FEDERAL CIRCUIT COURT OF AUSTRALIA DISTRICT REGISTRY: MELBOURNE DIVISION: FAIR WORK AFFIDAVIT Name 0! doponant: SAMUELA KEREVI Date sworn lamrmod: 14 November 2019 I, Samuela "Samu" Kerevi of -- the Slate of Queensland and professional rugby unian player, make oath: Background 1. I am a professional rugby union player. File number: MLG 2486 of 2019 COURT USE ONLY Court Location Court dale Court time leiloli "Israel" Folau Applicant Rugby Limited Fire! Respondent War-tall: Rugby Pty Second Respondent 3449-1 979-0350v1 Filed on behalf of lsllali "Israel" Folau (the Applicant) Prepared by' Macphereon Kelley Level 7I 800 Bourke Street Melbourne VIC 3000 DX. Tel' Fax' Rel: Ann: Email: Israel Folau 7. Witness wow During my rugby career, I have played rugby union at the elite level for the Queensland Reds (a team that plays in the Super Rugby competition), for the Fiji Under 20 national team, and the Wallabies (Australia?s national team). i played for the Queensland Reds in the 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018 and 2019 Super Rugby competitions. was born in Fiji. In 2016, was ?rst selected to play for the Wallabies. I became an Australian citizen shortly afterwards. Since then, I have been a member of almost every Wallabies squad up to and including the 2019 Rugby World Cup in Japan. The exceptions were the squads that played in the 2016 Spring Tour and the 2018 Rugby Championship. I missed those squads through injury. in total. have played 33 matches for the Wallabies in Australia and also on tours in New Zealand, South Africa, England. Argentina. Japan, Wales, Scotland and Italy. Before each set of matches (either on tour or in Australia), the Wallabies squad gets together in what is called ?camp?. This is a time for preparation, training and bonding ahead of the next matches. I have known Israel Folau since 2015. He and were then roommates during the Wallabies' camp ahead of the 2015 Rugby World Cup. In 2016, 2017 and 2018 we were Wallabies teammates. He was a member of every Wallabies squad that I was selected for. We played in most matches together. If we didn?t play together. it would have been a rare game where one of us was injured or not selected. When I first joined the Wallabies. Israel was an established member of the squad. From the moment, ljoined the Wallabies he has been a mentor to me and have seen him do the same for other players, especially other young Polynesian players. 3449?1979-0350v1 Israel?s 2018 Instagram post 10. 11. 12. 13. I remember that in April 2018 Israel made a a comment on Instagram about God's plan for gay people. At the time, I was playing at the Queensland Reds. As is usual with almost every topic to do with rugby, was asked a few questions by the media about Israel?s comment at the time. We players are trained to deal with the media and to stay focussed on the game. That is what I did. I brushed those questions off and focused on playing footy. From my perspective. the scrutiny had no impact on the way I played or trained. Soon after, the Wallabies camped ahead of a test series against Ireland. The ?rst game of that series was in Brisbane on 9 June 2018. I think that the camp, which was in Brisbane, started around 2 June 2018, which was about two months after Israel's Instagram post. Israel was part of the squad and was at the camp. I did not see or hear a word of discussion about the Instagram post (or anything related to it) during the camp. The media was no longer talking about it, and no player or coach mentioned it to me. From my perspective, the mood in the camp was the same as I had experienced previously. There was no negative energy. It was business as usualbeat Ireland at Suncorp Stadium in a good win. Israel's 2019 social media posts 14. 15. Witness I am also aware of the social media posts Israel made in April 2019. These are the posts that eventually led to Israel being sacked. In the period leading immediately after Israel made the posts, I was playing and training with the Queensland Reds. I remember that, unlike what happened in 2018, Rugby Australia straight away said something like they were going to terminate Israel's contract. 3449-1979-0350v1 16. It was shortly before Resurrection Sunday (Easter Sunday), which is one of the most important times of year in the Christian Calendar for me. I remember during that time several younger Christian players (from the Reds and the Wallabies) approaching me about what had happened. Each of them told me that they were concerned that they could also be sacked for expressing their faith and beliefs, or by quoting the Bible, on social media. 17. I found this personally concerning. Not just because it could have a negative effect on the locker-room and the team. Mostly I found it concerning because these were young men who appeared to me to be in the process of ?nding their faith. I know from personal experience that being young and Christian can be a struggle. There are times when you might not be sure where you stand with your faith and fear what comes after this life. Finding your faith can be a real struggle, especially in the modern world. Seeing someone in a similar position to them be sacked for expressing his faith was apparently making that struggle more dif?cult. 18. I found the situation very dif?cult to explain to these younger players who came to me, especially because there have been other occasions where other serious misconduct by sportsmen has not been punished in the way Israel was being punished. It seemed to me that Israel was being sacked for simply expressing his faith. I found that very dif?cult to square up with the way others had been treated. It seemed to me that most types of conduct could easily be forgiven by management, but that conduct involving religion was different. All this made it dif?cult for me to counsel the more junior players in the locker-room. 20. At the time, lwanted to support lsrael publicly. I couldn?t because the players (including me) were told by management not to comment on the issue to the media or the public. It was then very disappointing to me when I saw other players and coaches speak publicly in support of Rugby Australia's position. My perception, based on my discussions with some of the other Christian players, was that this double-standard did not help the situation in the locker-room. Witness 3449-1979-0350v1 21. 22. 23. The Wallabies? next camp after lsrael's posts in April 2019 was in around May 2019, before our Rugby Championship matches that year. At the camp, the mood was a lot different compared to the June 2018 camp I described above. My perception, based on discussions with players at the camp, was that this was down to the way in which Israel?s situation had been handled. As I said, 12 months earlierthere had been no issue but now it just felt like there was a little hurdle to overcome when we should have been just talking rugby. urther, the atmosphere was not helped by no longer having Israel on the team. Aside from being a freak of nature and one of the best players in the world he has an ?x?factor" that I found infectious. I missed him in camp dearly. Israel is a teammate that I loved having around. He was a mentor to me and other young players (especially other Polynesian players). He seemed to me to get along with everyone. Not having Israel as a Wallaby has been very disappointing. I really hope I can play alongside him for Australia again someday. Sworn by the deponent at (place) BRISBANE on (date) 14/11/2019 Signature of deponent Before me: ?an/7 ?6146 Australian Legal Practitioner 3449-1979?0350?