{"id":30114,"date":"2021-02-03T07:33:41","date_gmt":"2021-02-03T08:33:41","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/?p=30114"},"modified":"2021-02-03T12:01:09","modified_gmt":"2021-02-03T12:01:09","slug":"dragons-ditch-folau-signing-after-general-meeting","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/?p=30114","title":{"rendered":"Dragons ditch Folau signing after general meeting"},"content":{"rendered":"

The St George Illawarra Dragons have ditched their pursuit of controversial superstar Israel Folau<\/a> following a crucial general meeting on Wednesday night.<\/p>\n

Club powerbrokers gathered to discuss the severe backlash they had copped after enquiring with the NRL about signing the code-hopper<\/a>.<\/p>\n

It was in that meeting they decided not to proceed with discussions with Folau to join the Dragons this season on a two-year deal worth $1 million<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The Dragons had been in talks with head office about the steps they would need to take if they decided to submit a contract for registration.<\/p>\n

But they decided the process would be too difficult and not worth the inevitable brand damage, given Folau's history of making controversial remarks about homosexuality.<\/p>\n

The extreme finances involved with the poaching was also likely a factor in St George Illawarra opting against pursuing Folau further. His Super League club, Catalans, had told the Dragons they would only release him early if they paid a fee of $200,000<\/a>, a hefty amount on top of the salary they had been willing to give him.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

ARL Commission officials will continue to discuss whether they should allow Folau back into the game when they meet on Thursday.<\/p>\n

It's unlikely the former Kangaroos and Maroons representative will have much support from the ARL Commission if he chooses to pursue a deal with another NRL club, however the game's leaders insist the 31-year-old's application would be considered.<\/p>\n

Folau had asked Catalans to release him with a year to run on his contract on the grounds of compassion, telling them he wanted to return to Australia to be closer to his sick mother-in-law.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

The Dragons released the following statement on Wednesday night:<\/p>\n

"St George Illawarra have provided the following update in relation to Israel Folau," the statement reads.<\/p>\n

"While the Dragons did enquire about signing Folau, the club can confirm that such discussions have now ceased.<\/p>\n

"The Dragons will make no further comment."<\/p>\n

For a daily dose of the best of the breaking news and exclusive content from Wide World of Sports, subscribe to our newsletter by<\/em><\/strong> clicking here!<\/em><\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The St George Illawarra Dragons have ditched their pursuit of controversial superstar Israel Folau following a crucial general meeting on Wednesday night. Club powerbrokers gathered […]<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30114"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=30114"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30114\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":30116,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30114\/revisions\/30116"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=30114"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=30114"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=30114"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}