Israel Folau dumped by major sponsor as a result of Instagram post

The hits just keep coming for Israel Folau.

Less than 24 hours after he was found guilty of a high level breach of his Rugby Australia contract and open to having it terminated, he has been dumped by one of his major sponsors.

Sportswear giant Asics, who have been a longtime sponsor of the fallen Wallaby have elected to cut him loose, news.com.au reports.

In a public statement, the company said: "ASICS is dedicated to sport and its healthy contribution to society. We believe sport is for everyone and we champion inclusivity and diversity.

"While Israel Folau is entitled to his personal views, some of those expressed in recent social media posts are not aligned with those of ASICS.

"As such, our partnership with Israel has become untenable and he will no longer represent ASICS as a brand ambassador."

The loss of the sponsorship deal will come as yet another hammer blow to Folau, who maintains he is keeping his head held high despite the result of the Rugby Australia Code of Conduct hearing and mounting legal bills.

A three-person panel deemed that Folau had committed a high-level breach of his professional player's code of conduct on Tuesday evening, after 22 hours of hearings across three days.

RA boss Raelene Castle had earlier issued Folau with a breach notice last month following his controversial social media posts about homosexuals and other "sinners" and threatened to tear up his four-year, $4 million contract.

The 30-year-old devout Christian took to Instagram to proclaim "hell awaits" for "drunks, homosexuals, adulterers, liars, fornicators, thieves, atheists, idolators".

It was not the first time he had made anti-gay comments, and had landed in hot water in 2018 for saying that homosexuals would go to "hell, unless they repent".

It had been reported that Folau was warned after the initial offensive posts but it emerged on Wednesday via former Wallabies captain Nick Farr-Jones that Folau told him two weeks ago he had not been told by rugby bosses to "not do this again".

Last year, after Folau's first anti-gay comments, Land Rover confiscated a sponsored car given to him.