The Age wrote:
Costello shirt-fronts AFL
February 16, 2011
FORMER treasurer Peter Costello, for years the No. 1 ticket holder at Essendon, has delivered an attack on the culture of AFL football claiming ''any right-thinking parent would quake with fear'' to learn footballers were attending their daughter's school.
Costello, in a column in The Age today, said the recent scandal involving a schoolgirl who said she had sex with two St Kilda footballers and later released nude photographs of other players on social network websites was a warning that using footballers to promote worthy causes can backfire.
''Footballers are not chosen for their moral principles. They do not go into a national draft for budding philanthropists. They can run and catch and kick a ball. What are the clubs thinking when they send them to schools to give guidance on life skills? Any right-thinking parent would quake with fear to hear that footballers were coming to their daughter's school to give a little bit of inspiration."
''Motivating the students is the last thing the club or the league is thinking about. They are working on the brand. They have decided that highly paid sportsmen have to be seen to contribute to some lofty cause. So they put them out as role models. When they are asked to become much more than sportsmen, they will learn there is a big difference between celebrity and philanthropy.''
He said the AFL sent footballers to attend events or to be associated with causes to help mould its brand image.
