Written by Covid19 has messed a lot of things up for a lot of people, not least the people who have tragically lost their lives to the disease. Humanity has needed to adapt to new procedures and new rules, to keep us all as safe as possible and bring this beast to it’s knees. It’s such a terrible shame when people think they are above the restrictions, particularly when its people who, like it or not, are looked up to as exemplars.
A number of players from the St George Illawarra Dragons are in hot water over their blatant contravention of current restriction protocols. Paul Vaughan is one of these players and his contract has been terminated as a direct result. One of these offenders is Jack de Belin, who has only just narrowly escaped incarceration on sexual assault charges.
Mark Carroll, NRL legend put it best in his scathing attack on the guilty players;
“Jack de Belin, seriously, you just avoided lockup, now you’ve avoided lockdown, I can’t believe what’s happening, seriously. Pull your head in. I’m more concerned about the impact these thick heads have had on the young and our society They’re supposed to be role models. They not only broke the rules, but they also lied about breaking the rules to cover each other. Well done for destroying the brand of the NRL.”
Carroll goes on to decry the punishments received, particularly those bestowed on de Belin and Cory Norman. His argument is valid given Norman, despite being served with a hefty fine, has only been suspended from one game, similarly de Belin was only penalized with the loss of one game. Carroll openly states that in his opinion, these two players should be removed from the team permanently for continuing to put the game in disrepute.
Following their narrow win over the Warriors, Vaughan hosted a party at his home. In attendance were Blake Lawrie, Daniel Alvaro, Jack Bird, Josh Kerr, Josh McGuire, Kaide Ellis, Matthew Dufty, Tyrell Fuimaono, Zac Lomax, Gerard Beale along with de Belin and Norman. This gathering of course was in direct contravention of the then imposed lockdown.
The league had initially fined Vaughan $50 000 and suspended him from play for eight matches. He had been under contract to play with the Dragons in a lucrative contract until the end of 2022, but at a Dragons board meeting it was decided that given the number of breaches having been cited previous to this current one, that he would be released from his contract. Vaughan had already been fined $10 000 for breaking the NRL’s biosecurity rules last year by going to an Illawarra cafe while he was supposed to be in a bubble.
Ronald E. Riggio explains in his article; ‘Why Celebrities and the Wealthy Think They Are Above the Law: The psychology of entitlement’, that the dynamics of power and prestige attributed to the wealthy and the famous causes an intoxication. “Their extraordinary power leads them to believe that they are special and that the rules that apply to everyone else simply don’t apply to them.” Scholarly Leadership philosophy refers to this ‘exception-making’ as the belief of celebrities that they should get a free pass to misbehave. If caught, the thinking is that their celebrity or money can help them escape serious, or even any, punishment.
There is something inherently wrong with team culture when its members allow their ego to dictate their willingness to obey the same rules imposed on others. For so many from this one team to be in breach is a sad indictment on that team’s culture and serious revisiting of team ethos should occur.
St George Illawarra Dragons news: Jack de Belin, Covid scandal, Paul Vaughan, NRL news 2021
St George Illawarra Dragons sack Paul Vaughan over COVID-19 breach – ABC News
Why Celebrities and the Wealthy Think They Are Above the Law | Psychology Today