Former Wallaby Israel Folau is taking his former employers Rugby Australia to court over whether or not his breach of contract – making homophobic statements on social media – was legitimate or a denial of his religious freedoms.
And that sort of case is going to be pricy, so he’s asking for money for the case via GoFundMe.
Which is fair enough, we guess, but there’s a really eye-catching bizarre clause in there, right at the end, after all the personal statements about how this is about people of faith not being punished for [checks notes] posting of the socials that gay people will burn in hell for their sin after specifically signing an agreement not to do so.
The clause is this:
“In making this contribution I acknowledge that my contributions are made freely as a gift on the basis previously affirmed and that there will be no obligations on Israel Folau to do anything for me in recognition of the gift or to apply the funds in any particular way with respect to his legal action, and that I hold no expectation to receive anything in return for my contribution.” (emphasis added)
So, to be clear, the money which Folau is receiving need not go to his legal action in any particular way. And that seems a really weird clause to put in for a fundraiser which is, just for example, geared towards paying for one’s legal action.
Now, maybe it’s just a strangely phrased way of letting people know that they’re making a no-strings-attached donation with no expectation of getting to come to court and direct his unfair dismissal case.
But on the face of it that reads a bit like saying that this money’s going to Folau to spend on Folau-related needs, details TBC. Especially since he’s received $300k at the time of writing – impressive, undeniably, but not the $3 million he’s claiming the case will require.
And thus if this legal challenge doesn’t end up going ahead for whatever reason, like that he decides he doesn’t have the money for it, there’s a fair question as to what happens to the donated cashola.
And that clause suggests that it won’t be lovingly returned to his donors, say.