Sports stars on the booze

Cricket
New Zealand cricketing sensation Jesse Ryder swore off alcohol for good early in 2009 after he cut his hand smashing a toilet window in Christchurch during a 2008 post-match drinking binge. He then missed a team meeting in Auckland and was subsequently unable to train following a drinking session in Wellington.

Cycling Commonwealth Games cyclist Liz Williams complained after two team mates reportedly attempted to strip her and urinate on her in the Melbourne Games village in 2006. When asked how drunk she and her team mates Marc Ryan and Tim Gudsell were, Williams said she didn’t know. Williams’s mother, Patricia Williams, told NZPA at the time there was a huge amount of alcohol involved and “the whole culture needs to be changed so it’s safe for the girls.”

Rugby league
Former Canberra Raiders league player Todd Carney had his $400,000-a-season contract torn up in 2008 and was banned from his New South Wales home town, Goulburn, after a string of alcohol-fuelled indiscretions. Among the headlines were tales of him urinating on pub patrons and jumping on a car bonnet and smashing a shop window in Goulburn. He received a 12-month suspended sentence.

Carney was ‘rescued’ by Atherton Roosters President Mick Nasser, who gave him two jobs: one on the field for the small club earning $40 a win; one behind the bar in Nasser’s hotel earning $20 an hour.

“I copped a lot of criticism for putting him in the pub, but it tends to jerk people into gear,” Nasser told reporters. “They see how people react to alcohol.”

Last year, a sober Carney was signed by the Sydney Roosters, made the Kangaroos and was named International Player of the Year.

Rugby Union
There have been a number of rugby union stars embroiled in alcohol-related scandals over the years, from former All Blacks captain Tana Umaga hitting team mate Chris Masoe over the head with a handbag in a Christchurch bar in 2006 to team mate Doug Howlett’s 2007 arrest for criminal damage after cars were vandalised outside a London hotel.

In 2009 alone, Hurricanes rugby wing David Smith was convicted of drink-driving, Hurricanes player Dane Coles admitted abusing Police during a drunken scuffle, Auckland Blues player Taniela Moa was ordered to undergo alcohol counselling after a bottle was thrown at a female in a rugby club, as was Highlanders player Fetu’u Vainikolo after a similar incident where he threw a drink at a woman. Meanwhile, Toulouse player and former All Black Byron Kelleher was arrested and spent the night in a Police cell after being involved in a drunken brawl following a traffic accident.

Last year, All Black and Chiefs player Sione Lauaki pleaded guilty to his third assault charge in 4 years after what was reported as another ‘late-night incident’ in a bar. In 2008, current All Blacks halfback Jimmy Cowan faced a New Zealand Rugby Union misconduct hearing and underwent alcohol counselling after three arrests in 3 months for disorderly conduct.

Swimming
Commonwealth Games silver medallist Daniel Bell was sent home from India last year for breaking Swimming New Zealand’s zero-tolerance alcohol protocol. Bell had “a couple of beers” after the swimming meet finished and was sent home immediately, NZPA reported at the time. It was the third time in the past 2 years Bell had been involved in an alcoholrelated incident while overseas with a New Zealand team. Team mates Dean Kent, Corney Swanepoel and Cameron Gibson were expelled from the 2008 New Zealand Olympic team and the Beijing Olympic village after taking a photo of a drunk Bell sitting on the toilet at a social function, and in 2009, Bell was admitted to hospital in Rome suffering from excessive alcohol intake following the completion of the World Championships.