Reuters : Football star's woes overshadow Australia election

Football star's woes overshadow Australia election

By Rob Taylor | October 17, 2007

CANBERRA (Reuters) - A drugs drama surrounding one of Australia's sports heroes has eclipsed a November election, with Prime Minister John Howard interrupting campaigning to preach against the evils of narcotics.

Troubled Australian Rules football star Ben Cousins, 29, was hauled bare-chested from his car by police on Tuesday with his trademark full-stomach tattoo reading "Such is Life" splashed across the front pages of newspapers nationally.

"It's a great tragedy," Howard told local radio. "He's a very talented player. I hope for his sake that he can get over his drug problem, I hope for his family's sake."

Cousins, who spent a much-publicized stint in Los Angeles for drug rehabilitation after wild behavior and a televised confession for drug use, has stunned Australians with a year-long spiral downward after winning his sport's top accolade.

His woes replaced election politics on front pages and ignited a debate on the use of so-called recreational drugs by sporting stars as an Australian, John Fahey, was appointed to head international sports' World Anti-Doping Agency.

Fahey said ridding sport of drugs was unlikely.

"You can only strive for that. I'm not silly enough to say that that is ever likely to be achieved, other than to say you have to continue to work for a total outcome of clean sport," he said after his appointment.

Former Australian rugby league international Andrew Johns, 33, in August admitted taking recreational drugs such as ecstasy during a long career in which he was regarded as one of the greatest players in history.

But this week's arrest of a disheveled Cousins wearing sunglasses and little else was the final straw for Australian Rules administrators, with anxious sponsors reconsidering involvement in a sport many fans regard as a national icon.

"Such a waste," said a cartoon in one paper, referring to Cousins' tattoo, which itself recounted the dying words of the country's most famous outlaw, Ned Kelly, who was hung for banditry in 1880 but became another national hero.

Howard, whose conservative government has pushed a tough anti-drugs policy, lashed out at media and police for referring to "party drugs" in the case of Cousins and Johns.

"It gives them a glamour they don't deserve. I just think from today we should stop calling them party drugs or recreational drugs. All drugs are evil," Howard, who faces an election on November 24, said.

His Labor opponent Kevin Rudd, leading Howard in opinion surveys, said sporting bosses needed to get their act together on fighting drugs or risk turning off fans and sponsors.

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