Paul Cecil Hayward (11 January 1954 – 9 May 1992) was a professional

rugby league Rugby league football, commonly known as rugby league in English-speaking countries and rugby 13/XIII in non-Anglophone Europe, is a contact sport, full-contact sport played by two teams of thirteen players on a rectangular Rugby league playin ...

footballer who played for the

Newtown Jets The Newtown Jets are an Australian rugby league football club based in Newtown, New South Wales, Newtown, a suburb of Inner West (Sydney), Sydney's inner west. They currently compete in the NSW Cup competition, having left the top grade after t ...

between 1973 and 1978.

Sporting career

Paul Hayward played 73 first grade games for the

during his 6 seasons with the club, scoring 14 tries and kicking 43 goals. Originally a South Sydney junior league player from the ''Waterloo Waratahs'' club, he later represented a combined Sydney representative side that toured New Zealand in 1976 playing half-back. Paul Hayward had been selected to represent Australia as a

boxer Boxer most commonly refers to: *Boxer (boxing), a competitor in the sport of boxing * Boxer (dog), a breed of dog Boxer or boxers may also refer to: Animal kingdom * Boxer crab * Boxer shrimp, a small group of decapod crustaceans * Boxer snipe ee ...

at the

1976 Summer Olympics The 1976 Summer Olympics (), officially known as the Games of the XXI Olympiad () and officially branded as Montreal 1976 (), were an international multi-sport event held from July 17 to August 1, 1976, in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. Montreal ...

Montreal Montreal is the List of towns in Quebec, largest city in the Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Quebec, the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, second-largest in Canada, and the List of North American cit ...

. Under the Olympic rules of that time, he was disqualified from competing after he turned professional.

Arrest and incarceration

Hayward was the brother-in-law of convicted criminal

Neddy Smith Arthur Stanley "Neddy" Smith (27 November 1944 – 8 September 2021) was an Australian criminal who was convicted of drug trafficking, theft, rape, armed robbery, and murder. Smith served a life sentence since 1989 and was imprisoned in Lithgow ...

. After the football season for 1978 had ended, Neddy Smith sent Hayward to Bangkok with Warren Fellows to arrange a shipment of heroin. On 11 October 1978, Hayward and Fellows were arrested at the Montien Hotel in Bangkok when a suitcase containing heroin was found in his room. He and Fellows were convicted in Thailand, alongside William Sinclair, for attempting to

export An export in international trade is a good produced in one country that is sold into another country or a service provided in one country for a national or resident of another country. The seller of such goods or the service provider is a ...

8.4

kilograms The kilogram (also spelled kilogramme) is the base unit of mass in the International System of Units (SI), equal to one thousand grams. It has the unit symbol kg. The word "kilogram" is formed from the combination of the metric prefix kilo- (m ...

heroin Heroin, also known as diacetylmorphine and diamorphine among other names, is a morphinan opioid substance synthesized from the Opium, dried latex of the Papaver somniferum, opium poppy; it is mainly used as a recreational drug for its eupho ...

to Australia. Paul Hayward received a 30-year sentence while Warren Fellows received life. Hayward was imprisoned in Lard Yao men's prison in

Klong Prem Central Prison Klong Prem Central prison (; ) is a maximum security prison in Chatuchak District, Bangkok, Thailand. The prison has several separate sections. The compound houses up to 20,000 inmates. Within the perimeter of the compound are the Women's Centr ...

before being moved to Bangkwang. After being transferred back to Lard Yao he was released on 7 April 1989, after being granted a

royal pardon In the English and British tradition, the royal prerogative of mercy is one of the historic royal prerogatives of the British monarch, by which they can grant pardons (informally known as a royal pardon) to convicted persons. The royal prerog ...

. He returned to Sydney, via Perth shortly afterwards.

Decline and death

Hayward became a heroin user during his time in prison and contracted

HIV The human immunodeficiency viruses (HIV) are two species of '' Lentivirus'' (a subgroup of retrovirus) that infect humans. Over time, they cause acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS), a condition in which progressive failure of the im ...

. On Saturday 9 May 1992, Hayward was home with his family when he collapsed in the bathroom about 3pm, a police spokeswoman said. Ambulance officers tried unsuccessfully to resuscitate him and he was announced dead on arrival at

Canterbury Hospital The Canterbury Hospital is a teaching hospital in Campsie, a south-western suburb of Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. Canterbury Hospital was opened in 1929 and was rebuilt in 1998. Canterbury Hospital is one of many hospitals in a netwo ...

. Later it was pronounced that he died of a heroin overdose. He was survived by his wife Gail and his three children.

Sporting career

Arrest and incarceration

Decline and death

References

Further reading