At least for the moment.
Whilst no-one can deny that there is a problem with drugs in the AFL, it seems that Ben Cousins seems to be getting a pretty raw deal. Pulled over by the Police, and then arrested while the TV cameras film it all! Normally when someone is arrested, the TV stations pixellate their faces so as not to prejudice a fair trial. (In Cousins' case, they might have needed to pixellate the stomach too!)
Not only that, but he then faces sanctions from his club, before the case has been through the Court process.
Perhaps there have been some amendments to the law so that the right to a fair trial and the presumption of innocence no longer apply to AFL players.
Meanwhile, all the attention gets focussed on Ben Cousins, rather than the wider problem - just a bit too convenient for the AFL!
5 comments:
Hi Simon, A year down the track your post on Ben Cousins is still relevant. I heard that the charges against Ben were dropped last year shortly after he was sacked by West Coast.
Is there any question of his employer's (West Coast) duty of car to provide a safe drug-free work environment or is that too shadowy an area?
Anyway, good luck to Ben with Richmond in 2009.
I read this week that even though the AFL has a 3 strikes policy, Ben Cousins didn't EVER test positive for drugs. What a bunch of hypocrites!
I definitely think Ben is a scapegoat. I think there would be lots of drugs throughout AFL and Ben was the face of the AFL taking a stance. The same way Matty Johns is now the scapegoat for the league.
Duty of care? I dont think some of these employers know the meaning of it. They just give them loads of money and want the best out of them on the field and then leave them to it.
I think lots of the clubs do have support for the players. They try to teach them about handling all the pressures - including drugs but some players just dont get it.
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