will find a way to slide him and his family what they desire under the table, and his agent will be hip-deep in hookers n blow before the ink is dry.Point 2: ah yes, the money pool that RUPA bitches and whines is still too small, without actually giving a fuck what it entails. They just care that they're getting their cut, and to them it wouldn't matter if its 90 players or 120. And that's the issue.
Take Folau's salary and distribute it to three or four other players who can help build a team with the other solid contributors we can already provide. Its still more players on the ground who can make a decent earn here rather than fuck off to Europe. It just has to be enough money for a lot of these guys to represent their province/country, not excess when the player payments first started.
Its probably unfair to lay everything at Folau's feet when our executive are so well-paid to hideously mismanage the game in the name of internal politics. You'd think, having attended some of the nation's finest educational establishments, they'd have some idea how to organise themselves and/or the game they grew up with.
Guess not.
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@mariner4life said in Aussie Rugby in general:
@nta said in Aussie Rugby in general:
only 1 development officer for Western Sydney.
that still astounds me. And i thought the QRU were grossly negligent.
To be fair, NSW Rugby have had more history with gross negligence and navel-gazing.
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@stargazer There is? What about going to Church and supporting it?
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ARU are in a no-win situation.
If they DON'T re-sign Folau they'll cop it from some parts saying they don't support freedom of speech etc.
If they DO re-sign Folau they'll cop it from other parts saying they support bigotry etc.
For what it's worth i'd say this entire episode reduces Folau's value to the ARU - for example they can hardly use him as the 'face' of Rugby in Australia moving forward.
As for his on field ability & impact - I'd suggest it's overstated. He's a winger who they shoe-horn in at fullback. Good player but i'm not sure he's worth the $ from the ARU he commands.
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@kiwimurph said in Aussie Rugby in general:
ARU are in a no-win situation.
If they DON'T re-sign Folau they'll cop it from some parts saying they don't support freedom of speech etc.
If they DO re-sign Folau they'll cop it from other parts saying they support bigotry etc.
For what it's worth i'd say this entire episode reduces Folau's value to the ARU - for example they can hardly use him as the 'face' of Rugby in Australia moving forward.
As for his on field ability & impact - I'd suggest it's overstated. He's a winger who they shoe-horn in at fullback. Good player but i'm not sure he's worth the $ from the ARU he commands.
Good points. Rightly or wrongly, Folau is now tainted by this. Unless he is considered to have immeasurable value on the field (something I question) then he's not much use for anything else.
