- A high-profile columnist compared alcohol to cocaine
- Said grog is a much bigger problem for the AFL
- The League has been accused of covering up drug testing results.
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Rugby star turned high-profile columnist Peter FitzSimons claimed in an article on the illicit drugs scandal surrounding the AFL that cocaine has not been a factor in football stars engaging in scandalous behavior or problems. serious health problems.
The 62-year-old made revealing statements in a Sydney Morning Herald story claiming the AFL should be much more concerned about players’ alcohol consumption after the league was rocked by allegations it played a role in covering up stars’ positive tests for illicit drugs.
FitzSimons said alcohol had been, at least partly, responsible for almost “every time you see an off-field atrocity registered against a footballer’s name”.
He then blithely explained how he had tried, unsuccessfully, to remember a time when cocaine was blamed for a player’s atrocious actions and wrote: “I’m not being a know-it-all.” Name one occasion, just one, in which excessive cocaine use has been shown to be the cause of scandalous behavior or even serious health problems. … Alcohol is what does the damage, not cocaine.’
Rugby star turned high-profile columnist and author Peter FitzSimons (pictured) completely downplayed the problem cocaine poses for football players in a recent article.
FitzSimons challenged his readers to name “one time” that cocaine was involved in a football star who engaged in atrocious behavior or suffered a serious health problem (archive image)
Just hours after the story was published, former St Kilda AFL star Sam Fisher pleaded guilty to cocaine trafficking and now faces years in jail.
But he is far from the only football star whose life and health have been ruined – or even ended – by drugs.
A coroner ruled that West Coast great Chris Mainwaring died of a cocaine-induced seizure on October 1, 2007 after his ex-wife Rani threw the drug down the sink earlier that day in an effort to stop him from taking it.
The coroner’s report revealed that Eagles star Ben Cousins visited Mainwaring after being called by Rani and found him with cocaine on a plate.
Cousins’ battle with addiction to cocaine and other drugs is well documented.
Hours after the column was published, former St Kilda star Sam Fisher (pictured) pleaded guilty to cocaine trafficking after being charged with six offenses in 2022.
Football great Ben Cousins (pictured being arrested in 2007 for alleged drug possession) suffered a cocaine overdose in Los Angeles while he was supposed to be attending rehab.
In November 2007, just a month after he was fired by the Eagles after being arrested for alleged drug possession, he was hospitalized in Los Angeles after a cocaine overdose.
A woman who made an emergency call to the Hermosa Beach Police Department said Cousins had “been using cocaine for the past five days.”
The soccer star was in the United States at the time to attend rehabilitation and remained in the hospital for two days.
In 2010, former AFL star Mark Eustice, who played a total of 137 games in an 11-year career with Essendon, Richmond and Sydney, revealed that he almost lost his life to a drug addiction that lasted six years. .
West Coast Eagles great winner and premiership Chris Mainwaring (pictured) died from a cocaine-induced seizure in October 2007.
At one point he was “drinking a bottle of vodka a day, six (beer) butts, doing two bags of coke.”
Eustice said the habit that nearly cost him his life began when he tried cocaine out of season.
Former St Kilda ‘Rocket’ star Rod Owen admitted he had been addicted to cocaine and other drugs to such an extent that he missed training and matches.
His habit caused his life to spiral out of control, what he called “a downward spiral toward hell,” before he turned his life around by attending rehab in 2018.