Former AFL player Andrew Lovett is the fist footballer ever to earn a second Wife Beater Tattoo from The Frownlow Medal. Lovett earned his first tattoo after pleading guilty to assaulting a woman, and has been found guilty of the same crime for a second time.
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 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.
Lovett was recently found guilty of ongoing domestic violence lasting nearly two years. The crime included punching, spitting and threatening, and he was sentenced to eight months in prison.
Lovett spent Christmas 2021 behind bars after being refused bail for the assaults. The long list of incidents include leaving the victim with multiple bruises on her arms after the couple argued about going to bed. He also threatened her with references to his bikie gang links, and falsely claimed he got a previous partner pregnant, as well as blaming her for making him angry and accusing her of cheating on him before punching her in the head.
On another occasion, the talented forward arrived home drunk after an AFL function and spat on the victim, before pouring beer over her. However, during the court case in which Lovett represented himself, he accused the victim of being drunk and being the aggressor in the relationship.
As a reult of the continued assaults, Lovett was ordered to stay away from the victim, but contacted her via his brother’s Instagram account.
Lovett was awarded his first Wife Beater Tattoo for assault of another woman, which occurred in 2011 on the Mornington Peninsula, Victoria. The woman had taken Lovett in when he was homeless, and that the assault started after Lovett discovered the woman had told someone that he sold his medals to fund his alcohol and gambling addictions. One of the medals was from the Anzac Day game in 2005.
The tattoos will appear on each of the hands he used to assault the women.
Image: Vince Caligiuri
The Frownlow Medal 