Gods and broken men: Ben Cousins and the deification of athletes

That’s a good point about ease of access – from what I remember reading of articles from that period, the West Coast Eagles players were treated like immortals amongst men every time they were out and about anywhere in Perth. Cousins wouldn’t have had to put his hand in pocket much or worry about quality I’m sure. Adulation takes on a lot of different forms.

Beautifully written and I agree in part with the sentiments of the article. However, whilst the West Coast Eagles, the adoring fans and the media built the man up - it was his decision and his decision alone to foray into the world of vice. I can't believe that in the beginning Ben Cousins was unaware of the line he was treading over no matter how much of a god he may have been convinced he was. I would think ease of access to the drugs due to who he was would be the greater issue. Crims are footy fans too and what better way to get close to one of your heroes than hook him up whenever he wanted. As sad as his life may now be we shouldn't lessen his own culpability in it all by passing on part of his responsibility for his own welfare to the football community.

I wouldn’t argue that anyone is predisposed to try drugs – however it’s certainly the case that they affect everyone differently, and certain people will be far more likely to fall prey to addiction should they try drugs. Plenty of people have tried ice in their younger years and said it’s not for them, whereas others who were introduced to it later in life, knowing all of the consequences, were still quickly dragged into using heavily and watching their life crumble before their eyes.

Addiction is a very complex phenenmon and/or affliction – it is a disease biologically predisposed at birth and unfortuntely manifests on certain family members . I am sure Ben did not wake up one day and think if I go out and party one night my life will end up in terminal decay. Ben tried drugs and then drugs tried him , arrested him and won’t let go. With regard to this comment (predisposed at birth), are you implying that Cousins had this "condition" from birth ?, thereby implying that his parents are to blame. That's a long bow to draw back is it not.? Why do people continue to look for "answers" when there is only one. Ben Cousins is blame for the situation that Ben Cousins is in.. I would be surprised if he came out and said "Joe Blo" held a gun at my head and forced me to get involved in drugs" Yes, there are sports people of many codes involved in drugs, but also there are a lot more clean attletes in those sports who have attained greatness without taking drugs. It's about time these people drug takers started taking ressposibilty for their own actions. Cousins has been given assistance to clean himself up but continues on his own merry way, his decision, his life, his failure. Harsh, yes, correct, who knows, like evybody it is aferall just an opinion.

Something about addiction, whether it be to food, sex, drugs, smoking or whatever, that no one seems to want to acknowledge, is that humans enjoy their mind-altering addictions. If people never reach a stage in their psyche (rather than in their physical decline) where the upside of their addiction is cancelled out by the downside they will continue to indulge. Certainly, for some individuals, mind-altering substances are a result of trauma and/or mental health problems however since humankind first took his/her first sip, snort, inhalation, taste many of us do it because we enjoy the result. Ben Cousins (the little I know of him) has always seemed to me to be someone who continues to enjoy his addiction despite the downside, which would probably have been the case if he'd been a teacher, lawyer, mechanic or plumber. I've never been happy with the 'addiction is a disease' theory although I realise it has some scientific weight. In general, I do think people have a choice about starting, continuing and ceasing addictions however ceasing is very difficult if the results, in the main, provide pleasure and escape.

I long for the days when the only way to see our footy superstars was at the oval. We had our heroes & they were great footballers - tho not all were superb athletes. And we knew where they lived & worked. In many ways, they were just like us, just better or more talented when it came to Saty afternoon!

5'10" kid from Geelong ... gee that's drawing a long bow to say he's from Geelong. Born there midway through 78 and left at end of footy season in 79 when his family returned to Perth where he grew up into the 5' 10" kid ..... Next you'll be saying that Prince Charles is just a normal knock about Geelong school boy

"The club and his family most notably father Bryan Cousins an ex football champ himself were all in together trying to manage him, football and its structure and need for discipline was the one thing keeping his life somewhat on track, look at him now without it. Please stop accusing the club when you have no idea." I won't take umbrage with you calling Bryan Cousins a "football champ", but of course the official line out of the Eagles was they did everything they could. What else are they going to say? We failed him, were derelict in our duty, we sanctioned drug use under the proviso you perform on the field.

Well said Paul

The club and his family most notably father Bryan Cousins an ex football champ himself were all in together trying to manage him, football and its structure and need for discipline was the one thing keeping his life somewhat on track, look at him now without it. Please stop accusing the club when you have no idea.

If Daniel Chick is to believed, then the club actively shielded players from drug testers, gave players prescription medication to use recreationally, and effectively condoned and sanctioned the use of illicit drugs. They didn't help him. He wasn't admitted to rehab until everything became public. He should have been admitted 5 years earlier. Ken Judge had identified the drug culture back in 2001, but was sacked for his troubles. The ends justify the means.

Nice article Jay and I think you've got it right. It obviously, as you say, goes beyond football and is an issue for our society to grapple with. Why? Maybe becaue Australians are the largest per capita users of recreational drugs in the world and we pay more for it than anywhere else in the world. So what's wrong with the way we are living that requires so many of us to self medicate - regardless of the poison chosen? For sports stars it's harder because all we actually care about is onfield performance - while that remains exceptional, off field indiscretions are largely glossed over - celebritries are in a similar boat - a month in rehab, off our screens, a "well intentioned" mea culpa and welcome backs all round. "Absolute superstar, too. I remember when he passed out outside Crown Casino, ha, what a legend" - great line and pointer to our attitude. I have no answers but the question is well asked, thank you.

The view is great from hindsight hill, isn't it anon? Harry is right, they almost certainly knew and were doing everything they could to try and manage it inhouse. Had they known what they know now of course they'd have done it differently, but you can't blame West Coast for the actions they took at the time - unless you're a one eyed hack pushing a barrow full of ignorant, defamatory sludge.

Of course they had an idea and did all they humanly could as his family did- you have no idea, just no idea. The official line was to protect not only the club but Ben as well.

The West Coast Eagles certainly failed Cousins. You have to be naive to believe the official story — that Eagles management had no idea about Cousins (and other players) drug use/abuse until a shirtless Cousins was cuffed and arrested in the middle of the day in Perth in 2007. It’s inconceivable. How could the only people not see that coming be the people who were around him at the club 5-6 days per week? Surely Worsfold as an ex-pharmacist would have dealt in the past with customers who exhibited signs of drug use/abuse. How could it be that people at the club were not privy to the rumours (or never felt the need to ever look into them), not observed any actions or behaviour that raised red flags? It seems that most of Perth knew more about what was going on at the Eagles than management. At the very least, people like Worsfold and Nisbett enabled Ben Cousins. At the very worst, they failed him as a person. They had a duty of care towards Cousins. Cousins spent over a decade at the Eagles, he arrived there as a 17 year old, he was at the club 5-6 days a week, the club was is life as it is for any player. We credit management and coaches at Sydney for their strong ‘bloods’ culture, Hawthorn as the family club. If we’re going to credit clubs for creating a strong culture, then by the same token Eagles management and coaches were responsible for the toxic, grubby culture of the Eagles in the mid-2000’s. The message from Eagles management in the mid-2000’s was simple. If you perform on the field, we’ll look the other way to what you do off the field. If you get in trouble off the field, we’ll slap you on the wrist (just keep playing well). Fights in night clubs, questioned by police over involvement with gang land figures, high-tailing it from a police checkpoint and running into the Swan River to avoid capture, the rumours all over Perth, plus everything else going on with Gardiner and Kerr. Despite all that he merely lost his captaincy, and that was only after running from the police checkpoint. But Woosha showed as who he thought the real captain was on the dais at the MCG Grand Final day — he beckoned the “real captain” Cousins to hold the premiership cup aloft with new stand in captain Judd. At that moment Woosha thumbed his nose at those who he felt had forced the club to strip Cousins of the captaincy.

I don’t know about this one Jay – I think you’re approaching it from the wrong angle. I don’t see this as a story peculiar to sport. The Ben Cousins story is a story about meth, not about sports stars and society. And meth doesn’t discriminate based on age, wealth, status, family – it will grab anyone who embraces it, and as we have seen, take an awfully long time to let go. It may never let go. It needs to be acknowledged also that Cousins was predisposed towards drug taking, he has admitted as much that he went after drugs hard, viewing them as the ultimate reward for his hard work. He started when he was 17 and like most functioning drug addicts, was getting onto coke and ice to get him up, valium/xanax to bring him back down again so he could sleep. This wasn’t someone flailing about in quicksand, bemoaning his bad luck for his misstep – this was someone who consciously and calculatingly chose to use drugs and structured his life, as addicts do, to carefully tiptoe around his drug habit. This included lying to everyone about his habit. Drug addicts are champion liars, because it becomes instinctive for them after a while. They don’t even have to think about it, their brains are so accustomed to covering their tracks and explaining away oddities or behaviour, that the words slip effortlessly from the mouth. That’s why I disagree with your claim that society is an accessory to the crime of his life’s destruction – hard to be an accessory to anything when you’re being deliberately misled and deceived about the facts. I do like the sandcastle metaphor, but I don’t think society should be the ones left holding the spade and bucket. We just topped out what was there with our misplaced and unknowing adulation, Cousins had already laid down the foundations, well below the high tide mark and out of sight. As we have seen too, Cousins has resisted most attempts at help, which, frankly, have been far in excess than the support and effort that a great many methamphetamine addicts could ever hope to receive. I know I’m going to sound callous but ultimately I can’t bring myself to shed too many tears for Mr Cousins. I certainly don’t wish him ill, and I’d like to think he could eventually have a prolonged spell where he gets himself clean. But if he doesn’t, a resigned sigh and a shrug is about the best I can muster. Ultimately if someone doesn’t want to help themselves – or no longer has the free will to do so – there’s not much you can do except wait it out, one way or another it will come to an end.

Is swimming failing swimmers as well ?

"Ben Cousins failed football and football failed him. Football’s failure wasn’t just the fault of the West Coast Eagles or the AFL, though, it was symbolic of a fault in society. You tell a bloke he’s God enough times, look at him as such, treat him as such, and he might start to believe it. He might start to think that nothing is wrong." How did Cousins fail football ? He won a Brownlow and Preimership which constitutes the ulitmate success of the game . Indeed, he achieved the highest possible accolades a player can obtain. Similarly , society and the AFL has not failed him either . Addiction does not discriminate and arrests the body and soul without recourse . Some individuals beat addictions , many don't and end up dying . Addiction is a very complex phenenmon and/or affliction - it is a disease biologically predisposed at birth and unfortuntely manifests on certain family members . I am sure Ben did not wake up one day and think if I go out and party one night my life will end up in terminal decay. Ben tried drugs and then drugs tried him , arrested him and won't let go. If you look at addiction as a disease it warrants sympathy and understanding - nobody failed anyone , it's just an illness one has to deal with and hope that the right intervention can thwart and defeat it .