After being king-hit during a night out drinking Collingwood star Scott Pendlebury is practising what he’s preaching by joining a new campaign to curb binge drinking.
The AFL Players’ Association’s is supporting the `Be The Influence – Tackle Binge Drinking initiative’, with Pendlebury, West Coast forward Nic Naitanui and Adelaide’s Patrick Dangerfield the faces of the campaign.
It will be the naming rights partner of the 2013 AFLPA Most Valuable Player Awards on September 10 and the Leigh Matthews MVP Award.
Pendlebury launched the partnership at Wesley College by swapping his normal number 10 guernsey for the number 70 to highlight the number of young Australians hospitalised each week due to alcohol-related assault.
The gun Magpies midfielder said he was the target of a late night attack when he was king hit walking home after a drinking session at a Lakes Entrance hotel in 2008.
He spent the night in hospital.
“It’s still pretty hard for me to talk about now,” he said.
“Lucky enough for me I had my brother and mates who knew what to do.
“It was hard seeing mum and dad when I was hospital.
“Since then I’ve changed my attitude and put plans in place to make sure it doesn’t happen again.”
Pendlebury said it wasn’t about not drinking but about having a plan.
“You’ve got to not only look after yourself you’ve got to look out for your mates,” he said.”