AFL double standards?

Question

A couple of things.

If the AFL were OK with Ben Cousins returning mid season, then they must have decided he had not brought the game into disrepute before then.

Their findings are basically that since the end of the season he has brought the game into disrepute. HOW? Everything that has appeared in relation to him since the end of the season has just been media beat ups, which has been shown by the lack of any charges being laid.

Also, Richard Pratt commits the greatest ever listed breach in business policy, gets the largest fine ever handed down, runs a football club with this money and isn't bringing the game into disrepute?

Brendan Fevola gets in a bar fight when representing AUSTRALIA, his country, and this isn't bringing the game into disrepute.

Allan Didak is involved in a shooting in which a man dies and this isnt bringing the game into disrepute?

Answer 1

Double standards and hypocrisy...simple...

Andrew and his boys at the AFL are under pressure to make Cousins a scapegoat and example so it looks like they have 'actually' done something about the drug problems in AFL....pfffft!

The media, public, club, fans and anyone else who jumped on the bandwagon are just as responsible as Cousins with the whole saga.

wunda..get over Didak already...sheesh!

Answer 2

I agree with what you are saying.

The AFL has ignored so much in recent years that when they finally do bare their teeth & penalize a player they open up a can of worms - & highlight their slackness of the past.

I, being from a state other than Victoria, wonder whether, if this had been someone other than a player from WA - say someone of the likes of James Hird - would they have acted in the same manner?

Or would they have done nothing - as they did in the Fevola, Didak etc incidents??????

I am not suggesting anything untoward of Hird - just using him as a comparison to Cousins (Brownlow Medalist, club champion, idolized fan etc....).

Answer 3

"such is life"

Answer 4

Don't worry about the ramblings, that's what the forums here for isn't it?  Oh no that's right it's for definitive answers :-S

In any case I didn't read past the fourth sentence :-)

You're right but obviously 'bringing the game into disrepute' means 'you're incapable of paying the media to get off your back'.  You see, unlike Fevola, Didak and (of course) Pratt), Ben doesn't have media magnate friends who can ensure the news dwindles out in a "reputable" timeframe.

The AFL needs a clear definition and set of penalties for various forms of disrepute.  In order of seriousness ... from caught piddling in a beer glass to owning a media outlet!

Answer 5

MATE,life is about double standards and hypocrisy,it doesn't matter if your an AFL star or Joe blow at work you will always find double standards its just part of what makes the world turn and we have all lost out or benefited from it at one time or another.

p.s a quick example a guy at work didn't lose his job for stealing a lap top but another bloke got sacked for time off??