Gareth Thomas says Israel Folau has put people in awkward situations
The Wales rugby star came out as gay back in 2009
By Steve Brown
Gareth Thomas said Israel Folau’s homophobic comments has put a lot of people in “awkward situations”.
Australia’s highest paid rugby player caused controversary after posting on Instagram that all people will go to Hell unless they repent their sins to God.
Following his comments, the Wallabies star has stood up for his beliefs and walked away without punishment from Rugby Australia.
Although many other players around the world have slammed the player for his opinions and views on the LGBT community, his coach Michael Cheika defended Folau and said children should find new role models if they don’t agree with his views.
But now Thomas – who won 100 international caps for Wales and came out as gay in 2009 – has slammed Folau’s views and said it would cause problems for Cheika.
The former Attitude cover star told Sky Sports: “We’re in a really difficult position here, and the one to blame for all the difficulty is Israel Folau, for actually sending the message out.
“He’s put a lot of people in awkward situations. What’s happening now is that Cheika is having to almost distance himself from a player.
“You’ve had businesses and companies wanting to disassociate with the team. I think what Cheika’s probably trying to do is redress the balance and bring it back to an equal, by being negative towards him.
“He [Folau] was negative towards a whole community of millions and millions of people.”