Wallabies star Kurtley Beale breaks silence on ‘cocaine’ videos
Kurtley Beale has acknowledged the leaked video of him with someone who was snorting a line of cocaine and another clip of him with a man holding a plate of white powder were “a bad image” for the game.
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Kurtley Beale has acknowledged that the two leaked videos of him in the company of “The Chich” snorting a line of cocaine and another of a man holding a plate of white powder were “a bad image” for the game but hopes his apology will put an end to the controversy.
Although the Wallabies and Waratahs star did nothing illegal and was cleared by an integrity unit of any wrongdoing, Beale said he still felt an obligation to say sorry because he didn’t want the videos to detract from the sport.
In his first public comments since the videos, which were filmed 2015 and 2016 but only posted on social media last month, a contrite Beale said: “I understand that it may have caused a bit of a bad image to the game.
"I understand that, so it’s always important to do that type of stuff (apologise) and understand the responsibilities in the game as a player.”
Beale met with Rugby Australia integrity unit officials after the first video, taken by NRL star Corey Norman, showed him laughing while a 77-year-old man, who calls himself The Chich, snorts cocaine.
A day later, a second video emerged showing Beale playing a vacuum cleaner as a didgeridoo before the camera panned to a man holding a plate of a white, powdery substance.
Beale immediately contacted RA boss Raelene Castle to apologise for the videos and said everyone had agreed to put the matter behind them after it was decided he should not be punished.
"I’ve spoken to them and I apologised at the time and now my full focus is on the Waratahs and adding my bit to hopefully a successful campaign,” he said.
“There is a lot of rugby to be played and I think it’s important that now the priority is the Waratahs and to make sure that I’m doing every little bit to make sure that we are successful this year.”
The videos were unearthed two months after Beale was dropped for Australia’s last match in 2018, against England at Twickenham, after breaching team protocol when he and Adam Ashley-Cooper brought three women into their team hotel.
Although nothing untoward happened and the women, Ashley-Cooper’s sister-in-law and two of her friends, left the room before midnight, the two players were dropped for the match against England because the team’s strict rules includes a ban on bringing guests back to the hotel.
The decision to drop the players triggered a debate about whether the team’s rules were too strict, particularly for Beale as it cost him the chance to wear the Wallabies’ indigenous jersey, but he said it was now all water under the bridge.
“It was obviously disappointing to miss that game,” he said.
“But obviously the decision to not play the game you have to respect that and move on and make sure you learn from those decisions and make sure that that doesn’t happen again.”
Originally published as Wallabies star Kurtley Beale breaks silence on ‘cocaine’ videos
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