This story is all too familiar. Talent to burn. Born to be a star. The world at your feet.
Unfortunately, for Kurtley Beale, his story hasn’t lived up to the fairy tale. As if it wasn’t bad enough for the Wallabies to capitulate so spectacularly against the Springboks at Newlands in the last 10 minutes, less than 48 hours afterwards the news emerged that Beale had been involved in some kind of verbal altercation with a female member of the Australian team’s management. The altercation was deemed severe enough for Beale to be dropped to the bench, and Di Patston – identified as the team’s business manager – to fly straight back to Australia from Buenos Aires.
The week goes on and the Wallabies lose in Mendoza giving Argentina their first ever win in the Rugby Championship, and instead of dissecting exactly why the Wallabies have suddenly gone from contenders to pretenders, we get another dose of scandal again involving Beale. And the news is even more mystifying than his in-flight shenanigans.
And more serious by the sounds of it. Enough so that his argument with Patston will now be dealt with at a later stage to deal with what ARU President, Bill Pulver, described as “deeply offensive” Whats’app messages pertaining to a certain member of the Aussie management team –rumoured to be Patston – allegedly sent by Beale to a number of his teammates way back in June.
I don’t want to speculate further about this saga which seems to have more twist and turns than a Bold and Beautiful episode. Instead, my focus is on Beale. For those not familiar with him, Beale is an outrageously talented rugby player that has the ability to single-handedly turn a game of rugby on its head. He is one of the golden generation of Aussie backs that have risen to super stardom in their homeland. And like a couple of them – James O’Connor comes to mind- Kurtley has had a long laundry list of off-the-field misdemeanours that has threatened to end his rugby career in Australia for good. This incident with the text messages could very well be the final nail in his coffin. The ARU, after all, grew tired of O’Connor’s antics and tore up his contract last year; all bets are on that Beale is headed the same way.
It’s a great pity. After his well-documented problems with the Melbourne Rebels last year, Beale returned to Sydney and had a stellar super rugby season with the Waratahs, culminating in a famous win over the Crusaders just a few months ago. Why would someone that has the world at his feet keep getting so close to the line and biting the hand that feeds him?
The easy answer would be to say that Beale is arrogant and has let fame go to his head. Certainly, his lack of respect to circulate offensive text messages of a management figure highlights his immaturity and an almost disdain to learn from his mistakes and stick to what he does best – play rugby. Many though suspect that Beale has underlying issues that may have been plastered over, but not fully dealt with, and in the Australian culture which vaunts their winners and fetes them with fame and pomp, it can be easy to believe that you are above the team and that the game needs you more than you need it.
An interesting point in this whole saga is the fact that quite a few of his teammates have come out in his defence – rumoured and otherwise – including captain Michael Hooper who along with some of the senior Wallabies allegedly persuaded coach Ewan McKenzie not to send Beale home from Argentina. I have seen articles in the last week where his mates have referred to him as a “good man”. It is rather peculiar when someone distributes offensive pictures of a management figure and has a verbal brawl on a long-distance flight with the team manager that his team mates come to his defence. My memory might be hazy, but I don’t recall O’Connor getting similar support when he was being booted out of Australian rugby.
So now Beale’s fate is left up to a tribunal. Already, the talk is of him taking up a contract overseas or even switching codes and going to play rugby league. I am not sure if we can expect the whole truth to come out during his hearing, but while the player has to ‘do the time for his crime’, it might also be prudent of the ARU to consider how they handle their young super stars in future. The O’Connor drama and even the incidents surrounding Quade Cooper should have been a warning to them that something different has to happen in their environment. Hopefully, the Kurtley Beale story becomes the exception rather than the rule.
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