Locked up Liam nominated for The Frownlow Medal Hall of Fame.

Former AFL player Liam Jurrah has been nominated for The Frownlow Medal Hall of Fame following assault and driving offences which have seen him jailed numerous times since he retired from football.

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 code-swapper Karmichael Hunt 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.

The former Melbourne Demons star quit AFL in 2012 and in 2013 was charged with the first offence of drink driving and involvement in a car chase with police. He failed to attend the court hearing for this charge and was banned from driving for two years.

In the same year he was charged with four counts of aggravated assault and after pleading guilty to one charge of assault was jailed for six months.

Just a year later the boy from Yuendumu was charged with aggravated assault of a woman and with threatening her with a knife and a tyre iron, for which he was sentenced to nine months in jail.

Jurrah’s post-football life was apparently back on track until 2017 when he was again before the court after allegations of violence.

Image:Nuna

Steven’s Frownlow nomination may have been rushed through for a behind.

Don’t be surprised if you missed the announcement of Steven May‘s nomination for The Frownlow Medal. The AFL player quietly slipped it in to the sporting conversation recently when he enjoyed a few drinks while recovering from injury.

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 code-swapper Karmichael Hunt was the most recent recipient.

Even May’s club, Melbourne, believed the weekend visit to the pub was almost unworthy of a Frownlow nomination as they declined to punish him. If a club declines to impose a punishment on a player, their chances of winning the most prestigious award in Australian sport are very slim.

May faces an even tougher challenge in a year which has attracted the strongest nominations in the history of the award. Already, seven NRL players have been nominated for allegations of violence against women, a few have been found guilty of assault, and the sporting public has been divided by a tweet from Australia’s most famous homophobe.

It seems like Steven may struggle to win The Frownlow Medal in 2019.

Image: NuNa

Billy Brownless and Garry Lyon to Share Mantle in The Frownlow Medal Hall of Fame.

AFL greats Billy Brownless and Garry Lyon are in line to earn a combined place in The Frownlow Medal Hall of Fame following recent revelations of their propensity for sharing.

The two players locked horns for many years on the field when Brownless played for Geelong and Lyon for Melbourne, but since hanging up their boots they have embraced the adage that it is better to ‘make love, not war’.

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. Kiwi international Shaun Kenny-Dowall won the inaugural medal in 2015.

They have shared seats on the panel of the AFL Footy Show for many years and it now appears they were at the same time sharing other things away from the television studios.

Image: Nuna

First published in March 2016.