BOOK REVIEW: Review of "Fev: in My Own Words" by Brendan Fevola and "Fev Unauthorised" by Roger Franklin, review by Jack Frost

Those people who spend a lot of time passing through domestic airports and/or spend a lot of time in the bookstore sections at Big W will have seen not one but two books about colourful and talented ex-Carlton full-forward the one and only Mr. Brendan "Fev" or "the Fevolution" Fevola. If you didn't manage to pick up one or both books this review might give you some points to consider. Both books were released in 2012. The unauthorized book "Fev Unauthorised" by Roger Franklin appeared first and then came the authorized book "Fev: In My Own Words" by Brendan Fevola with assistance from Adam McNicol. Franklin's book is extremely patronizing in tone and emphasis, painting Fevola as an idiot loser with zero ability to control himself and who contributed little of a positive nature to the game. It is little wonder that Fevola wanted to write his own book. Franklin's book gives you little insight into the man himself precisely because it was unauthorized and had no direct access. It relies on rehashed media quotes and continual moralizing. It is basically a scrapbook of past media articles on Fevola with a moralizing voice-over added. This is probably not really a surprise to anyone. The book gives the media's perspective on Fevola with events only being deemed of interest if they were at the time picked up by the media. There is little new on offer in Franklin's book. Franklin's book is totally media-centric and assumes that people exist for the media primarily and that the media has the right to cast judgement on those it covers. It does not critique the media's role in the Fevola story and pretends that the media was not partly responsible for blowing up Fevola's misdeeds out of all proportion so that the media might use the man for its own profit-making activities (and then cast him on the rubbish heap when he was no longer useful). There is very little in Franklin's book about the actual games of footy Fevola played because that was of less interest to the media than his off-field misdemeanors! The whole Fevola saga is a sad indictment on the role of the media in modern western society and reflects as badly on the media as it does on Fevola.

Now we come to Brendan's own book. This book is much more interesting on a number of fronts. For the most part Brendan is honest and upfront and I did feel that I somewhat knew Fevola the man after reading this book. However, I must say it is something of a strange book. McNicol's role as ghost-writer was clearly very significant. He and Brendan play a politically-correct straight-bat to all incidents of misdeeds, glossing them over, offering a brief apology, and then moving on. If Brendan had been as self-controlled and PC as McNicol is here he would still have his AFL career today. It is amazing to think that Brendan is still only 32-years-old! Some incidents are not discussed at all such as Brendan's extra-marital affair and the Lara Bingle photo scandal. Readers wanting detailed accounts of these events should read Franklin's book instead. Brendan's book is charming and sweet as most footballers' autobiographies are but amazingly it comes across as rather dry in parts.

Legendary Narre Warren resident Corey Delaney

First we get an introduction to Fevola's grandparents and parents and the story starts in earnest (pages 17-33) when the family moves into their new home at Narre Warren, an outer-suburban dormitory suburb in Melbourne's south-east made famous by Corey Delaney, the 16-year-old who in January 2008 wrecked his parents' house through a huge party when they were away (see "House-party teen shows no remorse", The Age online, 14 January 2008, http://www.theage.com.au/news/national/i-had-the-best-party-ever/2008/01/14/1200159328902.html). Narre Warren came to represent "the sum of us", the mindlessly dull suburbia of endless carpet warehouses, drive-thru fast-food outlets, and identical houses that we have created for our alienated young people at the outskirts of every Australian city. Brendan Fevola was also a product of Narre Warren for better or for worse. We really get a flavour of the culture of the area and the local junior football club where Brendan's dad Angelo coached the team. Sadly Brendan says this was one of the few times he got to see his dad who had already divorced. He recalls feasts at McDonald's after winning vouchers for best-on-ground, fooling around with some future AFL stars, and playing bedroom and street football games with neighbour and future Richmond player Chris Newman. We read an end-of-year coach's and captain's report by Angelo and Brendan Fevola and Brendan comes across as a nice, respectful boy who just couldn't concentrate for overly long periods. His legendary bad body language when the team was going badly was present even back then.

We follow Brendan into the Dandenong Stingrays and then he gets drafted by Carlton. We read of a classic Narre Warren New Year's Eve party on the night of the Carlton versus Collingwood 31/12/1999 millennium match where Brendan kicked 12 goals. Narre Warren seems to have been a huge party-town.  Had this party been held in 2009 rather than in 1999 we are sure that young Corey Delaney would have made a special appearance! After this the book gets less interesting. Brendan and McNicol stay away from controversy where possible and even when it isn't really possible. Instead we follow Brendan's and Carlton's progress year-by-year game-by-game through the terrible years of the 1990s when the club was mostly fighting out out for wooden-spoons. All of this is somewhat dry reading as nearly a decade is covered game by game. Carlton fans would be interested but this was a depressing decade indeed for the proud club. In the first half of the 2000s club legends such as Steve Silvagni and Craig Bradley finally leave (in 2001 and 2002 respectively) and then Denis Pagan arrives at the end of 2002. Stephen "Sticks" Kernahan is an imposing presence in the background and in the boardroom throughout the story. Like with respect to all Carlton legends people act as if he had never retired! Carlton's legends just play on forever, taking marks and backhanding opponents in endless boardroom machinations cheered on by the ghosts of past supporters. No wonder Kernahan didn't want to return to South Australia!

The book aims to subtly highlight Brendan's good points such as his love and concern for children and the disadvantaged and the respect he showed to coaches, especially Denis Pagan, when other senior players were shamefully setting up meetings with the club's leadership in order to depose Pagan. Brendan avoids sticking the boot in during the down years at Carlton when the club was punished for its salary-cap breaches and the players suffered huge pay-cuts and had to even buy their own footballs just for the club to survive. The draft system's terrible problems, where Carlton and Melbourne played for a priority draft pick and fans cheered for the other club's goals, suggest that this system really needs to be thrown out of our game. If you have a salary-cap why do you need a draft? European soccer doesn't need it. If the salary-cap is working properly then the competition is already fair. Brendan also is very positive about club saviour, the late Richard "Dick" Pratt, and respect flowed in both directions there. One of the book's goals is to show you Brendan's good points (at first I typed "pints" which might have been a more appropriate word to use here!) I conclude that the book succeeds in doing this although it is quite obvious what is being done. Brendan glosses over the fire extinguisher incident at the Victoria University dormitory as if it was just harmless fun. The 2009 Brownlow Medal night is glossed over quickly on pages 252-257 on the grounds that he just couldn't really remember it! By contrast, Franklin gives a minute-by-minute commentary of Brendan's behaviour on pages 114-137 of his book (the whole of Chapter 8). At 10:25pm, Brendan did this, at 10.28pm he did that - how ridiculous! That is five pages (Fev's book) versus 23 pages (Franklin's book)! We want to believe that Brendan sees the error of his ways but he keeps doing the same things over and over again in life. He has recently been made a bankrupt as a result of gambling debts. He does not properly address how his actions have hurt and disrespected his family and close friends. Brendan was given hundreds of chances. The sad thing is he was not a bitter or cruel or revengeful or hostile person - he just lacked self-control and could not think outside of the moment. The worst things he was blamed for he never actually did such as smashing bottles at the pub in Melbourne and flashing at the woman in Brisbane. Franklin is quite happy to condemn him just for the crime of being Brendan! He really suffered by belonging to the era when AFL footballers do not need outside jobs to keep them grounded and accountable to the broader community. If only Fev had followed Pagan's advice: "if you are out after midnight you are sure to get into trouble".

The book ends with Brendan's firing by the Brisbane Lions (which was doubly unfortunate as he had a good relationship with the senior players there especially Jonathon Brown and Luke Power) and traces his games with Casey Scorpions in the VFL and the senior club at Narre Warren. Overall a very good and worthwhile book. If you take Franklin's book and Fevola's book and aim for a midpoint around 30-40% of the way away from Fev's book you will get a reasonably accurate picture of his life and career. McNicol did a great job in moderating and controlling the tone of the book and adding many statistics from the on-field events. The only laughable aspect was Brendan's blasting of Jason "Aker" Akermanis for being a "motormouth" and "smart-arse" (page 268) when self-control was never Brendan's strongest point. Overall, Fevola's case was a sad one as he was a great talent who was pressurized, mocked, hated, harassed, and left for dead by the media. There have been plenty of worse people. I'm happy that Brendan is giving something back to the game at the lower levels rather than withdrawing into himself out of bitterness; this deserves respect and our best wishes. PS Brendan, congratulations on being named in the Italian Team of the Century! I give Franklin's book 5/10 and Fev's book 8/10 [by Jack Frost, 8 October 2013].