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Beale reveals revolting racial slur used against him on professional debut in South Africa

Kurtley Beale. Photo / Getty Images

Kurtley Beale has revealed that he was racially abused on his Super Rugby debut in 2007.

The Australia full-back did not say that the comments were always aimed directly at him, however he did say that he was called a “black c**t”.

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The interview was carried out by Headspace, a National Youth Mental Health Foundation. In the interview he revealed that he was struggling with alcoholism during the early stages of his career. In addition to this, Beale spoke openly about how his upbringing has changed how he is now as a man.

I’m a proud indigenous man. My culture is everything to me. Having that there, it certainly allows me to have my own identity and having that connection allows me to grow and gives me the spirit to keep leading my life in the direction I want. It just gives me that strength to keep pushing on through the tough times and allows me to be the person I am.

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It’s this kind of upbringing that in many ways could have helped him to overcome this tough stage of his life, where he claims that he had to deal with racism, during his debut in particular

There were instances where I’ve experienced racism. No one knew about it. It was actually my first professional game in South Africa,” Beale said. “At the bottom of a ruck and someone you know has called me a black c***. It was pretty hard to deal with, but whenever I felt that I would just go to my grandparents and they would keep telling to try and use it as a motivation to keep pushing on and keep moving forward in life.

Beale is currently gearing up to take on the Lions this weekend in the Super Rugby semi-final. Furthermore, the Australian talisman will be hoping to play a major role for the Wallabies in August.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=53&v=IMTyyJcJbx4

 

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SK 30 minutes ago
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You cant have your cake and eat it too, hoping for a fantastic greatest rivalry series while talking about not forgetting Argentina and Australia makes about as much sense as owning a private jet, racking up the air miles and then giving a speech about how we all must stop flying to reduce greenhouse emissions. The greatest rivalry series has damaged the Rugby Championship. The relevance of Argentina and Australia has never been greater than it was this year when both were part of an incredible Rugby Championship in 2025 that was everyones for the taking after 4 rounds. The Rugby Championship should be building on the momentum created in 2025 creating new stories and a cult following but instead its just not happening thanks to the obvious money grab from SA and NZ. This series is an affront to Southern Hemisphere unity and completely leaves out 2 great Southern teams who are left to fend for themselves with a diminished home calendar. Sure NZ will honor the Bledisloe and Austalia will get a test against the Boks and the same may be true for Argentina next year but not having the Rugby Championship clearly damages the comp and fewer fixtures against the Boks and All Blacks diminishes the rivalries that are being created with Argentina who are always the biggest losers. It also forces NZ fans to have just a 3 or 4 tests at home in a year where theres no world cup as it will SA fans when their turn comes to tour the land of the long white cloud in 2030.

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