Mystery surrounds Fuifui Moimoi‘s nomination for The Frownlow Medal Hall of Fame.
The former Parramatta Eel received his nomination for a mysterious incident in Portugal and an apparent hacking of his twitter feed which implied infidelity.
The Frownlow Medal is awarded to the player whose off-field demeanour epitomises the values of the modern day footballer and draws attention to the status of footballers as role models to young Australians. It covers Australia’s four major football codes; the National Rugby League (NRL), Australian Football League (AFL), the A-League (Football) and Rugby Union’s Super Rugby competition. Kiwi international Shaun Kenny-Dowall won the inaugural medal in 2015 before Corey Norman in 2016 and Tim Simona in 2017.
The Frownlow Medal Hall of Fame honours former players and players who received media attention in previous seasons, for similarly scandalous behaviour, and its inductees include Ben Cousins and Julian O’Neill.
Moimoi recently lost his contract with the Toronto Wolfpack Rugby League team after an ‘incident’ at a pre-season training camp in Portugal, which also ended the contract of ex-NRL player Dave Taylor, who was nominated for Frownlow honours in 2016.
No details of the players’ actions have been released and this adds more intrigue to Moimoi’s history of ambiguous off-field incidents.
Moimoi’s twitter account was apparently hacked in 2017. It showed messages apparently written by his wife which suggested Moimoi had been cheating on her. Then it was reported that it wasn’t actually Moimoi’s wife who had written the comments and that he had not been unfaithful.
The twitter account was swiftly switched to private mode once the story hit the press.
What is even more mysterious is the meaning of the tweets themselves, sections of which were published in the media. They are so incoherent it is a wonder anybody managed to draw any conclusions after reading them.
Nobody knows how Moimoi will react to news of his nomination. Will he be honoured, will he be upset? Will he express his feelings on social media or will someone do it on his behalf? Will he believe the nomination or think it is a lie, a joke, a scam? Will he attend the awards ceremony later this year?
Will he be inducted into The Frownlow Medal Hall of Fame?
Image:Nuna
First published in January, 2018.
The Frownlow Medal 