Ben Cousins has been drafted by Richmond.
For those of you from the rugby states who haven’t been following this rather embarrassing saga, Ben Cousins is one of the most talented AFL footballers of the modern era. As a midfielder with the West Coast Eagles, he captained the side from 2001 to 2005, won the Brownlow medal in 2005, won his club’s best and fairest award four times (in a team that also included Chris Judd, amongst other champion players), and played in two Grand Finals, with a win in 2006. Cousins, however, has a taste for mind-altering substances of various kinds, legal and illegal. He’s also had friendships with a number of Perth’s more colourful “underworld identities”; as summarized here. He was sacked by the Eagles in 2007, after being arrested by police driving driving around “erratically” with various prescription tranquilizers and – wait for it – Viagra – in his car. He was then deregistered by the AFL for 12 months, after an apparent cocaine binge while supposedly seeking rehabilitation in Los Angeles.
After lengthy debates on whether the AFL would let Cousins play again, the imposition of an onerous testing drug testing regime, and Brisbane, St. Kilda and Collingwood all considering drafting Cousins before dipping out. It seems that, in most cases, the footballing staff were keen, the club management decided that it would antagonize sponsors too much. Richmond, it seems, are prepared to take the risk of sponsor opprobrium, to pick up a proven champion, still potentially near his peak, for virtually nothing.
Frankly, the whole circus has been rather embarrassing. Ben Cousins is a grade-A doofus, granted. But – with the exception of a 2001 incident where he got into a fistfight with a teammate about that teammate’s relationship with his cousin – any harm caused by Cousins has been to himself, not to anyone else. He didn’t take performance-enhancing drugs. He didn’t abuse women. By driving under the influence of drugs, he put other people at risk, but any number of other AFL players have done that. But three AFL clubs refused to take him, and a fourth, desperate for success, has seemingly only done so because fans have clamoured for it.
Aside from the image concerns of sponsors, the reluctance to touch Cousins probably has a bit to do with the internal culture of footy clubs. AFL clubs are full of boys still in, or just out of their teens, with more money and spare time than they know what to do with, and fans treating them like gods. So, despite the PR guff, in my (limited, admittedly, but direct) experience, they behave like it’s summer camp with no supervision. In that situation, an older player like Cousins, particularly if he comes back and plays well while still powdering his nose and hanging round with the local mobsters, could easily lead a whole bunch of the younger draftees down the same track. And while freaks like Cousins might be able to play at the highest level while maintaining a taste for Bolivian nose candy, it’s not so clear that the mere mortals who round out the lists of footy clubs can do so.
But, more than that, it comes down to the fact that the AFL likes to promote its players as moral exemplars, rather than just people who are talented at moving an oval piece of leather from one end of a grass-covered field to another. This, despite repeated examples that exceptional footballing talent has essentially no correlation at all with moral rectitude. Frankly, the sooner we all collectively get over that particular delusion, the better.
Has Cousins actually done anything unethical?
I’m a closet ex-fair-weather-Richmond supporter, so maybe this’ll actually get me interested in AFL again…
carn tiges
Well, the Crows took Wayne Carey. Now it’s somebody else’s turn.
Haven’t any of the senior persons in footballing circles registered yet that the very qualities that make the Careys and the Cousinses exceptional footballers (strength and fitness, fearlessness, recklessness, excess testosterone and the ‘tude that goes with it) are also that much more likely to get them into trouble off the field? It’s not just footy either. Everyone has the weaknesses of their strengths, and vice versa.
There is of course always the memory of this man and his behaviour on and off the field to disprove my point. But still.
Trust Richmond to demonstrate the perfect economics of failure. Richmond were happy to have Cousins, but only at a bargain rate that would embarrass Roger Ramshett of Fakari Rugs. They know they won’t lose sponsors, because they lost the TAC when Jay Schultz blew over the limit. They know they aren’t risking losing fans, because, hell, it’s Richmond.
Hell, they could have had lazy but honest Nick Davis at the same price. Good luck Richmond for Buddy’s next arrest: I’ll be making the big siren noise from the stands in the SCG. Woooouuuuoooo!
I heard his manager, Ricky Nixon saying that it’s such a relief and that his parents are so happy etc etc. He seemed to be implying that playing footy is part of Cousins’ rehabilitation. But I wonder if that’s true? I wonder if he just won’t be subject to the same pressures which are going to encourage him to get stuck into the coke again? I guess that’s assuming that the prssure of playing footy encouraged his coke use. But maybe he just enjoyed it. Interestingly, Kevin Sheedy was apparently central to brokering the deal. So, perhaps he’ll have Sheeds looking over his shoulder, which would be a good thing.
And Wanganeen was fantastic. He played for Essendon, didn’t he? If so, he has a bit to thank Sheedy for as well.
For Buddy read Ben. Bah. Now that’s projecting.
Yeah, Liam. I was gunna say…Buddy?
or read Benny
The Cousin’s saga was more important on the 6 pm Channel Nine News in Melbourne last night. They know what the national priorities are.The ABC has also become ‘About Ben Cousins’
The Cousins saga finally over? Does that mean Sky News can, you know, go get some actual news rather than crapping on for 45 minutes out of every 60 about some drug addled ball fiddler?
Maybe Cousins and Mercedes Corby could get married and generate their own self contained news organisation. It’d be better than Jordan and Peter Andre in the UK.
SANFL Port Magpies, then Essendon, then lured home to be inaugural captain of the Power. He’d be the first to agree about Sheedy. (At the end of one of the early Bombers v Power matches, the camera lit on Wanganeen and James Hird deep in conversation out on the ground, and Dennis Cometti said ‘They’re probably discussing their investments.’)
As for Cousins, it’s probably a good thing that most of the Underbelly mob have knocked each other off by now. Melbourne’s not Perth, as David Wenham might have said.* Not that you need to be in a big city to wreck yourself, but you might get into more and worse kinds of trouble.
*Incomprehensible remark unless you’ve seen Australia, sorry.
Long time loyal Richmond fan who was against the club picking Ben Cousins up.
I’ve accepted that they’ve done it, and I wish them all the best of luck and hope that this helps Ben get over the numerous (self-inflicted) problems he’s had.
There is one thing in this process that does deserve highlighting though – the fact that the AFL has really not exactly been a supportive mob through the whole process.
In fact, Richmond, in taking him on, have had to agree to having in place stringent rehabilitation and recovery processes for Cousins. In other words, the AFL have demanded certain processes be put in place by the club taking him on, but didn’t wish to do the same things, and have the same support measures, themselves.
Add this to the whole controversy involving the AFL’s anti-drugs and drug testing policy and it really paints a picture of a certain level of ineptitude at league level.
Christ its bad enough living in WA and putting up with the stupid boring over the top cover of this drug added fool.
He has an industry in this state, does Ben Cousins fart in Bed who cares,I know most if not all AFL have to have something to compensate them for the fact that the further you get from AFL land the less care,and go overseas and no one cares.
Can we get back to the real world instead of the Victard fairyland.
So, ‘coke with ice’ off at the menu at Hungry Jacks, permanent like.
Compared to God, Cousins’ fall has been more Neighbours than Underbelly, and the big casualty in the Wet Toast/Weasals ice/coke binge of 05-07 was Chris Mainwaring. Dead at 40.
one. forty one, shoulda looked it up before posting..
Wait for the dodgy hamstring to start playing up.
The continuing sanctimony of Cousins’ detractors has left me hoping that he has a great season ahead of him. It’s a shame that he is going to a club that is a graveyard for talented players.
Hang on are you telling me that Richmond are still in the VFL, sorry I meant AFL?
I must keep up with the real news.
One question… has Ben Cousins actually been convicted for anything, in the courts, or tested positive for drugs of any kind in his football playing?
No.
This man has never failed to perform in his professional capacity and has never been to court over a crime, let alone been convicted of one.
Quite frankly, if the Bar association or the Medical Board tried what the AFL have done they would be sued for a lifetimes’ earnings.
Probably rightly.
Not when the issue is one of illegal drug use and there have been public admissions of such use. Justification (truth) is a complete defence to a defamation action, except in New South Wales.
Oh, and he was in Court in Perth in February 2006 where he pleaded guilty to one count of obstructing traffic and one count of obstructing police (both of which are crimes) and was fined $900.
He has been an over-indulged young man. It will be interesting to see if his time at Richmond is one of further over-indulgence or one of achievement.
GregM: Two low-level crimes and a $900 fine, and he’s supposed to be deprived of his livelihood?
And defamation is completely irrelevant to the argument.
Robert, I am not arguing that he should be deprived of his livelihhod, although the AFL has the right to protect its franchise by keeping people who are not “fit and proper” or who bring it into disrepute, out of its business just as the Bar Association and the Medical Board, the two examples cited by Dr S, have and do.
Drug abusers, and he is an admitted drug abuser, are a risk to the reputation of AFL professional football and therefore its revenue. The AFL has a legitimate concern to protect its business and in protecting that business it has a right to set terms, as it has, for Cousins’ continued participation in its business and to exclude him if he fails to keep to those terms.
My reference to Cousins’ Court appearance in 2006 was simply to point out the untruth of Dr S’s statement that Cousins had never been before a court for a crime let alone convicted of one. I do like people to get their facts right.
PC at 3. I’ve often wondered if the demand for sporting excellence does not lead to flaws elsewhere in the persona with some greats. To your list, you could probably add Gary Ablett and Shane Warne.
Still on the other hand, there are plenty to add to the plus side with Wanganeen. McLeod, Robert Harvey, Bradley, Hird, Voss all come to mind.
I hope he makes it, even though I still have bad memories of him virtually sinking the Crows single-handedly in the Prelim finals of 05 and 06. If he can do it, without a spate of soft tissue injuries (usually the fate of older players making a comeback at this level) Richmond will almost certainly be in the finals.
It is surprising that someone has not taken on the AFL on, in the courts, in some way. The Players Association are always prepared to respond to the excesses of this quite clearly out of control organisation but what is really needed, is large smack in the fangs by the real legal system.
How can these idiots impose a possible 3 urine tests a week on Cousins or be the quasi judge of extreme violence on the field? Cases of common assault should be dealt with by the courts and they should have no say on drug matters when the substances are not performance enhancing. Drug rehabilitation should be taken completely out of their hands.
Part of the problem for Kizons is that he’s a complete and utter arse, and a lot of people know it. If he’d been sitting at home on meth playing playstation he might have ‘gotten away’ with the stance that he hasn’t been charged with anything, nothing’s been proven, nothing to see here. But when you’re up in everyones face with underworld crims and just acting the complete tosser, it’s harder to pull off.
Dr S, Marion Jones has never failed to perform in her professional capacity, and has never returned a positive B sample either.
Anyway. Everybody should be given the chance to overcome drug addiction. You’d think the odds were against him – but hopefully Richmond engage some top practitioners.
Eddie’s squibbed this opportunity. His confidence shaken by his handling of Didak et al last year probably.
Liam: Marion Jones is a cheat. She took drugs to improve her athletic performance.
Ben Cousins may be many things, but there is no evidence that he is an on-field cheat. And, frankly, that is what the AFL should care about.
Definitely Robert.
Let the clubs, and only the clubs, worry about sponsors and public perceptions of their players’ behaviour. The clubs are businesses, the AFL is a regulator more or less – of their business activities, not their hiring and firing policies.
Robert, I’m sympathetic to that position, as I’m of the opinion—without any evidence—that coke and speed and beer during the week have little or no game day performance-enhancing capacity. I dislike professional sport’s no-party drugs stance exactly because it confuses cheating and health.
I was pointing out to Dr S that it’s quite easy to bring a sport into disrepute without returning a positive sample for anything. On any account Cousins has broken more laws than Marion Jones, and endangered the lives of more people. Why should a drink-driver be more redeemable than a perjurer?
Besides which, there’s a very real sense in which Cousins has cheated every other AFL player who submits to the no-cocaine-in-professional-sport rule. Everyone else’s training regime involves abstention, why shouldn’t his?
I think that the individual clubs should be putting in whatever testing regimes they want to protect their assets from wasting their time and money with drugs. But the AFL should stay the hell away from non-performance enhancing drugs, it should be none of their business.
Most of the huffing and puffing in the media is about ecstasy and pot. Sure that would concern me as a coach, but it should be nobody’s business but the club’s own. If the AFL wants to protect it’s image, it could STFU about personal matters and stop buying into the Herald Sun’s game.
Or if they were really serious, they could attack the real drug problem in football – alcohol.
Liam – he’s only really cheated himself though.
THe AFL is, and has been since the 1980s, a business with a franchise to protect. It is a great deal more than a regulator.
Yup wrong on the drunk driving, apologies about that one.
However, if drunk driving were a reason to be dis-barred (for instance) there would be a damn sight fewer lawyers. There were, however, no charges over any of the issues for which he actually seems to have been keel-hauled.
Now, as to the disrepute. I would contend that the policy of the AFL, not to mention the medical board or bar association, was that drug use is a health issue. There are clear guidelines for how that should be addressed. Which were ignored. Instead, the fact that this was public and embarrassing has led to significant overreaction.
Now, if the medical board went similarly nova on one of my colleagues without said procedural fairness they would arrive with their slightly hung over barrister and leave with their registration intact and probably an apology, at the least. This was the point. It may well be true that, as this is a purely commercial relationship based on the sale of the intangible asset of celebrity, that Mr Cousins has no such reasonable expectation of procedural fairness.
Still an ugly sight.
Oh, and Marion Jones should simply have got herself a better endocrinologist.
West Coast sacked Ben Cousins for his failure to attend training without reason.
Although his failure to attend training may have been caused by drugs, there was notably no mention of drugs in his sacking.
One angle that seems to have escaped speculation is how his association with other drug users in the WCE may have contributed to his usage and subsequent addiction. By sacking Cousins for training non-attendance, it neatly sidestepped discussions of any duty of care that the club may have had to provide a safe working environment.
If the AFL is seriously interested in protecting itself from being brought into disrepute how do buffoons who urinate on nightclub windows and sexually harass women still have a job in footy?
I’m not a Richmond supporter but I just took out Richmond membership in support of Ben Cousins.
And what’s a CPRS?
I am a supporter of Ben Cousin’s. We need to get more support structures in place to make sure these young players who are paid crazy money and given god like status also learn how to deal with the pressures and not turn to drugs.
What about all the other players who are just left with their drug taking behavior. It will come up again when the next superstar is caught.