Before the AFL was as professional as it is today AFL footballers were known for their alcohol intake during the season and after their training, much like todays country and lower leagues of football. Today many clubs and players put a season ban on alcohol for fitness reasons, I think its a good idea for the professionalism of the sport but what about the off season?
There has been several off season alcohol incidents this year like Fevola at the Brownlow
Surely they have the right to drink as the rest of us Australian’s or do they? They get paid full time and even during the off season, the AFL is a money making company that needs their players and clubs being in the right spot light all the time and not like what Carlton and ST Kilda has been in the past few weeks.
Much like Richmond and Collingwood who had their “TAC” sponsorship tarnished with their clubs players being caught speeding and drink driving it can and does ruin sponsorship. Tiger Woods is another whose sponsorships is currently under threat from certain unsavoury incidents, the West Coast Eagles has also had their fare share of issues who nearly had several companies jump ship.
I think personally the problem of alcohol is bigger than just the AFL clubs and maybe its ingrained into our culture as Australians and our life style. So what can clubs do? Is it a media problem that we blow everything out of proportion or do they need to introduce year long bans or maybe choose their captains/ leaders better who can lead a club into an ‘incident free’ environment? If so maybe Chris Judd is the worse club captain out there.
I know that statement will anger some fans especially the Carlton fans who think Judd is the modern day messiah but he was around when the West Coast Eagles had their issues and now Carlton….
In April 2009, I wrote out an AFL Incident wrap sheet which caused a bit of an out cry but you can see that some clubs are worse than others and how some leadership groups are better than others (I have up dated it).
An example is Carlton with Judd, who was present with Fevola at the Brownlow night and also their ferry boozer but was unable to control his team mates. Interestingly Collingwood and the Eagles seem to be better after the introduction of Maxwell and Glass as captains. Maxwell and Glass are not house hold names like Cousins, Judd and Buckley but their ability to limit the incidents is far superior at the moment.
So what do you as the average Australian and AFL fan think? Do you think a year long AFL career Alcohol ban is too much? Do you think I am onto something or barking up the wrong tree?
Give us your thoughts on everything from miss behaving AFL players, role models and the way the clubs and AFL handle these incidents. If you also have any ideas on how these situations could be handled better, write a comment below.
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January 2nd, 2010 at 7:27 pm
Great piece in The Age today. Brad Scott, new North Melbourne coach, says, among other things, “You can’t take time off from being an elite athlete.”
AFL players are treated as elite athletes and paid as elite athletes. Surely it’s not too much to ask for them to behave like (the majority of) elite athletes. And most already do!
I don’t know about a flat, year round ban on booze. For some, Fevola for instance, it might be an appropriate course. The Carlton boys could clearly look at it as a general priciple (and it’ll be very interesting to see if Kernahan and Ratten have the balls to make a REALLY big statement to their playing group — I’m tipping they won’t.
Leadership, at player, coach AND board level, is the key to players understanding their responsibility. In the past I’ve defended players who haven’t lived up to the standard the general community expects, but no more. If the Carlton boys want to end their year on a booze cruise six weeks before the pre-season comp begins, perhaps they’d be better off going back to playing paddock football.
Let’s not be total wowsers, but let’s also hold these well-paid PROFESSIONAL athletes to a standard befitting their CHOSEN CAREER — not getting shit-faced as a bare minimum.
aussierulesblog´s last blog ..Culture blues (2)
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January 2nd, 2010 at 7:54 pm
Apologies for multiple posting: I also wanted to comment on the captaincy question.
I understand your point, Jermayn, on Maxwell and Glass as captains, although I would have thought that Buckley would have not only lead by example, but would have demanded his teammates emulate his example.
It seems pretty clear that Chris Judd isn’t that sort of captain.
Remember too, it’s not that long ago that Wayne Carey stood unassailable and proud as captain of a two-time Premiership team, whilst at the same time being the instigator-in-chief of any hi-jinks. Barely anyone would have questioned his leadership credentials. Does it hurt a club to have a playboy leader if they’re winning? I think winners are forgiven a lot!
As a Bomber fan, I sat up and took notice at a comment of Lloyd’s when appointed Captain in 2005. I can’t find the comment just now, but the implication was that he would demand much more from players than did his predecessor, Hird. I mention this because I don’t think there is a “template” for captaincy. It depends on the playing group, support staff, coaches, administration, (largely indefinable) club culture and club goals who will be the ‘best’ captain. In that respect at least, I think it’s problematic to cast Judd and Cousins as failures as captain.
aussierulesblog´s last blog ..Culture blues (2)
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January 4th, 2010 at 4:34 pm
@AussieRulesBlog – Thanks for your feedback, input and telling us about Brad Scotts comment about athletes being full time. Sorry about the delay in responding but been busy as I have just switched jobs etc.
I cannot argue or agree more with your comments about athletes being professional enough to know their limit. I also agree that a career (or year) long ban on alcohol is not always the right answer but could help in ALOT of situations.
In regards to Buckley as a captain, no doubt he lead by example and would have ‘expected’ his team mates to follow but Collingwood had behaviour problems when he was leading the club. So maybe he is like Judd and think leading by example ‘on field’ is all you need.
Obviously we can only speculate but as an Eagles fan, Glass is fast becomming a more important captain than Judd was imo.
Jermayn´s last blog ..Maybe AFL Footballers should give up the Booze Full Time
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January 4th, 2010 at 5:15 pm
Not sure if it’s just a matter of semantics, but Scott’s assertion wasn’t that footballers are full-time — that’s obvious to all of us. Rather, he was pointing out that elite athletes don’t let down their guard away from the game or between seasons, they don’t allow bad habits to creep in and rob them of the benefit of some of their hard work. Apologies if I’m hammering that point in again!
I can’t believe that Buckley wasn’t just as intense off the field and had expectations of his teammates (that they sometimes didn’t meet). As I mentioned previously, I don’t think it is a captain’s influence alone that can keep players on the straight and narrow.
Saw a short piece of the Kernahan/Judd press conference tonight. By the numbers. We can only hope they were a lot, lot stronger behind closed doors (but I doubt it).
aussierulesblog´s last blog ..Culture blues (2)
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January 4th, 2010 at 5:28 pm
How do we explain that some captains have better records of limiting bad behaviour than others? Is it to do with the rest of the people behind the scenes (presidents, coaches etc)??
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January 4th, 2010 at 8:11 pm
Yes, that’s exactly my point. It’s the WHOLE environment that goes to make up the ‘culture’ of the club. It’s very difficult for one person to turn the culture around, with the possible exception of a respected president/Chairman (who sets a tone for the whole organisation). It’s no accident that clubs, including their supporter base, tend to mirror the lead of their President/chairman: John Elliott, Eddie Maguire, Jeff Kennett, and so on.
Clubs choose introverted ‘champion’ players as captain at their peril, for instance, Judd. Your comments on Glass suggest a lower-profile, more-rounded, more-grounded, more team-oriented, more genuinely-respected player may, in many instances, be a more effective captain. I think Jobe Watson, for instance, might well be in that mould. Adam Simpson was in that mould. . .
aussierulesblog´s last blog ..Culture blues (2)
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January 4th, 2010 at 8:54 pm
Frank Costa & Tom Harley is another perfect example. I think you may be onto something here.
btw would/ is Kernahan be a good respected President/ Chairman? Elliot was not, Pratt had the money but probably did not spend enough time in the position to change the culture. In an earlier article (About Culture), maybe we should update that for your point of stability in the President/ Chairmen.
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January 5th, 2010 at 6:33 am
I’m glad you mentioned Geelong, Jermayn. The way Geelong handled Steve Johnson and the benefit the club has gained from that are an object lesson in reinforcing a good culture.
Kernahan is a reluctant president. Had Pratt not become ill, there’s no way Kernahan would be there. And in any case, I’m not sure that standout champion players are well suited to the role presidents/chairmen play these days. Business acumen and business networking are pretty important in modern, high-cost AFL, especially in Melbourne where nine clubs compete for corporate patronage. In the current furore, Kernahan risks being seen to be hypocritical, as he was, reportedly, quite a lad in his playing days.
Will Kernahan be seen in hindsight as a good president? No, I don’t think so.
aussierulesblog´s last blog ..Culture blues (2)
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January 20th, 2010 at 11:22 am
Was reading this article and Steve Alessio mentioned that the average AFL footballer drinks more booze than the average person the same age including during the AFL season.
Interesting…
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