IN DEFENCE OF JEFF FARMER

by Whispering Jack

On Wednesday night when Fremantle's Jeff Farmer was involved in another late night incident involving alcohol and damage to property at Perth's Burswood Casino, the thirty year old former Demon player came close to pressing the eject button on his AFL career. Indeed, a decision on his future will be made in the next few days by interim Docker coach Mark Harvey.

The knives however, are already firmly in the Wizard's back. As soon as the news of the incident came out I received word that, this time Jeff Farmer was gone: the Dockers were preparing for an early termination of his career (in any event his current contract expires at the end of the season).

The media of course, has been having a field day with Jeff. In today's Sunday Age article IT'S TIME AN ERRANT FARMER WAS SHELVED Caroline Wilson advocates that Harvey must urge his club's board to, "at the very least, shelve Farmer until the end of the season, and probably forever." Caro is not alone among the media and it has been a common theme on talkback radio and internet footy message boards. The basis of the cry for his removal from the game is the talented but ageing footballer's unenviable record with his on field and off field behaviour in the past twelve months.

First, there was a night club fight in December 2006 in which he was alleged to have been involved and which left Subiaco Football Club player, Greg Broughton with a broken eye socket (no charges were laid). Then, during the NAB Cup pre season competition, he incurred a six match suspension for eye gouging - his 10th suspension and his 14th Tribunal appearance. His club doubled the penalty in April 2007 after he was arrested and charged with assault after allegedly punching a security guard at a Perth nightclub in Perth. The Dockers also fined him $5,000.00 while a court later fined him a further $3,000.00 after he pleaded guilty to a charge of assault causing bodily harm. He had previously pleaded guilty and was fined $2000 for assaulting his long-time girlfriend in November 2004.

The calls to sack Farmer have been heard long and loud all the way across the Nullarbor and I find it curious that they seem to me to have created a far greater cacophony for his removal from the game than occurred in the cases of Cousins, Kerr, Gardiner, Didak et al. With Cousins the line was clearly one of the industry's responsibility to heal this poor soul of his drug addiction but with the Wizard, there seems to be a reluctance to look into the background of his problems with alcohol, his anger and his own inability to deal with his personal problems.

The wise heads of football want Farmer punished and possibly put an end to his career without a thought about rehabilitation or the direction the man’s life might take as a result of such punishment. Why the difference in the attitude they adopt towards Farmer (punishment) compared with Cousins (rehabilitation followed by adulation for his performance on return)?

Would it be out of order for me to suggest that the Wizard's life experience has been far different to that of Cousins in terms of his family background, the racism his people experience and the condition of the indigenous people in this country? In saying this I'm not excusing what he has done or suggesting that racism is definitely an issue behind his behaviour. What I am saying is that if the football world owes Ben Cousins a right to rehabilitation and a second, third and fourth chance then it owes at least the same to Jeff Farmer. He needs our help.