Former AFL player Jeff Farmer is the latest footballer to join The Frownlow Medal Wife Beaters Club.
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 Talatau Amone 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.
Farmer pleaded guilty in 2004 to assaulting his long-time girlfriend and was fined $2000. This earns him a Wife Beater Tattoo and membership of the Wife Beaters Club. He also amassed a ling list of other off-field incidents during his career.
Between 1995 and 2001 he played for Melbourne and from 2002 and 2008 for Fremantle, in his home state. During that time, he was the leading goal kicker for the Demons in three seasons, was an All-Australian in 2000 and was nominated for the AFL Rising Star award in 1996. He is also the first Indigenous player to kick 400 goals in the AFL.
Despite this, he may be remembered for the off-field incidents. He was involved in numerous incidents at bars and clubs, including a nightclub fight in Subiaco, assault of a security guard at a club in Perth, and criminal damage – this time he smashed a car mirror after being ejected from Burswood Casino.
After every incident, Farmer seems to have escaped with nothing more than a fine – and yet another last chance. In 2022, he was also inducted into the WA Football Hall of Fame.
The talented goal kicker adds his names to this club:
NRL
Kenny Edwards
Zane Tetevano
Ben Barba
Jake Friend
Anthony Watts
Isaac Gordon
Richie Fa’aoso
Anthony Cherrington
Addin Fonua-Blake
Kirisome Auva’a
Jarryd Hayne
Jamil Hopoate
Joel Romelo
AFL
Elijah Taylor
Nick Stevens
Liam Jurrah
Andrew Lovett
Wayne Carey
Albert Proud
Jeff Farmer
Rugby Union
Craig Wells
Image: NuNa
The Frownlow Medal 