It seems he is both – allegedly.
The former AFL player landed him self in hot water on numerous occasions during and after his playing career, and has been nominated for The Frownlow Medal Hall of Fame.
In 1999, Everitt was fined $20,000 for racially abusing Melbourne player Scott Chisholm. Spida, as he is known, also received a four-match suspension, was sent on a racial awareness training program and lost some match payments. He publicly apologised to Chisholm and his family, and to the Aboriginal community.
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 player Manase Fainu 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.
Spida retired from AFL and started a successful career in the media, but that didn’t stop him from sending tweets which many people deemed sexist, misogynistic and offensive. Reacting to a sexual assault scandal involving Collingwood players in 2010, Everitt tweeted:
“Girls!! When will you learn! At 3am when you are blind drunk & you decide to go home with a guy ITS NOT FOR A CUP OF MILO! Allegedly.”
“Yet another alleged girl, making alleged allegations, after she awoke with an alleged hangover and I take it an alleged guilty conscience,”
His comments provoked a strong backlash from many people, but Spida didn’t back down, tweeting:
“Clearly a lot of u are not reading my tweets correctlym (sic),” he tweeted. “As my tweet states very clearly everything is alleged.”
“I never said I support rape infact if u look I have never mentioned the word rape.”
The man who has had as many wives as the Sultan of Brunei also had his contract with Hawthorn terminated for off-field behaviour.
Image: St Kilda FC
The Frownlow Medal 