Ben Cousins (footballer)
Ben Cousins is a former professional Australian rules footballer, born on June 30, 1978, in Geelong, Victoria, Australia. He grew up in Perth and began playing footy at a young age, eventually making his professional debut for the West Coast Eagles in the Australian Football League (AFL) at just seventeen years old. Over his career, he achieved significant milestones, including winning the prestigious Brownlow Medal and leading his team to a premiership victory in 2006. Despite his on-field successes, Cousins' career was marred by numerous off-field scandals, primarily related to substance abuse and legal troubles.
Cousins struggled with addiction, which began in 1998 and led to a series of arrests and rehabilitation stints throughout his life. His tumultuous personal life often overshadowed his athletic achievements, though he later sought to share his experiences through a documentary and autobiography to help others. After retiring from football in 2010, Cousins continued to combat his addiction and eventually transitioned into media work, contributing to sports broadcasts and appearing in entertainment programs. His journey reflects both the highs of athletic accomplishment and the challenges of personal adversity, making him a complex figure in Australian sports history.
Ben Cousins (footballer)
Footballer
- Born: June 30, 1978
- Place of Birth: Geelong, Victoria, Australia
- Education: Attended University of Western Australia
- Significance: During his career with the Australian Football League (AFL), Cousins won a Brownlow medal, led his team to a premiership, and received numerous accolades and awards. Scandals and controversies off the field, however, marred his on-field successes.
Background
Ben Cousins was born June 30, 1978, in Geelong, Victoria, Australia, to Bryan and Stephanie (Hales) Cousins. Shortly after his birth, Cousins moved with his parents to Perth, Australia, where he grew up as the oldest of four children. His siblings include a brother, Matthew, and two sisters, Melanie and Sophie.
Cousins began playing Australian rules football (known widely as "footy" or as Australian football, Aussie rules, or football) when he was six years old. Footy is a contact sport played between two teams, each with eighteen players. The main way to score during games is to kick the ball between two goalposts. Players move the ball by running with it, kicking it, or punching it with their hands (called handballing). The team with the highest score wins.
Footy is in Cousins' blood. His father played more than three hundred games in the Victorian Football League (VFL) and the West Australian Football League (WAFL). As a child, Cousins and his brother often played street games with kids in their neighborhood. Cousins also played on organized youth-league teams during primary school.
Cousins' parents sent him to a private school called Wesley College in South Perth for high school. Cousins continued to play footy during his high school years and actually made his professional debut before he graduated. He enrolled in classes at the University of Western Australia after high school but never intended to pursue any career path beyond becoming a professional footballer.
Football Career
In 1995, Cousins began playing for the WAFL's East Fremantle Football Club while still in school at Wesley College. In 1996, after playing ten games with East Freemantle, he made his professional debut in the Australian Football League (AFL) with the West Coast Eagles at the age of seventeen. During his first game, he scored two goals, an achievement that lessened the sting of the team's loss. Later that year, he received the Norwich Rising Star award, which is given to rookies (first-year players) under the age of twenty-one.
The following year, Cousins suffered an injury that required him to take a seven-week hiatus from footy. As a result of the injury, his performance on the field suffered, and he ended the season feeling disappointed. During the off-season, he pushed himself to improve and returned for the 1998 season in top form. That year, he was named to the All Australian Team, an all-star lineup of the AFL's top players.
From 2001 to 2005, Cousins served as a captain of the West Coast Eagles. Cousins had a stellar season in 2005 and earned the AFL's top individual achievement award, the Brownlow Medal. His team also made it to the AFL's Grand Final, during which the Eagles lost the premiership to the Sydney Swans. In early 2006, Cousins encountered some legal trouble and gave up his captaincy of the Eagles. His team, however, had another successful season, and the 2006 Grand Final was a rematch between the Eagles and the Swans. This time, Cousins and the Eagles took home the premiership cup and flag.
Cousins struggled during the 2007 season. Early on, he was suspended for missing training sessions. After testing positive for drugs in March 2007, he entered a rehabilitation facility in Malibu, California. Upon his return, he apologized for his behavior, agreed to undergo rigorous drug testing, and returned to training. In September, Cousins tore a hamstring, which ended his season. A few months later, the police arrested him on drug charges, and the West Coast Eagles released him from the team. The AFL then suspended him from the league for a year for behavior that brought "disrepute" to the game.
When Cousins' suspension ended, the Richmond Tigers from Melbourne, Australia, added him to their roster in 2008. Cousins played for the Tigers—between injuries and problems in his personal life—until he announced his retirement in August 2010.
Off-Field Scandals
Cousins' behavior off the field often overshadowed his on-field success. Cousins has struggled with addiction for many years, abusing substances including alcohol, marijuana, ecstasy, cocaine, and methamphetamines. He began using drugs in 1998 to escape the media glare that followed him once he became a rising star for the West Coast Eagles. One of his most well-known scandals occurred in February 2006, when he abandoned his car (with his girlfriend still in it) and ran from a mobile police unit used to administer drug and alcohol tests. He entered a drug rehabilitation facility in early 2007 but was arrested for drug possession later that year. During his time with the Richmond Tigers, he ended up in the hospital after overdosing on sleep medication.
Following his retirement from the AFL, Cousins continued to battle his drug addiction. In January 2012, he was admitted to a psychiatric hospital for treatment related to a four-day, drug-induced psychosis. Later that year, he was fined for possessing more than 4.5 grams of methamphetamines. In March 2017, he was sentenced to serve one year in Acacia Prison in Wooroloo, Western Australia, on charges related to stalking an ex-girlfriend and drug possession. In August 2017, he was denied parole pending the completion of further rehabilitation courses. He was released on parole in January 2018, but by August of that year, he was arrested again and charged with several offenses, including drug possession. In April 2019, he was released on bail.
By 2022, Cousins had claimed to have recovered from his drug addiction. The following year, he joined the Seven News team in Perth to broadcast the morning sports bulletin. In 2024, he announced that he would be joining the popular Pete & Kymba morning podcast as a regular. Around the same time, Cousins became a contestant on Dancing with the Stars. However, he and his partner, Siobhan Power, did not make it to the Grand Final.
Impact
When seventeen-year-old Cousins made his debut with the West Coast Eagles in 1996, he was (briefly) the youngest player ever to do so. Between 1996 and 2007, he played 238 games with the Eagles, was named to the All Australian Team six times, won four best and fairest awards, and earned the Brownlow Medal. He played another thirty-two games for the Richmond Tigers between 2008 and 2010. His run-ins with the law, however, often found him making headlines for the wrong reasons. In 2010, he shared his struggle to overcome addiction in an autobiography, Ben Cousins: My Life Story, and a documentary, Such Is Life, in hopes that his story would serve as a cautionary tale. With more than two million viewers, Such Is Life was one of Australia's most-watched programs that year.
Personal Life
Cousins has two children with his former partner, Maylea Elizabeth Tinecheff.
Bibliography
"Ben Cousins in Prison Longer Due to Failed Drug Test." Herald Sun, 10 Aug. 2017, www.heraldsun.com.au/news/law-order/ben-cousins-in-prison-longer-due-to-failed-drug-test/news-story/3961842a2aab0f857d68d172e3c6d8b9. Accessed 9 Oct. 2024.
Brodie, Will. "Cousins Quits: I Can Walk Away in a Positive Light." The Age, 17 Aug. 2010, www.theage.com.au/afl/afl-news/cousins-quits-i-can-walk-away-in-a-positive-light-20100817-127ii. Accessed 9 Oct. 2024.
Cousins, Ben. Ben Cousins: My Life Story. Macmillan, 2010.
DeMarco, Matt. "AFL Star Ben Cousins Announces His Shock New Career Move: 'I Am Stoked.'" Daily Mail Australia, 20 Mar. 2024, www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbiz/article-13217243/AFL-star-Ben-Cousins-announces-shock-new-career-stoked.html. Accessed 9 Oct. 2024.
"Highs and Lows of Ben Cousins." Daily Telegraph, 15 Oct. 2007, www.dailytelegraph.com.au/highs-and-lows-of-ben-cousins/news-story/e8e856354c6a8d13f1a56b4653e15c34?sv=691de20644422ad70049b01562710617. Accessed 9 Oct. 2024.
Knox, David. "2010: The Top 100." TV Tonight, 5 Dec. 2010, tvtonight.com.au/2010/12/2010-the-top-100.html. Accessed 9 Oct. 2024.
"Life and Times of Ben Cousins." The Age, 17 Aug. 2010, www.theage.com.au/afl/afl-news/life-and-times-of-ben-cousins-20100817-127qs.html. Accessed 9 Oct. 2024.
McRae, Ross. "Ben Cousins Now a Single Dad." West Australian, 11 Aug. 2013, thewest.com.au/entertainment/celebrity-gossip/ben-cousins-now-a-single-dad-ng-ya-355438. Accessed 9 Oct. 2024.
Niall, Jake. "Cousins Set to Call It Quits." The Age, 17 Aug. 2010, www.theage.com.au/afl/afl-news/cousins-set-to-call-it-quits-20100816-1270t.html. Accessed 9 Oct. 2024.
Sellwood, Kayla. "AFL Legend Ben Cousins Opens Up on Dancing with the Stars Experience." Perth Now, 6 Sept. 2024, www.perthnow.com.au/entertainment/celebrity/afl-legend-ben-cousins-opens-up-on-dancing-with-the-stars-experience-c-15968431. Accessed 9 Oct. 2024.
Webber, Matthew. "An Endless Decline." The Bad Boys of Footy. Elbury Press, 2012, pp. 11–33.