Cousins: Rehabilitation Is The Only Cure

The Age

Wednesday November 21, 2007

BEN COUSINS did not have to make a public statement after Monday's eight-hour AFL Commission hearing that suspended him for 12 months for bringing the game into disrepute. That he chose to do so should be seen not merely as a way of confirming what was already widely known, but as a beginning of a long period of atonement for the sacked West Coast player. "I would like to stress the fact that I am overcoming drug addiction, which is an ongoing process," Cousins said. "Contrary to media reports, I am a lot further down the track in my rehabilitation than has been reported." The key word, "rehabilitation", has its positive side.

It has been all too easy to prejudge Cousins - particularly so in the case of last month's unseemly public rush to pre-empt court consideration of two charges, later dropped by WA police, who have apologised to Cousins. Yesterday, US police said they would not charge Cousins with drug offences. To view this week's events as simply another stage in a rake's progress from sporting idol to disgraced outcast would be too neat a solution to a problem that, in reality, must be tackled by not just one errant player but the game in general and those who control it in particular. Ben Cousins is not the only AFL player to have a problem with drugs, and the league has had its own battles in controlling drug abuse, particularly with the cumbersome "three-strikes" policy under which users can offend twice without even their clubs knowing.

The rehabilitation of Ben Cousins, who hopes to return to the sport, is consistent with the AFL's main concern: players' wellbeing. Certainly the Cousins case has taught the AFL a lesson, strong enough perhaps to persuade the league to toughen up its anti-drugs policy. Serious questions remain about West Coast's appalling management of Cousins. It is hoped the harder line indicated by the AFL Commission's Mike Fitzpatrick is pursued, not merely to identify offending players, but to rehabilitate them.

© 2007 The Age

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