ANALYSIS

The 17th-century playwright and poet William Congreve could be to blame for AFL star Lachie Whitfield’s current mess, which centres on missed drugs tests in 2015.

In 1697 Congreve penned the unfortunate lines:

Heaven has no rage like love to hatred turned,

Nor hell a fury like a women scorned.

If Congreve was around today, he’d be nodding sage-like at the supposed antics of Whitfield’s ex-girlfriend, Sammi Nowland.

If some media reports are to be believed, she dumped on Whitfield after he dumped her.

This would seem a dangerous interpretation to draw based on what’s known about their relationship.

Yet footy media scuttlebutt is adopting the ‘woman scorned’ line with gusto.

Chain of events

Apparently, Whitfield and Ms Nowland became an item in 2014.

In May 2015, she supposedly reported her concerns about Whitfield’s alleged drug use to then-Giants football manager Graeme Allen.

Whitfield has reportedly denied the claims.

After receiving no response from Allen, Ms Nowland then took up the matter with the club and ASADA in July. The club then contacted the AFL and commenced its own investigation, finding that Whitfield had no case to answer.

Meanwhile, a more detailed investigation, where mobile phones and computers were confiscated, was conducted by the AFL with ASADA’s backing.

Lachie Whitfield (left) is set to line up against the Swans next Saturday.

The investigation has just concluded after 12 months, and on Tuesday the AFL announced it would be sending its findings to ASADA.

The investigation outlasted Ms Nowland and Whitfield’s romance. It ended in June last year. That’s one month after she took her concerns to the Giants.

Given this fact, it is far too convenient for the likes of Dermott Brereton and other footy talking heads to infer Ms Nowland is another of Congreve’s ‘women scorned’.

One side of the story

On Melbourne sports radio station SEN, Brereton, a former Hawthorn champion and now commentator, suggested that she had been “quite persistent” in wanting ASADA to investigate the case. While she was painted as the scorned woman, Brereton cast Whitfield as “nerdish” and a “bookworm”, and the last person you’d expect to be doing dope.

After listening to Brereton’s glowing endorsement, one could be forgiven for assuming this was a case of a good footballing citizen being dumped on by a vindictive former lover.

But focusing on the ‘woman scorned’ line obscures the main question: were people at the club complicit in hiding Whitfield from dope testers while he was under the influence of illicit drugs? That is the allegation.

Whitfield’s former girlfriend has become the centre of a media storm. Photo: Facebook

More circumspect commentators, like Fox’s Jake Niall and The Age’s Caroline Wilson cautioned against jumping to the ‘scorned woman’ conclusion.

Reputations on the line

Ms Nowland’s reputation – and Whitfield’s, of course – is at stake in this whole sorry saga.

Already, coach Leon Cameron has commented that the controversy is “obviously not ideal” given the Giants’ first finals campaign, but Whitfield is doing “ok”.

Little coverage has been given to Ms Nowland’s state-of-mind.

Footy industry scuttlebutt will continue to trot out the ‘woman scorned’ line rather than seeing her as a whistleblower.

This is dangerous. For too long, sporting bodies and vested media interests have attempted to either suppress the views or demonise those who have shed light on aspects of sports’ seamier side.

In 2004, Jeff Benedict’s Out of Bounds detailed the high rate of sexual assaults on women by NBA players. Benedict found that women were reluctant to pursue cases against players because of fears their reputations would be trashed and their stories not believed.

They were not just taking on the player, but an industry with a vested interest in keeping him on the court.

Ms Nowland finds herself in a similar situation. By painting her as the ‘woman scorned’ many in the industry have made their decision about her story and reputation, before the facts have been established.

Dr Tom Heenan teaches sports studies at Monash University.