Just days after losing his contract with a Japanese rugby club, Blake Ferguson has been admitted into The Frownlow Medal Wife Beaters Club following an incident of assault in 2013.
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, while NRL star Jarryd Hayne is the most recent recipient.
The former NRL player was recently kicked out of NEC Green Rockets Tokatsu after being arrested for alleged assault and possession of cocaine in Japan, and may struggle to find a new club in either rugby code. However, he has earned lifelong membership of The Frownlow Medal Wife Beaters Club alongside some of the greats of Australian football, and earned himself a coveted Wife Beater Tattoo.
Ferguson was found guilty of groping a young woman in the vagina, without her consent, at a nightclub in Cronulla in 2013. He claimed he had mistaken the victim for another woman, but that claim was dismissed.
The NSW Origin and Kangaroos star joins a long list of outstanding footballers in The Frownlow Medal Wife Beaters Club:
| Name | Code | Teams | ||
| 1 | Elijah Taylor | AFL | Sydney Swans | Frownlow Medallist 2020 |
| 2 | Nick Stevens | AFL | Carlton Blues, Port Adelaide Power | |
| 3 | Justin Murphy | AFL | Richmond, Carlton, Geelong, Essendon | |
| 4 | Liam Jurrah | AFL | Melbourne Demons | |
| 5 | Robert Lui | NRL | Wests Tigers, North Queensland Cowboys | |
| 6 | Stuart Webb | NRL | St George Illawarra Dragons, South Sydney Rabbitohs, Sydney Roosters | |
| 7 | Sam Burgess | NRL | South Sydney Rabbitohs | |
| 8 | Matt Lodge | NRL | Wests Tigers, Brisbane Broncos | |
| 9 | Scott Bolton | NRL | North Queensland Cowboys | |
| 10 | Kenny Edwards | NRL | Parramatta Eels | |
| 11 | Zane Tetevano | NRL | Sydney Roosters, Penrith Panthers, Manly Sea Eagles, Newcastle Knights | |
| 12 | Ben Barba | NRL | Cronulla Sharks, Canterbury Bulldogs, North Queensland Cowboys | |
| 13 | Jake Friend | NRL | Sydney Roosters | |
| 14 | Anthony Watts | NRL | Cronulla Sharks, North Queensland Cowboys | |
| 15 | Isaac Gordon | NRL | Cronulla Sharks | |
| 16 | Richie Fa’aoso | NRL | Panthers, Roosters, Eels, Knights, Storm, Sea Eagles | |
| 17 | Anthony Cherrington | NRL | South Sydney Rabbitohs | |
| 18 | Addin Fonua-Blake | NRL | Manly Sea Eagles, New Zealand Warriors | |
| 19 | Kirisome Auva’a | NRL | South Sydney Rabbitohs, Parramatta Eels | |
| 20 | Greg Inglis | NRL | Melbourne Storm, South Sydney Rabbitohs | |
| 21 | Ken McGuinness | NRL | Wests Magpies, Wests Tigers, North Queensland Cowboys | |
| 22 | Craig Wells | Rugby Union | NSW Waratahs, ACT Brumbies, Wallabies | |
| 23 | Jarryd Hayne | NRL | Parramatta Eels, Gold Coast Titans | Frownlow Medallist 2021 |
Image: Getty Images
The Frownlow Medal 