Wakefield statement: "Over the next two home games, we will be celebrating the inclusivity of our club"
Friday 7 February 2020 13:32, UK
Wakefield insist the club's off-field focus will be on celebrating inclusivity and not targeting Israel Folau when Catalans Dragons visit on Sunday.
The French club have caused a furore in Super League by handing a 12-month contract to dual-code international Folau, who was sacked by Rugby Australia in May 2019 for posting anti-LGBT+ comments on social media.
On Wednesday, Super League said it had accepted Catalans' controversial signing, but added it will move to ensure it has powers to prevent such deals in the future.
When Folau's arrival at Catalans was announced last month, Wakefield's chief executive Michael Carter said his club's position was that the deal should have been refused, describing the player's views as "abhorrent".
Trinity now host the Dragons in their first home game of the season and will use the fixture to celebrate inclusivity in rugby league. Folau has been left out of the Catalans squad for the game, despite having trained all week.
Ahead of the match, Wakefield have released a statement which read: "On Sunday, we entertain the Catalans Dragons at the Mobile Rocket Stadium.
"Clearly a lot has been discussed over the past week.
"Wakefield Trinity pride themselves on being an all-inclusive club where anyone from any sector of life can watch, play, and get involved in our great game.
"We believe the sport of Rugby League has a great record of inclusivity.
"Over the next two home games, we will be celebrating the inclusivity of our club with our PDRL (Physical Disability), LDRL (Learning Disability), Reserves and Ladies teams all participating.
"This is where our focus will and should be.
"We would remind anyone that wishes to attend that any anti-social behaviour will be dealt with. We want everyone to come down and enjoy the game."
Trinity coach Chris Chester says he has been instructed not to speak about the signing of Folau ahead of the game.
Chester said: "I've been strictly told by the people above and by Super League not to make any comment on anything to do with the gentleman from Catalans, and I won't be making any comment on it.
"My hands are tied at this moment in time.
"Whether that changes over the coming weeks, I don't know, but I'm under strict guidelines here from my chairman and my CEO and also from Super League.
"Super League has come out with a statement, I think our club chairman has come out with a statement, and I fully support those two statements."
Former Wallabies and Waratahs full-back Folau has been training with his new team-mates all week after flying from Sydney at the weekend but has not played any rugby for 10 months.
Although the Dragons are short of players in the outside backs, coach Steve McNamara said before Friday's team announcement that he would not rush his new signing into action.
"The game has changed significantly in the time he's been away," said McNamara.
"Israel has a big challenge to get up to speed with the modern game.
"He's an attacking threat, that's clear to see. He's an amazing attacking weapon and I'm sure he's going to bring plenty of excitement to this team.
"He's not played rugby league for a long period of time.
"We have to show some patience but when you watch him train you can see the special athletic qualities that he does possess.
"We have to make sure we don't push him too hard. He's certainly not out of shape, he's just not rugby league fit at this stage."
