'That was mine': Former AFL favourite's gambling admission
Former AFL star turned radio host Brendan Fevola has admitted to selling his 2009 Coleman Medal to fund his destructive gambling habit.
Fevola, a champion goalkicker for Carlton and Brisbane over a decade long career in the AFL, won the Coleman medal the year before the Blues traded him to Brisbane amid a raft of personal scandals.
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Among those personal issues was a worsening gambling problem which ultimately led Fevola to declare bankruptcy in 2013, three years after he retired from the AFL.
The 40-year-old has since admitted to losing more than $300,000 in three days in a gambling spree and spoken publicly about seeking treatment for his addiction.
It wasn't until earlier this week though, that Fevola revealed the depths of his desperation to punt.
“I sold my Coleman, that was mine,” he told FOX FM’s Fifi, Fev and Nick program.
“I did that. I wanted to punt so I sold it for cash. Bought it back though.”
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In April of 2012 the Herald Sun reported Fevola's Coleman Medal was fetching bids topping $12,000 on eBay - but Fevola says he hadn't sold it at this point.
Speaking on a previous version of his radio show in 2017, Fevola opened up about how quickly he would rack up wins and losses, describing his infamous three-day spree.
“I was in Queensland and it was a Wednesday afternoon and I had a bookie so I had $2000 credit in my account and I was having a really good day,” Fevola said.
“By 3am the next morning I was betting at Hong Kong, not knowing anything about the horses, just having a little bit of fun.
“I ended that morning $363,000 in front, told (his wife) Alex. She said, ‘This is amazing, can you get it out?’
“So I rang the bookie the next day to try and get it out but when you’ve got a bookie you can’t get it out until the Monday. So Sunday night I was 20 (thousand) down. So I lost $360,000 in three days. That’s my biggest loss.”
The later years of Fevola's AFL career were plagued by off-field scandals, with revelations about his gambling problem, a nude photo saga involving Lara Bingle, as well as an arrest ultimately ending his time in the league.
Fevola has since opened up about how that impacted his relationship with once-spouse and partner Alex.
“I did (lose a lot of our savings) and hence why Alex left the first time when we were in Brisbane. She went back because of the gambling. Now she looks after a lot of the accounts which is good,” Fevola said.
“I said to myself then I didn’t lose that ($300,000) because I’d already won it, so it’s so weird. But you did, you lost it.
“The worst thing is it didn’t actually affect me too much but if affects your family and that’s the bottom line, Alex and the kids."
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