Four AFL players have received official notification from the judges of The Frownlow Medal Hall of Fame advising them to stay awake during the award’s night of nights.
Zac Dawson, Rhys Stanley, Jack Steven and Paul Cahill all received nominations for the highly coveted award after their St Kilda club suspended them for mixing sleeping tablets with alcohol in 2011.
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. NRL player Shaun Kenny-Dowall won the inaugural medal in 2015 and NRL player Ben Barba is the most recent recipient.
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.
The foolhardy four concocted the mix while on a St Kilda pre-season training camp in New Zealand and, as well as being suspended, were fined $5000 each and told to find a real job for the duration of their suspension.
“An invitation to the awards ceremony of The Frownlow Medal and The Frownlow Medal Hall of Fame is a privilege,” stated the notification.
“Players must respect the occasion and as an absolute minimum must stay awake and offer their full attention to all nominees and award recipients as an act of common courtesy. The judges and organisers of the awards are aware of these player’s fondness for sleeping tablets and have reminded, in the strongest possible language, to refrain from consuming such substances during the evening.”
The organisers have also assigned another AFL legend to keep a watchful eye over the quartet.
“We have enlisted the services of Brendan Fevola. We are confident he can keep them awake during the ceremony.”
Image:Nuna
The Frownlow Medal 