Did the ARL spit the dummy over Folau?
Roar Guru By Redb, 19 Oct 2010 Redb is a Roar Guru
- Tagged:
- AFL, ARL, Four Nations, Greater Western Sydney, Israel Folau, tongan rugby league
361 Have your say
Israel Folau set for a switch to the AFL. (AAP Image/Dave Hunt)
A recent Daily Telegraph headline beamed: “Folau barred from running water for Tonga”. Apparently ARL boss Geoff Carr has become involved to ensure that Folau will not even be allowed to assist his home country as a trainer/water boy in the Four Nations.
“The ARL, in conjunction with the International Rugby League board, will this week step in and ban Folau from becoming an official Tongan trainer in Sunday’s Test against Samoa at Parramatta Stadium.”
What’s worse is they’re serious.
The Daily Telegraph’s chief protagonist Dean Richie exclaims: “He is the AFL’s $3 million poster boy, but Israel Folau will leave rugby league deemed unworthy to be a humble water boy”
I would have thought Folau will leave the NRL as one of the top try scorers for 2010!
The articles continues: “Tongan assistant coach and adviser Peter Pulou told The Daily Telegraph yesterday that Folau would “run the water” in the Test match, which is a curtain-raiser to Australia’s Four Nations clash against Papua New Guinea.”
Pulou is then quoted as saying: “Israel is very proud of his Tongan heritage. He is a good role model for kids.”
Bad karma there, ARL.
One of the reasons the AFL was attracted to Folau was due to his Polynesian heritage. Just recently the AFL has become much more serious about developing the game in the Pacific Isles and has set up academies and various tournaments some already gaining some traction.
The ARL would have better advised, having stopped him playing, just allowing Folau to ‘run the water’ or assist the team of his heritage. It would have barely raised an eyebrow and no-one would look foolish outside Parramatta Stadium.
Carr suggested he wanted to avoid giving the AFL’s poster boy with GWS any oxygen in a rugby league heartland. Funny, because I reckon he just did.
Carr said: “Why would we want to highlight and assist his new venture by having him run out in a match in western Sydney? He is the marketing face of another sport.”
So instead of a feel good story about Folau and Tonga all about rugby league, Carr turns a mountain into a molehill that generates an article mentioning both GWS and the AFL.
It may even cut a little deeper that given the snub could be viewed as mean spirited in the Tongan and possibly wider Polynesian community here and back home.
Carr had an opportunity to focus on grass roots sport and community, instead he decided to invoke commercial interests against a perceived threat which will potentially backfire.
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- Explore:
- AFL, ARL, Four Nations, Greater Western Sydney, Israel Folau, tongan rugby league
October 19th 2010 @ 5:55am
CJ said | October 19th 2010 @ 5:55am | Report comment
Great article, agree totally.
October 19th 2010 @ 3:11pm
Jason said | October 19th 2010 @ 3:11pm | Report comment
+1
Did Geoff Carr take too many swinging arms to the head during his playing days?
October 19th 2010 @ 6:14am
bruski said | October 19th 2010 @ 6:14am | Report comment
I think it is about time he starts thinking about his new code, he is not a league player any more.
October 19th 2010 @ 6:36am
Redb said | October 19th 2010 @ 6:36am | Report comment
Folau is signed to rugby league until 31 October, 2010. So he still is a ‘league player’. He will always be Tongan.
October 19th 2010 @ 10:48am
Ben said | October 19th 2010 @ 10:48am | Report comment
“He’ll always be Tongan”
Will he? From a quick google it appears Folau was born in Minto, NSW, Australia. So unless Minto has seceded from Australia/NSW and joined the Kingdom of Tonga I imagine he’ll probably always be an Australian
October 19th 2010 @ 10:51am
Redb said | October 19th 2010 @ 10:51am | Report comment
I think you know I mean heritage.
October 19th 2010 @ 6:16am
oikee said | October 19th 2010 @ 6:16am | Report comment
Thats our boy, good ole Carr, either way , not really worried about Izzy. If you seen the baby elephant running 30 kilometres the other day, Izzy will have his work cut out. Good luck to him. AFL has 150 interchanges, just rotate him after every run.
Yes your right Bruski, why is he worried about league anymore.
October 19th 2010 @ 6:26am
Brissie Kid said | October 19th 2010 @ 6:26am | Report comment
Funny how everyone seems to have forgotten that Folau took part in an AFL publicity stunt a few months back despite being a contracted NRL player.
Whatever league owed Folau went out the window then.
He obviously didn’t care that he was a contracted NRL player when he did that, so why should he be given the international benefits the game offers its contracted players now?
October 19th 2010 @ 6:40am
Redb said | October 19th 2010 @ 6:40am | Report comment
I agree rugby league owes him nothing, however Carr’s actions here were unnecessary. Unless Folau was going to run around in a GWS branded shirt whilst assisting the Tongan team I doubt there would have been a second look. The game as I understand is a curtain raiser.
It was hardly ambush marketing.
October 19th 2010 @ 7:23am
Brissie Kid said | October 19th 2010 @ 7:23am | Report comment
Really? Everytime Folau is mentjoned post that AFL media stunt it comes with A – F – L alongside his name.
The AFL got what it wanted with that media conference and has endeavoured to play the innocent party ever since, by pushing the line that Folau is contracted to the NRL. The damage (or benefit) was done.
What was the ARL supposed to do?
If the ARL banned Folau and we get the current debate which uses RL international games to publicise the GWS and AFL.
If the ARL refused to comment and allowed Folau to take part in the game as a player (which he originally tried on) or to be a waterboy, the media would have covered that and again mentioned GWS and AFL.
No one is denying that the AFL are better marketers and administrators than those in rugby league, but don’t presume on that basis that the rest of the RL world can be equally presumed to be fools.
October 19th 2010 @ 8:18am
Redb said | October 19th 2010 @ 8:18am | Report comment
Brissie Kid,
Banning him from playing for Tonga would have been enough, banning him from the assistant/waterboy thing just created double the publicity for GWS.
October 19th 2010 @ 9:44am
john said | October 19th 2010 @ 9:44am | Report comment
The minute Folau signed with AFL he signed his own fate. Why should the NRL allow him to have anything to do with the code he turned his back on?
Doesnt matter how nice and rosey it would have been for him to carry the water, as soon as he signed with a rival all options with NRL were cut off. He obviously didnt care enough about the Tongan team when he signed with AFL did he?
October 19th 2010 @ 10:16am
Springs said | October 19th 2010 @ 10:16am | Report comment
Ah yes, the minute you sign with the AFL you will not have anything to do with the code, evn being waterboy!!!
But you can play for Queensland…
October 20th 2010 @ 5:07pm
john said | October 20th 2010 @ 5:07pm | Report comment
Springs. That was just typical Queensland for you. Saying they wouldnt pick him and then wussing out at the last minute. Big surprise that was
October 19th 2010 @ 6:37am
Mister Football said | October 19th 2010 @ 6:37am | Report comment
Is he allowed into Parramatta to spectate and support Tonga?
October 19th 2010 @ 7:08am
oikee said | October 19th 2010 @ 7:08am | Report comment
No, he is no longer allowed to walk onto a rugby league feild. He has been banned from even watching the game.
Look, he can do as he please’s. I dont think Tonga should have even entertained him in the 1st place.
Islanders are not going to flood to AFL, they are not built for the game. It wont matter how much weight they lose, how much training they go through, you cant lose bone weight, its impossible. We have a 160 kg island boy playing for Ipswich, now to get to a playing weight for rugby league, the guy would have to lose at the very least, 25 kilos.
Has anyone ever picked up a 25 kilo box above his head. I have, its bloody heavy.
These guys are big humans, look at Izzy, he is a toned down Tongoan, a super fit Tonga rugby league player, what more can AFL do for him. He made the choice, same as Hunt, now they have to deal with the issue.
Rugby league moves on very fast. Look no further than SBW, have we missed him? No, will we welcome him back, yes.
I dont think he will come back but the headlines for rugby are knowing that rugby league supporters know the guy. Apart from him, Carter, Brad Thorn, i dont know many more, not interested.
Folau is a headline for the AFL. He will continually be used this way, weather he performs or not. He is not a threat to rugby league, these island lads are huge units, massive boys, i seen one guy the other day playing for the Warriors under 20′s, a six foot seven monster. Slow moving but powerful, the taller they get, the slower they are, which makes it harder for them to go to AFL. Their bones are huge. Rugby league will trim the fat, bring them into line for the game, so does rugby union, but some players need to hold that extra weight for their scrums.
Izzy will be back in rugby league, you cant flog islanders and turn them into streamline athletes, they are not built for this or they would be flocking to AFL before now.
Isreal is doing his job, he is a headline for AFL, nothing more. He did not worry about Tonga before now, he should have played for Tonga before Australia if he was that concerned. Same as Vidot, but he has also decided to play for Australia.
The players make this decision, not the game.
October 19th 2010 @ 12:46pm
crazy said | October 19th 2010 @ 12:46pm | Report comment
LOL..
Didn’t you complain that Union had a policy of banning it’s players who flocked to league and now you seem to think it’s fair for rugby league to do it to those guys who jump ship for AFL
.
October 19th 2010 @ 6:51am
Mark Young said | October 19th 2010 @ 6:51am | Report comment
Now that Israel is a AFL player, I wish him all the best in his new code,
But since his signing was in some part about marketing the gamer in Western Sydney, he shouldn’t have anything else to do with his old code.
If you leave your company and sign for the competition, you are lucky not to get marched out the front door half an hour later with your belongings in a box! You can’t expect to be invited to and end of year function they are putting on.
October 19th 2010 @ 6:56am
Redb said | October 19th 2010 @ 6:56am | Report comment
Sorry Mark that misses the point.
Folau was not benefitting financially from helping out the Tongan team, he was doing this for his communtity and heritage. This has been blown out of proportion. The business analogy would imply an ongoing threat exists by being on the other side. What secrets would Folau have taken to GWs by assisting the Tongan team in a RL game?
Code wars driven by the Daily Telegraph have brainwashed you into thinking every move has an ulterior motive.
October 19th 2010 @ 7:16am
oikee said | October 19th 2010 @ 7:16am | Report comment
Like i said, if he was that concerned about his community and heritage, he would have played for them from the word go. Look, lets put it right now. Money is a factor, if Tonga was offering 1 million a season, he would be playing for Tonga.
Tonga has what, 100 thousand residents. Something like that Redb. Fiji has half a million, they cant support huge wages.
It all comes back to the player. He made the decision years ago. Another player now gets the oppotunity that Falou gave away years ago. Lets not get into a moral discussion. And water boy, please. You have to earn the right to be water boy, look at Alfie Langer.
October 19th 2010 @ 7:26am
Brissie Kid said | October 19th 2010 @ 7:26am | Report comment
Given Folau has never previously sought to play for Tonga or to be their water carrier then it is understandable than post AFL signing action would be questioned as to its motives.
October 19th 2010 @ 7:31am
Mark Young said | October 19th 2010 @ 7:31am | Report comment
Hi Redb
That is great that he is keen to help his community and heritage, he can do it by coaching some local kids, volunteering to help run some competitions in his homeland and any number of things that don’t involve the spotlight.
If they let him do this, it draws publicity away from the players who are sticking with the code and will have a big future playing it, to a guy who is playing another sport which is in direct competition with League.
Unfortunately, there is a code war on, and Israel is a big part of the AFL’s push into Western Sydney. League would be fools to provide him with any publicity of any type.
October 19th 2010 @ 7:35am
Redb said | October 19th 2010 @ 7:35am | Report comment
Mark,
What better advertisement for rugby league than the man leaving the code doing everything he can to stay in touch with the game until the end. Write that story.
October 19th 2010 @ 8:56am
Mark Young said | October 19th 2010 @ 8:56am | Report comment
Hi Redb – I’ve got a better advertisment for Rugby League!!
Young man from poor country, lives in western suburbs of Sydney, struggle street, has a terrific breakout performance playing for his country. Paves the way to a better future for himself and his family through his skill playing the game.
It won’t be Israel Folau, but instead some bright young man with a big future in league.
I think if Israel runs the bottles it will be a great advertisment. But it will be a great advertisment for him, not for League. The only way he can be involved in a great advertisment for League is if he comes back and plays again.
October 19th 2010 @ 9:05am
Redb said | October 19th 2010 @ 9:05am | Report comment
Sure and there are probably countless stories like this is all sports, however the media likes a profile.
October 19th 2010 @ 10:21am
Springs said | October 19th 2010 @ 10:21am | Report comment
It wouldn’t be an advertisement at all! The game isn’t televised until 10.30 at night. Doing all this has created the advertisement.
October 19th 2010 @ 7:04am
Crosscoder said | October 19th 2010 @ 7:04am | Report comment
If you work for an organisation ,and publicly take up a better paid deal with a competitor(where you have been displayed in public despite being under an NRL contract),sorry you have already made a committment elsewhere.
If he is so committed to rugby league ,with his contract up till 31/10,he should then have volunteered to attend local school spromoting his current code to the kids.
It has nothing to do with him running around in a GWS shirt,he has already attended their press conference ie the face of that code in the West. He has already done his ambush marketing.He has already made his marketing bed,which has hardly been covert.
I magine someone from Coca Cola doing the same and going to Pepsi.Clear your desks pronto.
I can hypothetically visualise Ablett ,after a few years at the G.C signing up with Melbourne Storm.You think the AFL would be kindly flexible toward a competing code.
Mister Football;response that is a nonsense question.
October 19th 2010 @ 7:10am
Redb said | October 19th 2010 @ 7:10am | Report comment
CC,
I already agree RL owes him nothing, but providing some harmless assistance to Tonga in a RL tournament is hardly a matter for the ARL to step in and prevent. Best to leave it alone and barely anyone would have noticed.
Of course the ARL wants to enact some revenge on Folau it seems and this is what they do.
Mean spirited, insular and backwards, but more criticially a dumb thing to do on many levels.
Indifference is a more powerful revenge.
October 19th 2010 @ 7:18am
punter said | October 19th 2010 @ 7:18am | Report comment
Too true Redb, a nothing event.
Ahhhh if only the AFL took this stance where others were stepping on their turf.
October 19th 2010 @ 8:20am
Redb said | October 19th 2010 @ 8:20am | Report comment
poor punter. Stick to the topic.
October 19th 2010 @ 6:09pm
punter said | October 19th 2010 @ 6:09pm | Report comment
Redb, I was sticking to the topic, it’s a nothing event, I don’t see it printed anywhere apart from your thread here.
I don’t read the Daily Terror or Herald Sun, I find it unhealthy.
October 19th 2010 @ 7:24am
Mister Football said | October 19th 2010 @ 7:24am | Report comment
Tom Hafey came to enjoy RL while coaching the Swans, and after his coaching days were over, you’d see him regularly on RL telecasts giving comments on the game, etc – at no stage was he ever ostracised by the AFL.
You don’t go out of your way to ostracise legends.
October 19th 2010 @ 11:28am
Ken said | October 19th 2010 @ 11:28am | Report comment
That’s hardly the same thing. Folau signed up to become the face of a, very expensive, AFL advertising campaign 6 months ago and has been that ever since regardless of when contracts start and end. I’ve not heard of Tom Hafey but i’m sure someone like Bellamy would happily do the same even now, and it certainly wouldn’t be an issue after his career finished.
That QLD backflipped and chose Folau in SOO was cowardly and I can’t see that it’s even in question that he shouldn’t have anything to do with the 4 nations.
What’s his motivation for sticking around and doing this stuff anyway if it’s not to try and get people’s backs up? He’s never shown any interest in the Tongan team before, and loyalty isn’t exactly associated with him. Apparently he’s a proud West Sydney born Tongan except up until now he’s always chosen to play for QLD and Australia… and now has chosen mega dollars instead of playing the sport that made him. He’s made his choices, good on him he’s done well for himself but it’s time he left RL alone and got on with things.
October 19th 2010 @ 11:59am
Redb said | October 19th 2010 @ 11:59am | Report comment
5-zip Ken, teaspoon…cement.
October 19th 2010 @ 12:02pm
Ken said | October 19th 2010 @ 12:02pm | Report comment
I get the 5 zip call, but what’s doing with the teaspoon and the cement…my mind is racing!
October 19th 2010 @ 12:12pm
Redb said | October 19th 2010 @ 12:12pm | Report comment
harden up. At least Folau wont be in the Queenslander side next year. No excuses NSW.
October 19th 2010 @ 12:05pm
Gordon said | October 19th 2010 @ 12:05pm | Report comment
It was cowardly to select the best available player who at that time was eligible to be selected due to him playing Rugby League? That is ridicululous. He was and still is currently contracted to RL, what he does next year should have no bearing on his selection in representative teams. The queensland and australian team should be selected on the players form from that year, not their career choice for next year. To do otherwise is petty and smallminded.
October 19th 2010 @ 12:15pm
bilbo said | October 19th 2010 @ 12:15pm | Report comment
Representative selection has always been regarded as a privilege associated with loyalty. This is the case whenever someone defects from RL. Even players such as Danny Buderus have not been selected when they defected, even though it was to the same code and in a completely different market.
RL, as most are aware, is not the most cashed up of codes. Representative fixtures are key in keeping the game’s stars. Therefore – as Rugby Union does all over the world – rep fixtures are a reward for loyalty.
October 19th 2010 @ 12:22pm
Ken said | October 19th 2010 @ 12:22pm | Report comment
Mostly it was their backflip which I would describe as cowardly, Livermore and Meninga were both quoted before the announcement as saying that he shouldn’t be picked if he signed with the AFL. They continued to press this line after the announcment, right up until Brent Tate got injured… then their apparently strong feelings on the issue got a lot weaker and they picked the proud QLD RL player (or proud West Syd AFL player or proud Tongan waterboy or whatever he was choosing to be at the time)
He didn’t have any qualms paraded in front of the media promoting AFL while still under contract with RL so I don’t think he has much recourse in that area
October 19th 2010 @ 2:47pm
pike64 said | October 19th 2010 @ 2:47pm | Report comment
In reply to Mr. Football
Tom Hafey has already been quoted as saying he does not like modern football ie AFL. It is the main reason he now follows the NRL. Hafey however, is not being used as a publicity stunt by the NRL, which is probably why the AFL don’t care about his comments.
October 19th 2010 @ 7:07am
ptovey01 said | October 19th 2010 @ 7:07am | Report comment
Carr’s a d!ck. Everyone knows that. Not sure what he has over the other board members in the ARL and the NSWRL to keep him in office. Saints got rid of him (thank the lord).
As for Izzy, well good luck to him. He has gone to AFL for the money. So would 99% of people that were offered it.
If the ARL came out a day before and said “Izzy your not a qualified trainer” and he isn’t (based on all account), then sure he shouldn’t be allowed to run the water in that capacity, The ARL win by making him less visable to the public eye and no real media attention on the day or lead up to this game. But the ARL didn’t and come out and say that, the first thing they said was he’s barred cause he went to AFL. Gooses, Carr shooting his mouth off throwing his rattle, creating a media circus. You’d think after all the circus’ you’ve been to that you’d have learnt to play “the game” Geoff.
Should the Tongan team want to appoint Izzy as a memebr of there entourage, then he should be able to. He is breaking no rules by going to watch and support his team of heritage. He is there as Izzy the Tongan, not Izzy the NRL star who went to the AFL.
Geoff Carr should just leave the game now, and take his rattle throwing and poor media skills with him.
October 19th 2010 @ 7:23am
sledgeross said | October 19th 2010 @ 7:23am | Report comment
I applaud the ARL for their stance.
It shows the inherent problems with RL internationals. ALot of these Islander kids are born and raised Aussies, but on occasion get the opportunity to represent the country of their heritage, and fair enough I say. In this case though, I agree with Carr. Israel made the choice to defect to another code, and as such any publicity generated by his involvement with the Tongan team in an official capacity will always mention the term “AFL”. From a marketing and strategic standpoint, its logical that you would not let a rival code gain free publicity for nothing. Couple this with the fact that he is not a qualified trainer, and you have two legitimate reasons not to let him on the field.
People should noy feel sorry for the bloke being denied “putting something back” to the Tongan community. The bloke first defects to Queensland, and then defects to AFL. He is a talented young man making a heap of cash, and I wish him all the best. But if he is not with us, he is against us especially when it is with a rival sport.
October 19th 2010 @ 7:33am
Redb said | October 19th 2010 @ 7:33am | Report comment
“But if he is not with us, he is against us especially when it is with a rival sport”
The Daily Telegraph would be rapt with that sentiment. Of course its completely wrong getting away from the point of sport and communtity.
Surely, the ‘qualified trainer’ is enough reason? Why all the other stuff? Hmmm….
October 19th 2010 @ 12:02pm
AC said | October 19th 2010 @ 12:02pm | Report comment
The point of professional sport is money. Community interest is a business strategy.
The AFL knows the ARL are stuck between a rock and a hard place. On the one hand, they do nothing — show indifference. Folau’s presence and his association with the AFL are shown in a kind light, so no bad PR for AFL. On the other hand, they ban him on the grounds that they can’t have their clients (read the public) entertained by an ex-employee who very publicly went to a rival. What kind of message of weakness would that send to their clients? Potential bad PR for AFL (any publicity is good publicity) in the eyes of League supporters, but also potential for bad PR for League itself.
League seems to exist in a perpetual fists-up, backs against the wall struggle for survival, whether that’s the reality or not. That’s part of the culture of the game. And reverting to this stance in this instance is the right thing. I believe the ARL know their clients better than the AFL…
October 19th 2010 @ 7:25am
Ian said | October 19th 2010 @ 7:25am | Report comment
Carr should spend his time on more productive activities.
This weekend Channel Nine is hoarding the Four Nations Championship coverage into Melbourne and other AFL states so coverage of Falou down here will be next to zero. The free kick to the AFL that Carr allows each week, from his broadcast partner is more of a concern.