Super League club Catalan Dragons are considering legal action against Israel Folau after he announced on Friday he signed up to play for the Southport Tigers.
It is Folau’s latest bid to end a sporting exile sparked by his homophobic social media posts.
The former rugby union international told a press conference he planned to start playing next week for the Tigers, a club who controversial mining billionaire Clive Palmer is a patron of.
But his registration as a player has yet to be approved by the Queensland Rugby League.
And now Catalans football manager Alex Chan has responded, declaring Folau’s latest move was a “big shock”.
Folau was given compassionate leave by the Super League club earlier this year but is contracted for the remainder of the 2021 season.
“Our stance hasn’t changed,” Chan told PA.
“We’ve given Israel and his family time to get back together and make sure that everything is going good and we expected that, once Izzy found some stability, we’ve left the door open.
“We still hold his contract, he’s still a registered player with Catalans Dragons. It was a big shock to see what was put out there.
“We can’t just let things happen like this. I’ve got to meet with the club president and our directors but I’ve already made our legal team aware of the situation that is starting to unfold.
“We need to start being pro-active from our end in case things start to escalate and go nasty.”