sport, top-sport-stories, Israel Folau, Israel Folau gofundme, Israel Folau homophobic, israel folau contract, brumbies, Sia Soliola

Chances are you've never heard of "Princess Piper", the little girl who has been diagnosed with stage four high risk neuroblastoma cancer. Her family is trying to raise money to ease the financial pressure after Piper's five rounds of chemotherapy, surgery to remove tumours, radiation and inpatient immunotherapy. Piper died late on Thursday night. Her GoFundMe page was overshadowed on Friday by a millionaire hoping to raise millions so he can win millions in court. The latest chapter in the Israel Folau saga is sad. An Australian sporting superstar who pocketed $10 million or more in a three-code career is now asking fans to donate $3 million so he can fight Rugby Australia in court. He is seeking up to $10 million in damages after his contract was terminated following homophobic social media posts. But asking people to fund his fight screams of greediness rather than being genuine about free speech or religious rights. A group message chat on my phone lit up in disgust. One person sent a screenshot of Folau's fundraising page sitting next to three people facing life threatening illnesses. Former Wallaby Drew Mitchell spotted it as well. "YOU are in a fight that YOU chose to be in after YOU broke the terms of YOUR contract," Mitchell wrote. "The kids below are in a fight they NEVER wanted to be in & yet YOU think YOU deserve donations more than they do??!! It's no longer about religion, it's about YOU and YOUR greed." Folau's plight isn't the reason places like GoFundMe exist. They're for people like Princess Piper, whose family wrote: "we are unsure how long we have left with Piper right now, so being able to spend as much time as a family together will mean the absolute world." It's for people like Canberra Raiders star Sia Soliola, who was part of the CEO sleepout in minus 4.9 degrees on Thursday night and is raising money for the homeless. It's not for people like Folau, even though he describes his predicament as "the fight of my life". The only hope is that the steam starts to run out of his campaign, although he had raised $327,000 by Friday afternoon. His former teammates must be scratching their heads as well. Some are privately supporters of his position and sympathise with him because they share the same faith. But even they must be starting to question the legitimacy of Folau fighting Rugby Australia and his mission to seek damages, even though he said he would step away from the sport if he was told he was hurting it. If the message hasn't been clear before, here it is again: You're hurting rugby, Izzy. It's time to walk away. The Friday focus should have been on the ACT Brumbies, their six-game winning streak and the home final they will be hosting at Canberra Stadium on Saturday night. It could have even been about the Australian under-20s team chasing the junior world championship title in Argentina after winning through to the final. Or the outgoing Brumbies players aiming to finish on a high in Canberra before they move their careers abroad. Instead, all the talk was about Folau needing money to fund his legal proceedings, saying he has already spent $100,000 of his own money on the process. But to be honest, I'm sick of hearing about Israel Folau. There was a time I felt he had been let down by the NRL after they said he wasn't welcome in rugby league. There was a time I thought he deserved a shot at rugby league redemption story. That time passed long ago. It's time for rugby to move on, if that's possible with the looming High Court battle. The timing couldn't be worse for the Brumbies, who are trying to be the good news story Australian rugby desperately needs. They deserve the spotlight rather than being shunted to the side because of the Folau story. This Brumbies team is full of genuine people who want to see the club, the sport and Canberra thrive. Lachlan McCaffrey, for example, works tirelessly away from rugby to raise awareness and money for different issues. One of those was the Youth in Union program, which was the charity partner for the Brumbies' Pasifika round last week. Then there's Christian Lealiifano, Henry Speight, Sam Carter, Rory Arnold and David Pocock, who all deserve good farewells. Or Andy Muirhead, who was left out of the game-day squad for the final because of Speight's return from injury. Muirhead though, offered Speight his No. 14 Pasifika jersey from last week as a gesture to the flying Fijian. Speight declined but was humbled by the offer. It's been a lean year for Brumbies crowd numbers, but the fans who turn up in subzero temperatures on Saturday night are proof the game is bigger than one player.

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