Israel Folau, Australian football and racial folklore

On 1st June 2010 Israel Folau, an Australian rugby league player, signed for the newly- formed Greater Western Sydney Australian Football League (AFL) team (later known as the GWS Giants) in a move that generated much interest. Because he was from Western Sydney and is of Tongan parentage, it was believed that he would act as "a beacon for his community" (ABC 2010) who would enable the AFL to attract interest from the non-traditional, culturally diverse market of Western Sydney. This paper analyses Folau's time at the GWS Giants. Data collection involved a textual analysis of the club's communications and media coverage followed by an unobtrusive netnography of two online message boards. Following data analysis, two recurring themes emerged: Folau's ethnicity and otherness, and the role of his body. His Polynesian heritage was frequently emphasised in media coverage and fan discourses but this move is contrasted with the still-pronounced Anglocentric culture of Australia. The focus on his background, and perceived physical differences between 'Australian' athletes and Polynesian 'others', highlighted his cultural difference from the dominant Anglo-Celtic culture and positions him as a potential outsider. The focus on Folau's body, his "innate" athleticism (Lewis 2010), and imposing physique emerge as a second theme. This emphasis of his physicality meant that his personality assumed lesser prominence in his initial portrayal in the media and in online discussions amongst fans that are reflective of "long-standing, widely held, racist, and ill- informed presumption of innate, race-linked black athletic superiority and intellectual deficiency" (Edwards 2000, 9).