It was all in fun: Ben Cousins
Ben Cousins
June 01, 2009
EXCLUSIVE: I'VE done enough pre-scripted apologies to last a lifetime. This isn't going to be one of them.
The footage of me raising the finger at the change room camera was filmed an hour and three quarters before the game.
I wasn't angry. I wasn't frustrated. It wasn't a message to the world.
In no way did I think the footage was going to air. If nothing else, I thought someone on the end of the camera in a van outside the ground might have got a chuckle out of it.
Obviously others saw it differently.
With the scrutiny on footballers, in particular on myself brought on by myself, I think I've always handled myself pretty well in the media.
On the flip side, sometimes I've thought they overstepped the mark in regards to being intrusive.
But I accept that's the nature of football and my situation.
So, I would like to think people would take the gesture in the light-hearted manner of which I did it.
I wasn't smiling, I know that, but it was a form of acting. A bit of fun that some people have taken out of context.
After the game, as emotions spilled over in the rooms, football manager Craig Cameron told me the footage had been shown by Channel 10.
It went in one ear and out the other because, really, the Tigers have been under enormous pressure internally and externally and that moment was not the time to discuss the pros and cons of a joke that might have backfired.
To everyone, I would like to say: let's not get too precious.
There is a recession going on, people are under enormous pressure to pay off mortgages and, indeed, are losing jobs.
If people are upset or concerned about what I did, then I wonder where we are headed as a society.
Fair dinkum, I had a bit of fun.
In fact, I've done that gesture to the change rooms cameras about a half a dozen times in my career. It's just tongue in cheek, a sort of "Hello mate" to the poor bugger in the mini-van.
To be honest, I was surprised it went to air. Maybe it was a little naive on my behalf considering my situation.
But I expected the "van man" to laugh and move on, not alert everyone at the channel.
Within our family we all do it to each other as a joke gesture. I've even seen my grandmother do it.
I saw a fair bit of it as the game unfolded on Saturday night.
I really enjoyed going back to Subiaco. I've played plenty of football there, have some unbelievably great memories, and the average person in the street has been fantastic to me.
But let me tell you I copped a fair bit from over the fence on Saturday night, far and above my little gesture. And I took it in the spirit it was given.
We, as players, know it is part of football and I don't expect any apologies from any of those people.
Now, to Terry Wallace and the guys. First and foremost I was rapt for Terry in his 500th game as a player and coach.
To be the only coach to stick his neck out and give me an opportunity, I have nothing but utmost respect for him.
Regardless of his precarious situation, I think it's important people remember his contribution to the game.
His resilience in recent times in the face of overwhelming pressure has been fantastic and I have admired the upbeat nature he has brought to training and to coaching.
I am one person who can empathise with him regarding the media scrutiny he's been under and I think he's handled it with dignity.
At the siren, I don't know if I sought him out or vice versa, but we met up on the ground. It was my first victory and obviously one that Terry would cherish.
It's been close to 18 months since I was involved in a winning game of football, and when you come to a new club all you want to do is succeed.
As I've said many times, winning is not everything, it is the only thing.
http://www.news.com.au/heraldsun/story/0,21985,25566149-661,00.html
