Folau only player not to join in Black Lives Matter support gesture ahead of St Helens vs Catalans Dragons as Super League returns
Monday 3 August 2020 16:28, UK
Steve McNamara defended Israel Folau's decision not to take a knee ahead of Catalans Dragons' Super League match against St Helens.
Officials and players from both sides knelt in a show of support for the Black Lives Matter movement, moments before the Sunday afternoon kick-off at Headingley.
But Folau, who signed a one-year contract extension with Catalans last month, did not take part in the pre-match gesture and remained standing as others around him dropped on one knee, something Dragons coach McNamara described as "a personal choice".
"As a group of players and coaching staff, we spoke about it in depth and as a club we are completely against racism and all for equal opportunity," he said.
"But there were some players and staff who made the decision not to take the knee. That was based on personal choice, they have their own reasons for doing that, and we decided we would respect anyone's personal choice on the matter."
Former Australia rugby union international Folau reverted back to playing league at the start of this year in the wake of his sacking by Rugby Australia for posting homophobic comments on social media.
St Helens went on to beat Catalans 34-6 before a Golden Point drop-goal from Luke Gale gave Leeds Rhinos a 27-26 victory against Huddersfield Giants, in the first round of Super League matches since rugby league was suspended in March due to the coronavirus outbreak.
