How Blake Ferguson can benefit from his recent arrest.

Former NRL player Blake Ferguson has positioned himself perfectly for a role on an Australian reality TV show after losing his rugby contract due to drug and assault charges.

Almost every former footballer who has appeared on an Aussie reality TV shows in recent years has committed some form of scandal and been nominated for The Frownlow Medal and/or The Frownlow Medal Hall of Fame.

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.

Ferguson was recently arrested for alleged possession of cocaine and alleged assault at a red light district in Tokyo. The incidents cost him his contract with Japanese rugby union club NEC Green Rockets Tokatsu, and he may struggle to play professional football ever again.

The former NSW and Australia winger would join a long list of disgraced and scandal-prone footballers to have appeared on Aussie TV screens in recent years after being nominated for Frownlow honours.

Former AFL player Dayne Beams appeared on Celebrity Big Brother. Earlier in 2021, fellow AFL player Heath Shaw, and disgraced NRL star Sam Burgess, appeared on SAS Australia.

Footballers are of particular interest to competitive shows which reward backstabbing, cheating, stealing, lying, conniving, manipulation, betrayal…and an inflated ego. Other footballers who have appeared on reality TV shows and been nominated for Frownlow honours in recent years include:

Brian Lake (AFL) – Survivor

Sam Thaiday (NRL) – Parental Guidance, Celebrity Come Dine With Me

Robert ‘Dipper’ Dipierdomenico – Excess Baggage, Celebrity Dog School

I’m A Celebrity…Get Me Out of Here

Anthony Mundine (NRL)

Barry Hall (AFL) (runner-up)
Brendan Fevola (AFL) – Winner Season Two
Dane Swan (AFL) (runner-up)
Billy Brownless (AFL)

Hall is set to appear on another show in 2022, in the latest series of SAS Australia, alongside fellow AFL legend Wayne Carey. Meanwhile, former NRL player Beau Ryan, and Collingwood hero Nathan Buckley, participated in I’m A Celebrity Get me Out of Here.

Who knows, if Ferguson’s partner finally tires of his off-field antics, he could even star in The Bachelor or Ex on the Beach.

Image: Getty Images

Blake Ferguson joins a new club.

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 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

Blake Ferguson redefines the Haiku.

Former NRL player Blake Ferguson has created his own style of haiku in the process of losing his contract with a Japanese rugby union club for alleged drug possession and assault.

Ferguson has also earned a nomination for The Frownlow Medal Hall of Fame just a few months after leaving the NRL.

NEC Green Rockets Tokatsu issued a 10-word statement to sack Ferguson before he had even played a game for his new club, following allegations that the star winger was caught in possession of cocaine and was arrested for punching a patron at a restaurant in the red light district of Tokyo.

“Regarding Ferguson, the player contract was cancelled on January 2nd,” the club confirmed in a statement on January 3. The statement does not conform to the traditional structure of a haiku, but is only slightly different.

Possession of illicit drugs attracts heavy punishment in Japan, and the former NSW and Australia representative could find himself behind bars for a long time.

It is believed Ferguson is penning his own haiku in response to the allegations. It will need to be good, as he may have destroyed his chances of playing either rugby code at any level in the future. Then again, Izaia Parese was sacked by the Brisbane Broncos for drug possession and he’s now playing for the Wallabies.

Aussie fans of ‘Fergo’ can rest easy knowing that their tax dollars are funding consular assistance from the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade.

The premiership winner with the Sydney Roosters took only a few months to earn his first nomination for The Frownlow Medal Hall of Fame, after numerous nominations for The Frownlow Medal during his NRL career. He was found guilty of indecent assault on a woman in 2013, and has admitted to a gambling addiction. He and his partner in crime, Josh Dugan, also distributed controversial photos of themselves drinking alcohol on social media while playing for the Canberra Raiders.

Footy fans now await the publication of Ferguson’s haiku and look forward to another year of off-field scandals and nominations for The Frownlow Medal Hall of Fame.

Image: NuNa