The Australian Christian Lobby has kicked off a new effort aimed at raising funds to support sacked Australian rugby fullback Israel Folau in his dispute with Rugby Australia with $A100,000 donation.
The move comes after fundraising platform GoFundMe shut down a page which had already raised more than $A750,000 for Folau, saying that the 30-year-old’s campaign had breached the company’s terms of service. Folau had launched the page on Friday, appealing for $A3 million for a legal battle against Rugby Australia and his former Super Rugby team New South Wales Waratahs.
The ACL has launched an alternative fundraising site in response had donated $A100,000 to the cause.
Martyn Iles, the ACL’s managing director, said there was an “outpouring of support for Israel Folau from the Australian community, who see Israel’s case as their case”.
“They feel the pinch of political correctness, and the erosion of their basic freedoms,” he said in a statement. “The success of the Folau fundraiser was giving ‘quiet Australians’ a voice.”
Iles said Folau’s supporters would be “emboldened” by what had happened.
“They were concerned about their freedoms, and GoFundMe has yet again reminded them that their concerns are real,” he said. “Israel’s case is our case if we want to live free and embrace our beliefs without fear of being marginalised or discriminated against.”
The ACL page, which contains the text originally published on the GoFundMe page, had already raised more than $A400,000 by 10am on Tuesday.
Rugby Australia and the Waratahs ended Folau’s four-year contract last month after the Christian was found guilty of a “high-level breach” of RA’s code of conduct for posting on social media that hell awaits homosexuals and other groups.
Folau has attracted some criticism for undertaking the fundraising effort given his property portfolio which reports have said is worth more than $A7 million.
