Jarryd Hayne is often referred to as a “disgraced rugby league player”, after two criminal trials in the last six years found him guilty of rape.
But there are whispers that the 36-year-old could be trading his prison-issued tracksuit for a Fijian rugby league jersey. As reported in The Daily Telegraph, coach of the men’s Fijian rugby league team Wise Kativerata said there might be a spot for Hayne on the national team.
“The door is open for him if he wants to join,” Kativerata said in The Daily Telegraph. “He’s fit, but we’re just waiting on his decision if he’s interested, which will be a boost for the team.”
It’s been six years since Hayne played professional rugby league, a career break induced by allegations that he raped a woman in Newcastle on the night of the 2018 Grand Final.
During that time, he’s faced three criminal trials – two of which found him guilty on two counts of sexual assault – and spent almost two years in prison. His latest conviction from a 2023 trial, the third trial of the saga, was quashed in June this year and a retrial was ordered.
Now, the world – and most heartbreakingly, the woman who accused Hayne of rape – could watch Hayne run out on the field once more. And what message does that send to the next generation of sports stars?
It’s not the first time sport has dished out second chances to men accused of rape and sexual assault. Between 2019 and 2021, NRL player Jack de Belin faced two criminal trials after a woman accused him of raping her, alongside co-accused Callan Sinclair. De Belin recently had his contract with the St George Illawarra Dragons extended.
Meanwhile, in the Netherlands, a convicted rapist was selected in its national team in beach volleyball. Steven van de Velde, 29, was convicted of three counts of rape against a 12-year-old girl in 2014, when he was 19 years old. He served just a quarter of his sentence, before resuming his volleyball career that led him to perform on the most prestigious of sporting stages, the Olympic Games.
While women are fighting for a seat at the sporting table, men accused of violence against women are offered a leg up.
As long as we push for gender equality in sport, a quashed, dismissed or served rape allegation or conviction shouldn’t mean “business as usual” for men. Because gender equality goes far beyond quotas, participation rates, investment and eyeballs on the games. It also means fostering an inclusive, safe and respectful environment – a workplace environment – for women and people from diverse backgrounds to participate in.
For athletes, playing sport in a public arena is one of the biggest honours of their lives. It should be reserved for people who respect that honour.
If Hayne truly understood the privilege of donning a national jersey, he would respectfully decline Wise Kativerata’s offer to play for Fiji. He might return to rugby league at a local club level, to keep playing the game he so clearly loves, and give up the open position for someone else, to honour and to never take for granted.
Or Hayne might accept, and send a message to the younger generation that professional sport can be a second-chance club for accused rapists.