Footballer pre-season excitement There has been an extraordinary happening over the past few days. Early Sunday morning February 12 when
Fremantle Dockers football players were safely tucked up in bed in readiness for the coming season, a group of star footballers from the
West Coast Eagles were making their way along Canning Highway near here on their way to where nobody is yet saying.
They had been to a wedding function at the
East Fremantle Yacht Club, which is also near here. Reportedly as the "rented" gold Mercedes passed into the suburb of Applecross, again which is also near here, someone in the car spotted a booze bus up ahead. Booze busses are operated by the police - lots of police - seemingly dozens of them whenever I have been randomly stopped and asked to blow into a little tube. If the breath-alcohol reading is over a certain level, they take away your keys and lock you up. Of course being good, this has never happened to me, but every year thousands of others pay the price.
The alleged driver of the car was
West Coast Eagles captain Ben Cousins. A baby faced Brownlow Medal winner aged about 27. He allegedly did an unwise thing. Less than 50 metres from the cops he allegedly slammed on the brakes in the middle of the highway, allegedly jumped out of the car and allegedly sprinted off in the opposite direction. His front seat passenger, another footy star by the name of Nathan Hewitt allegedly did the same. Apparently there were some as yet unnamed passengers in the back seat who were left to their fate.
One of the cops said, "Oi! That looks suspicious." The others agreed. The chase on foot must have been very exciting. They caught Mr Hewitt, but Mr Cousins gave them the slip. Well he was team captain and pretty fit. He was not heard of again until the middle of the next day when he turned up at the yard of a towing company to retrieve the abandoned Merc. It's ownership is still a mystery to the public.
For a while it appeared that Mr Hewitt was going to take the rap. He had been breath tested and the reading was not good. Apparently no one was going to dob in the real driver who had done the wrong thing by all of them. The police were patient. It took almost a week before Mr Cousins decided to confess last Friday.
The police asked him to visit them for a chat. There is a process we Australians often see on TV drama shows when there is a meeting between them and a person of interest. The police often caution, "You have the right to remain silent. Anything you do say may be taken down in writing and used in evidence against you." Reportedly the star footballer who had been silent all week, decided to remain so. He was going to save his explanation for the magistrate, if the time comes.
I know all these things because the case has been receiving sensational media coverage with senior police relating their account of events on TV news interviews. They seem to believe Mr Cousins has made monkeys of them. He has certainly made them very unhappy, which is not a good omen.
This is not the first time Mr Cousins has upset them. Last year there was another sensational case involving a nightclub incident between two rival social groups; some outlaw bikers called the
Coffin Cheaters and a bunch of urban marauders known as the
Scorpion Boys. They are reputed to natural born enemies of each other.
Mr Cousins had been enjoying a night out in the nightclub. During the subsequent investigation the police concluded he might have seen or heard more than he was telling them. There was a blaze of publicity, and senior police appeared on TV alleging he had failed to cooperate. Worse for his reputation, it was implied he was associating with some infamous underworld identities.
Now all this adverse publicity has not been welcomed the his employers, the
West Coast Eagles. Indeed it could probably be said that behind the scenes they were livid. This week it was clear that their star player and team captain was becoming a sponsorship liability. Somehow he was persuaded to resign as captain yesterday, but he will continue to play.
There is a photo of Mr Cousins in this morning's
The Australian which was taken just after he had resigned. His shirt carried the logos of two of the principal sponsors,
Hungry Jack's hamburgers, and
SGIO car insurance. No car insurers would be likely to enjoy their image being associated with a sponsored individual who allegedly dumped a vehicle less than fifty metres from a booze bus and did a runner. The burger people like to promote community responsibility too.
It's possible the
Fremantle Dockers are quite pleased with all this. Bye and large they have a wholesome image, apart from the occasional no-brainers by some of their players, which are now almost forgotten.
In the lead up to the main football season, this coming weekend there is to be a scratch match between the two teams. All eyes will be on Mr Cousins, and I'm betting there could be some spirited jibes from the crowd.
We've hung out the
Docker's flag at the front of the house this morning. One of our neighbours is an
Eagles official. He's sure to notice.
© MMVI Paul R. Weaver.
About the writerCheck out each month's subject index on the Calendar Page for my "common-man" monologues about survival in 21st century Australia – plus a little history occasionally. An original essay is added most days as part of an undertaking to write a million words.