Ben Cousins gives the bird
Chris Robinson, Nick Taylor | May 30, 2009 09:21pm
AFL bad boy Ben Cousins stunned the football world when he gave a change room TV camera the finger.
Cousins was going through his warm-up with Richmond teammates at Subiaco Oval when he looked at the in-room eye used by television during pre-game build-ups and gave it ''the bird''.
His unsavoury gesture is bound to be investigated by AFL chiefs. It is at odd with his efforts in recent months to repair his battered image.
Cousins was banned by the AFL for bringing the game into disrepute and sacked by the Eagles.
The latest controversy came about an hour before he ran onto Subiaco Oval to take on the Fremantle Dockers - the first time since he was dumped by West Coast.
Although Cousins' jumper has changed from blue and gold to black and gold, thousands of Ben Cousins' fans swarmed to Subiaco Oval to see their hero's return to WA last night.
Though he got plenty of boos from the Dockers' home crowd.
Cousins' first game at Subiaco since round 22 of 2007 has also reignited debate - should one of the state's most popular sportsmen end his career in the west.
Struggling Richmond are expected to cull most of their older players at season's end, potentially leaving Cousins looking for a new home.
Former Eagles chairman Murray McHenry, who wrote an impassioned letter to the AFL to help the star's football resurrection, reluctantly concedes Cousins will never wear Eagles colours again.
But his return would delight thousands of diehard Eagles' fans, many who switched their allegiances to the Tigers when they signed Cousins.
Richmond's WA membership base has doubled to nearly 2000 since the former West Coast captain joined them in December.
The club's interstate reserved seating membership was sold out by Christmas and Cousins' fans scrambled for tickets to catch the controversial star in action last night against Fremantle.
Richmond media manager Judith Donnelly said the boost in WA figures reflected the club's overall match-day membership, which had increased from just over 30,000 last year to almost 37,000.
"The recruitment of Ben has been a massive fillip for the club and the reason behind our WA membership base doubling,'' she said.
Tom Christo, head of the WA Richmond Supporters Club, said the local group's numbers had nearly doubled to more than 400 since December.
"Our membership has boomed because of Ben - we've had a massive surge of interest in people wanting to watch the side play over here,'' he said.
"It has been remarkable, and almost all of it comes down to Ben's influence.''
Mr Christo said there had been an outpouring of support from locals keen to show their endorsement for the club's drafting of Cousins.
"Certainly the reaction we've had from people is that he deserves a second chance,'' he said.
''They are appreciative that the club has been good enough to support him and they want to honour that by getting down to the games here in WA.''
Mr McHenry said Cousins had "done everything right'' in Melbourne and was giving outstanding advice to young players.
http://www.news.com.au/heraldsun/sport/afl/story/0,26576,25562786-19742,00.html
