Former NRL player Darrell Trindall has earned a Wife Beater Tattoo from The Frownlow Medal after being found guilty of violence against women.
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 men’s and women’s 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 AFL player Noah Balta 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.
“We know our players love tattoos,” stated a Frownlow spokesperson.
“It seems some of them also love perpetrating acts of violence against women. So, we decided to combine the two and make available to first grade players a special edition ‘Wife Beater’ tattoo, which they can proudly display in court and on the field.”
The striking tattoo will be available to any player who is involved in an incident of violence against women and will be inked on the players arms or hands, or whichever limb was used to inflict the damage on the female victim.
Trindall played for South Sydney and Canterbury before retiring in 2003, and has been involved in multiple incidents of assault:
In 2002, he was charged with assault occasioning actual bodily harm and high-range drink driving after an alleged assault in the Bulldogs club car park, which left a 36-year-old woman in hospital with head injuries.
In 2003, he pleaded guilty to indecently assaulting a long time friend at a pub in Sydney’s CBD. Trindall allegedly punched the woman in the face three times and held her in a headlock four times. He then said “I’m a first grade footballer. Who are they going to believe, you or me?”. He later received a 12-month suspended jail sentence for the attack.
He faced court for domestic violence related matters in 2009, where he was convicted of assault occasioning actual bodily harm and received a three year bond.
In 2012, he pleaded not guilty to assaulting a police officer in Sydney’s Eastern Suburbs and in 2013 and 2016, he was also convicted of domestic violence related assault matters.
In 2020, he was remanded on charges of common assault, stalking or intimidating in a domestic violence context, and two counts of assault occasioning bodily harm.
Image: NuNa
