Israel Folau opens up about his drugs and booze hell – as he reveals a shocking secret about his defection to the AFL
- ‘Izzy’ joined the Melbourne Storm at the age of 17
- Australian sport stunned by move to GWS Giants
Controversial footballer Israel Folau has revealed that his time at the Melbourne Storm led him to a dead end, with him becoming addicted to drugs, alcohol and picking up women for the first time in his life.
The 35-year-old codehopper also revealed that he made a surprise switch to the AFL in 2011. He said he never wanted to play the sport and that he only left the NRL because of the size of his salary.
Folau, who now plays rugby union in Japan after his high-profile scandal with the Wallabies, made his rugby league breakthrough with the Storm in 2007 when he was just 17 years old.
He moved south from Brisbane and was soon introduced to a completely new way of life in Melbourne.
“When I left school and went to Melbourne, that was the first time I was introduced to drinking and everything I did, like dating girls and doing drugs,” he told the Podcast about ebb and flow.
‘I got completely caught up in it.
‘Looking back now at that point in my career, I could see that I was in a downward spiral.
‘There was so much going on off the field that no one knew… what was going on behind the scenes.
Folau was just 17 when he joined the Melbourne Storm in 2007 (pictured) – and he was soon exposed to a very different world to what he was used to at school in Brisbane
The code-hopping star was a huge success on the field but struggled off it when he hit a dead end while trying drugs and alcohol
‘[I was] I got addicted to alcohol, women and drugs, and I hit a dead end. I was so lost and empty.’
Folau said he had “everything he wanted” at the time, but he still felt like something was missing: religion.
The famously faithful Christian turned the tide when he “couldn’t stop crying” during a church service and dedicated himself to God.
In 2010, he surprised football fans across Australia by making a surprise move to the AFL, joining the GWS Giants. And now, for the first time, he has made a surprising admission about leaving on a rumoured four-year deal worth $6 million.
“I didn’t want to do it,” he confessed.
The main reason I went [to the AFL] was purely to help my family financially.
‘I went back and forth with my parents and especially with my old man [father].
‘I didn’t want to go, it was something I never wanted to do.
I struggled with that for a long time [but] In the end, the money was too good to refuse and I went purely on that one choice.’
His two seasons at Aussie Rules were one of the low points in Folau’s long career, as he ‘hated’ the experience after only signing to support his family financially.
Folau played 13 games in two years for the Giants, in one of the worst periods of his long football career.
“I went to training and I hated it. I just didn’t like it,” he said.
In December 2012 he made another high-profile move, this time to rugby union with the NSW Waratahs.
He excelled and became a regular for the Wallabies, but Rugby Australia dropped him from the squad after a controversial Twitter post in which he infamously posted the phrase “homosexuals go to hell”.
In a humiliating retreat to spare the sporting body a lengthy court battle after Folau demanded $14 million, Rugby Australia, the star and NSW Rugby announced in December 2019 that they had reached a settlement in their long-running dispute.
RA said it did not support Folau’s controversial post but “acknowledges and apologises for any hurt or injury caused to the Folaus” following his resignation.