An open letter to the AFL boss Andrew Demetriou.

Dear Mr Demetriou,

I have two questions for you:

■ When is Ben Cousins to be stripped of his Brownlow Medal?

■ When are the West Coast Eagles to be stripped of their premiership?

I read with amazement that not only is Cousins suspended on full pay but the club is talking about subsidising his rehabilitation and asking the AFL to kick in as well. They cannot be serious.

Now, there is talk of Cousins returning to play midyear. What is going on? Why aren't sanctions going to be levied against him and his club?

Compare this with the poor young blokes silly enough to have a bet on the footy: heaven forbid that they should do something that is legal in our community that transgresses your rules.

What happens to them? They are plastered all over the media while their fate is determined — and then have ridiculous penalties imposed. What message does that send to young players? That it's OK to get stuck into drugs but don't dare have a bet!

You say that there is not a skerrick of evidence that Cousins used drugs on match day. That opens another can of worms. Was Cousins tested on any match days and, if so, how many times over the last couple of seasons (during which time he was clearly using)? What are the results of those tests? If he was not tested then, why not?

Olympic finalists are drug tested. So were the two grand final teams tested and, if not, why not?

You overlook Cousins' own voluntary admissions against interest (at law, potent evidence against him) wherein he admits having a problem since July last year.

This poses the question: how long has he been using drugs, particularly when there was so much publicity surrounding his nightclub activities with known drug dealers. Surely an admission from the offender that he was using at the relevant times is sufficient to strip him of the 2005 Brownlow.

I wonder what St Kilda's Nick Dal Santo thinks about being denied a Brownlow Medal by two drug abusers, Cousins and Daniel Kerr?

Dal Santo lost by only two votes in the last round. I thought the Brownlow was for the best and fairest, not the best and highest.

To suggest that while in the grip of an addiction Cousins discriminated as to when he would or wouldn't use is absurd.

From personal experience I know that doesn't happen. Addiction breeds risky behaviour and, with stimulants, a feeling of invincibility. Sound familiar?

Dr Jonathan Upfal, author of The Australian Drug Guide, says methamphetamine hydrochloride, ice, makes you alert and banishes fatigue. Not only would it allow a player to run all day but — a real benefit for footballers — but it boosts aggression, confidence and alertness, which would give a player on ice better ability to read the game.

Watch Cousins' performance in the grand final and reach your own conclusion.

The well-known champion of street kids, Les Twentyman, says ice is responsible for some of the most violent and senseless crimes. That the drug has claimed one of the nation's best footballers and the premier club proves how serious the problem is. The AFL cannot sweep this under the carpet.

Here's the thing, Mr Demetriou: drug use is illegal. In any other sport Cousins would have been stripped of his gongs so fast it would have made his head spin, but as it stands, all is forgiven, he is being cosseted and everyone is looking forward to his return mid-season. What a joke.

There is ample precedent for stripping Cousins of the Brownlow. Look at the Olympics.

In 1984 Ben Johnson ran a world record and won the 100-metres gold medal. He later tested positive for performance-enhancing drugs — and the axe fell, no ifs or buts. Johnson lost his gold medal, his world record and was banned from competition for years. No ducking for cover there.

Plenty of athletes since Johnson have suffered a similar fate, which makes the AFL the odd man out when it comes to actually enforcing its drug code. I noticed your constant refusal to sign an agreement with the Australian Sports Anti-Doping Authority until the Prime Minister threatened financial sanctions against the AFL.

Now, the question of stripping the West Coast Eagles of the 2006 premiership. Like the AFL, West Coast's first reaction to Cousins' addiction being exposed was to deny everything and duck for cover, until the evidence became so overwhelming that the club had no option but to concede that Cousins had a problem.

It soon became clear drug use was rampant in the Eagles' nest.

After much prevarication the club confessed to eight other players being drug users. Again, this raises more questions than it answers.

The first and most obvious is whether the West Coast hierarchy referred the matter to police for proper investigation. I suspect not.

Following the disclosure that half the team were users, the club said it had had an intensive counselling session with the players and that the problem was now solved. What nonsense.

To work, counselling takes time. I should know. It took a long time and a lot of counselling for me to beat my cocaine addiction.

But here is West Coast claiming some sort of "one-size-fits-all" counselling session as a quick fix. This is ridiculous and will come back to bite them.

The inescapable fact is that the West Coast drug problem is endemic, which means the same questions apply to the club as to Cousins: namely, how many players were drug tested, how often and what were the results? Doesn't the public have a right to know?

By the way, Mr Demetriou, you often refer to AFL footballers as role models for children.

What message are you sending to them? Is it this: get drafted and you can flout the law to your heart's content and rest assured the AFL will protect you from any consequences if you play well enough?

I have spoken to a young bloke who plays in the VFL and has AFL aspirations and he is now confused about drug use. Should he remain drug free and not be drafted or get stuck into them and increase his chances? Over to you for an answer, Mr Demetriou.

I say the Eagles have dragged our game into such disrepute and should be stripped of their 2006 flag.

Like Nick Dal Santo, the Sydney Swans must be wondering what might have been. After all, maybe half the opposition team was fired up on the gear … and the game was lost by a solitary point.

The issue now is whether the AFL has the ticker to make a brave stand. We need only look to the NRL for the closest example: the Canterbury Bulldogs had points taken from them in 2002 and thereby denied a chance of playing for a premiership.

A more sensational example is in the Italian Premier Soccer League where match-fixing allegations were proved against some of the wealthiest and most powerful sporting clubs in Europe. Their prestige did not matter: they were relegated to their second division, a brave move indeed when you take into account the passion of the Italian soccer fans. The Italian league is to be applauded; it acted without fear or favour and got the right result.

If you do not have the heart for a fight, then follow the lead of the Australian Cricket Board and appoint a retired judge to hold an unfettered inquiry into these problems and promise to act on its findings.

Mr Demetriou, the genie is out of the bottle and not even the AFL's million-dollar man can stuff it back. Will the AFL act or will Ben Cousins return from rehab to help the Eagles get higher than ever for a tilt at another drug-fuelled premiership?

Yours sincerely,

ANDREW FRASER