Former San Francisco 49ers player Jarryd Hayne has reportedly been denied a request to watch his old side play in the Super Bowl against the Kansas City Chiefs.
Hayne is currently serving three years in prison for the sexual assault of a woman on NRL grand final night in 2018. He is appealing the criminal conviction and maintains his innocence.
According to News Corp, Hayne has been denied access to watch the game by prison authorities because he will be working a jail job instead.
‘On weekdays, inmates are required to participate in programs, training, education or work during the day,’ said a Corrective Services NSW spokeswoman.
‘Inmates can watch network television when in their cells during lock-in on TVs or inmate tablets.
‘Inmates will be expected to attend regular activities on Monday.’
Hayne will have to hope that Seven Network airs a replay of the Super Bowl later in the day if he wants to see his former side play.
In his prime the Parramatta Eels fullback was the best rugby league player in the world, leading his team to a grand final, starring for NSW in State of Origin and twice winning the league’s top award, the Dally M Medal.
Not content with rugby league glory, he defied astronomical odds to play in the NFL for the San Francisco 49ers in 2015 – despite never playing American football before.
Hayne was raised in Housing Commission flats in western Sydney by his single mother Jodie, who slept by the door to ensure her children would be safe from home invaders.
His father is former rugby league star Manoa Thompson, who was absent when Hayne was growing up but reunited with his son later in life.
After showing his prodigious football talent at Westfields Sports High School he signed with the Parramatta Eels and immediately became one of the game’s top performers.
He narrowly avoided being shot by a bikie gang member during a night out in Sydney’s Kings Cross in 2008 – a moment Hayne later said changed his life.
He turned to religion after playing for the Fijian rugby league team at the 2008 World Cup in what was a tumultuous year for the young footballer.
‘For the next year after that, there were sleepless nights… I knew I was a marked man. I was told I was. That was pretty much the pinnacle of where my life was going,’ he told Light FM Christian radio.
‘I sat down and told myself ”Man, I’m a rugby league player. I’m not a bikie. I’m not a gangster.” But the way that whole year developed, it became such a God-glorifying year. It was something that changed my life and made me who I am today.’
Hayne later became the poster boy for Hillsong, a contemporary Pentecostal church.
The next year Hayne broke out as a bona fide superstar – winning the prestigious Dally M medal aged just 21 and leading the Eels to the NRL grand final.
Seeking a new challenge, he ditched his $2million contract with Parramatta in 2014, flew to America and tried to make it in one of the toughest sporting leagues in the world as a completely inexperienced rookie.
Despite the odds and public expectation going against him, Hayne made the five-time Super Bowl champion San Francisco 49ers’ roster.
