About Israel Folau
Israel ‘Isileli Folau (Tongan: [fo'lɑʊ̯]; born 3 April 1989) is a professional rugby union player, a former Australian rules football and former professional rugby league footballer. He plays as a fullback for Japan Rugby League One club Urayasu D-Rocks. Born in Australia, he played rugby league for Australia, and rugby union for Australia and Tonga after qualifying on ancestry grounds. Folau began his professional career playing rugby league for the Melbourne Storm in the National Rugby League (NRL) from 2007 to 2008, where he broke the record for most tries in a debut year. He then played with the Brisbane Broncos from 2009 to 2010. Playing as a wing or centre, Folau represented Queensland in the State of Origin and Australia, becoming the youngest player to play for both teams. In 2020, Folau played for the French rugby league team the Catalans Dragons in the Super League. In 2011, Folau joined the Greater Western Sydney Giants in the Australian Football League (AFL) and played for two seasons. In December 2012, Folau switched codes again, this time to rugby union, and signed a one-year contract with the Waratahs. He became the record holder for the most tries scored in Super Rugby history post the 2019 season. At international level, he made his debut for Australia in 2013 against the British & Irish Lions, and went on to earn 73 caps. In 2022, Folau switched allegiance in order to represent Tonga after World Rugby changed its eligibility rules. Folau's statements about homosexuality brought him into conflict with the administrators of Rugby Australia, and in 2019 they terminated his contract. Alleging that Rugby Australia terminated his employment on the basis of religion, Folau commenced proceedings in the Fair Work Commission but was unable to reach a settlement with Rugby Australia. He subsequently commenced proceedings in the Federal Circuit Court of Australia and a confidential settlement between the two parties was announced on 4 December 2019. Folau was strong, representing Australia and at the end of the tour was awarded the Australian Secondary School Rugby Leagues (ASSRL) Award for the best back of the tournament.
Biography source: Wikipedia. The profile adds birthday-specific historical context from the Celebs Birthday Today editorial database.