Former AFL player Chris Tarrant has been nominated for The Frownlow Medal Hall of Fame for numerous offences, including an accusation of punching a politician.

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 and AFL player Elijah Taylor 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.

Tarrant allegedly punched ALP politician Damien Hale after the politician confronted Tarrant about his behaviour in a Darwin nightclub in 2007. Hale was unhappy that Tarrant had apparently bared his backside to a woman at the club and decided that it was his civic duty to reprimand the former Collingwood and Fremantle player, who expressed his democratic rights with his fist.

Tarrant was fined $5000 and handed a three-match suspension as a result of the incident, which was not his first. He was also fined $5000 by the Magpies in 2006 for breaking the players’ code of conduct after a fight at a nightclub in Port Melbourne.

Tarrant will be pleased to know that no politicians sit on the judging panel of The Frownlow Medal Hall of Fame.

Image:NuNa