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Thread: AFL Notice of Charge against Essendon Football Club

  1. #31
    Immortal jargan83's Avatar
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    Essendon coach James Hird has dramatically backed down and accepted a one-year ban from the game as his club was expelled from the 2013 finals, stripped of draft picks and fined $2 million.

    After the most dramatic day in AFL history, one of the game's most revered figures admitted he had brought the game into disrepute and abandoned his Supreme Court action against the league and its boss, Andrew Demetriou.

    ''This is the most significant sanction in AFL history,'' Demetriou said of the unprecedented penalties.

    Advertisement AFL Commission chairman Mike Fitzpatrick said: ''The AFL Commission shares [AFL fans'] anger, and frustration that the 2013 season has too often been dominated by headlines we'd rather not see.''

    ''The issues involved in the Essendon Football Club supplements program are deeply disturbing. The investigation undertaken in the past six months and the actions we have taken today reflects this gravity.''

    The Hird backdown concluded a season of vociferous denials from the Essendon coach that he would accept any wrongdoing in the risky and experimental drugs program instigated at the end of 2011 and carried out through the 2012 season.

    Hird's senior assistant, Mark Thompson, has also accepted a sanction in the form of a fine. The case of club doctor Bruce Reid was yet to be concluded.

    Hird was found guilty of the AFL's rule 1.6 that he had engaged in conduct unbecoming or likely to prejudice the interests or the reputation of the AFL or to bring the game of football into disrepute.

    In an unprecedented fall from grace for a Brownlow medallist, Hall of Famer and Norm Smith medallist, Hird has become the first senior coach in the game's history to be forced out of football for 12 months. Hird can hold no role at the club for the next year and cannot be paid by the club.

    Essendon has been banned from the 2013 finals series and the opening two rounds of the 2013 draft and slapped with a $2 million fine for the derelict failures of its football program.

    It will also miss the opening round of the 2014 draft but its role in next year's second round of draft picks remained unclear. The Bombers reportedly will be allowed to trade back into the draft's early rounds.

    As late as 7pm Hird was still pushing to have his 12-month ban include a suspended component that would allow him to return to coach the Bombers by the middle of next season. The commission, however, would not budge.

    It has emerged that Essendon chairman Paul Little had warned Hird last Thursday against pursuing legal avenues against the AFL, which included a threat from Hird's legal representative, Julian Burnside, QC, to subpoena the telephone records of AFL executives Demetriou and Gillon McLachlan.

    Little is understood to have told Hird the club could not continue to fund Hird's legal case indefinitely, although the club appeared prepared to continue to financially support club doctor Reid.

    Reid's letter of warning addressed to Hird and former football manager Paul Hamilton in January 2012 was a key part of the evidence gathered in the six-month investigation into Essendon's risky drugs program, which began in late 2011 after Hird was warned by the AFL to stay away from implementing a peptides program to his players.

    Shortly after that warning, discredited biochemist Stephen Dank was employed by the club to begin the program, which sees Essendon players still at risk of bans from anti- doping authorities.

    Little has previously guaranteed Hird would return to coach the Bombers beyond 2014, although that would require the signing of a new contract with Hird's current deal expiring at the end of next year.

    Last night Little said the club was negotiating with Hird to extend his contract - and that he would coach in next year's finals, should Essendon make them.

    ''We recognise that failings occurred at our club during this period,'' Little said. ''We must and do accept accountability and apologise for them.''

    Essendon football boss Danny Corcoran has accepted a four-month suspension from the game.

    In the deal, the AFL appears to have abandoned a historically significant push to strip Essendon of points from 2012.

    Little said the Bombers VFL team would not be thrown out of the finals.

    Read more: http://www.theage.com.au/afl/afl-new...#ixzz2dDaNIGm8
    I hope ASADA hit them with a sledge hammer given the slap with a wet lettuce leaf treatment the AFL has hit them with

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  2. #32
    Immortal jargan83's Avatar
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    Essendon players, officials facing ASADA sanctions - report

    THE Australian Sports Anti-Doping Authority is preparing a slew of infraction notices against Essendon players and club officials that could result in lifetime bans from all sport.

    Essendon coach James Hird, people and development manager Danny Corcoran, former high-performance manager Dean Robinson and sports scientist Stephen Dank, as well as players involved in the injecting scene, are all in ASADA's sights.

    However, club doctor Bruce Reid, who raised questions about the supplements program, is likely to avoid an infraction notice, sources have indicated to The Australian.

    The AFL yesterday dropped all charges against Reid in a backflip that put a sensational full stop to footy's doping scandal.

    The decision killed off Reid's Supreme Court challenge - where he was due today to seek to have his charges tested in an open forum.

    The league released a statement saying Reid had been "marginalised'' by club figures.

    "The AFL accepts Dr Reid's position and withdraws all charges against him, without penalty,'' the statement said.

    Reid was one of four Essendon officials charged along with the club over governance failings relating to the 2012 supplements program.

    He was a central figure in the program and had informally approved the use of WADA-banned drug AOD-9604.

    But he also penned a letter to club bosses in January last year in which he said he had "fundamental problems" with the supplements program.

    In a negotiated settlement, Essendon was last month dumped from the finals, stripped of draft picks and fined $2 million.

    It comes as new Sports Minister Peter Dutton has vowed to clean up Australian sports.

    Mr Dutton, who was sworn in as sports minister yesterday, said athletes caught doping could expect the full force of the law.

    "We need to make sure that the message that we're getting out is that the blokes and women who are running around the footy fields across the country are 99 per cent doing the right thing," he told 3AW radio this morning.

    "They're amazing athletes and the 1 per cent that are doing the wrong thing can expect the full force of the law to come down on them.

    "But I really want to make sure that as a country, we can, particularly in the finals season, get back to concentrating on what's happening on the paddock and not off,"

    Mr Dutton wouldn't comment on continuing dramas at Essendon or revelations players and club officials could face lifetime bans from the sport other than to say he had been briefed on issues relating to today's media reports.

    "I don't want to comment on the individuals or particular matters but at a general rule, yes, they (ASADA) has extensive powers," he said.

    "They will exercise those powers where they see fit and when people do the wrong thing they will impose bans, they will make sure they investigate matters properly.

    "If that's appropriate then we can get back to what footy's about."

    http://www.perthnow.com.au/news/esse...-1226722483651

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  3. #33
    Immortal jargan83's Avatar
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    For those still following the ASADA drugs investigation I thought this was a pretty good article:


    With Mitchell Johnson's pace dominating the Ashes series and Warnie's best work now done in the commentary box, spin is in short supply. But have no fear: modern footy administration is more than capable of filling the vacuum. AFL boss Andrew Demetriou rolled up the sleeves during the week and showed that, as well as having a handy leggie, he has a wrong 'un, too.

    Back in mid-September, Jacquelin Magnay, an experienced and respected reporter of international sporting affairs, wrote with certainty in the News Corp press that: ''ASADA officials are preparing the legal paperwork to issue infraction notices to at least seven AFL players and officials …''

    For Essendon and the AFL this foreshadowed a deeply concerning development to the ongoing supplements scandal. Not surprisingly, Demetriou was soon asked about it.

    Speaking on Fairfax Radio, he responded: ''It is the first I'd heard of it, so what we did do was check with ASADA [the Australian Sports Anti-Doping Authority] and representatives of the federal government and they both assured us that they were unaware of anything of that nature.''

    Advertisement Fast-forward to the past week when discussion about infraction notices has occurred within a different context. Extraordinary claims of an AFL guarantee that sanctions would not be imposed on Essendon players were met with a differently spun Demetriou delivery.

    ''There is absolutely no guarantee,'' he said. ''We have been very clear and transparent in this, that this is an ongoing matter for ASADA. They have said very clearly that they left the case open, that they plan at some point in time to talk with Stephen Dank and whoever else they plan to talk to, and on that basis the matter is still open.''

    For the AFL, this was a particularly uncomfortable component of the week's coverage. The accusation that the football administration could, or would, seek to exert any form of influence over the matter of infraction notices and sanctions is devastating.

    Clearly, a slew of suspensions issued against Essendon players would represent a catastrophe for the game. The reputational and financial damage would be enormous. But this is a country that has long demanded of others the highest standards on the treatment of doping in sport.

    That we adopt those standards ourselves, no matter the consequences, should be non-negotiable. Anything less would place the administration responsible in the category of cycling, weightlifting, athletics - even Olympic - administrations, which Australians have caustically and contemptuously criticised for their failures in the area.

    This is a part of what is proving to be a disastrous issue for the AFL. And it has no one to blame but itself. The more that emerges from the Essendon supplements story, the stronger the impression of the football administration's culturally entrenched inclination to seek to get what it wants.

    Protocol-be-damned if that's what it takes.

    In this case, it appears to have felt the need to produce an outcome it regarded as satisfactory within a certain time limit; namely before this season's finals. And evidence continues to mount that, from the outset, it has regarded as a priority the protection of Essendon's players from sanctions.

    These twin issues have embroiled the chairman of the Australian Sports Commission, the respected John Wylie, in the controversial story. And they continue to raise questions about the judgment and performance of ASADA throughout the affair.

    The nature of Wylie's involvement, first reported by Roy Masters in Fairfax Media, cannot but be questioned. The public is entitled to ask why the chairman of Australia's peak sports administrative body would seek to negotiate an outcome in a doping case under investigation by ASADA.

    Many have also asked why ASADA - a body which it goes without saying must remain disinterested within its investigations - would allow a sports administration to be at something closer than arm's length to an important case.

    For, while strictly speaking, the AFL should be a disinterested party, the reality is that it has an enormous organisational, reputational, and financial stake in the outcome.

    Demetriou has described the parallel ASADA/AFL inquiries as a template for all sports into the future. I would venture to say that most with an interest in sports tainted by doping would be horrified at this possibility. If nothing else, the experience of the past nine months underlines the need for total transparency and independence in such investigations.

    For without them, how can justice be seen to be done?

    Perhaps Demetriou and his chairman Mike Fitzpatrick don't grasp the absolute requirement for global public confidence in the integrity of anti-doping investigations. If they do, perhaps they don't get that just because they say the AFL is capable of acting in a disinterested way, doesn't mean the public believes it.

    I would assert there is a growing crisis of public confidence, and just because the AFL says it is ill-founded doesn't mean it will go away. Certainly, as with Australian cricket in the post-Warne era, spin alone won't do.

    Read more: http://www.theage.com.au/afl/afl-new...#ixzz2mxlJfRJo

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  4. #34
    Immortal Contributor shasta's Avatar
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    Reports in the ES press are saying Darren Hibbert (Danks sidekick) will be interviewed byASADA very soon. Could be a heap of heat on the NRL as well. Good.

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    Last edited by shasta; 10-12-13 at 09:05.
    "The main difference between playing League and Union is that now I get my hangovers on Monday instead of Sunday - Tom David


  5. #35
    Immortal jargan83's Avatar
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    ESSENDON players have been issued with show-cause notices for doping.

    The Australian Sports Anti-Doping Authority served the notices on players this afternoon over the club’s 2012 supplements program.

    The decision ends a 16-month probe and throws the 2014 AFL season into turmoil.

    ASADA has been investigating what Essendon-appointed investigator Ziggy Switkowski described as ‘a disturbing picture of a pharmacologically experimental environment never adequately controlled or challenged or documented within the club”.

    Any charges against Essendon players and officials will ultimately be heard by an AFL tribunal, with a maximum two-year ban applicable for a player found to have used a banned drug.

    Essendon is expected to challenge ASADA’s findings in the Federal Court.

    Bombers chairman Paul Little said in a statement on the club’s website today: “I can confirm we are exploring all legal options for our players in the unlikely event they receive show cause letters from ASADA — we make no apologies for that.”

    AFL chief Gillon McLachlan told the Herald Sun tonight in response to the development: “I can’t comment”

    http://www.news.com.au/sport/afl/ess...-1226952296676

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  6. #36
    Champion Tonkar's Avatar
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    Demetriou has known all allong of this and has got out early so he can't loose his face to the AFL... Demetriou has done nothing good for AFL all he ever thinks about is his bank balance.. It looks all good but behind the scence clubs are broke and the AFL is in turmoil...

    I cant see why this has lingured on for so long either they guilty or not.. Sad to say but you cant mess with a team 2 seasonsdown the track as innocent players are going to be involved and it will be bad for AFL and the heads walk away scott free ( Demetriou )

    For many this will cripple a club and many players future....

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  7. #37
    Immortal jargan83's Avatar
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    Innocent players will not be involved as it only the 2012 playing list under scrutiny.

    This issue has dragged out so long because it's not on a sporting timetable. ASADA have had a retired Federal Court judge going over the evidence for weeks so they haven't issued these notices for a giggle.

    There is only going to be one club potentially going broke and that is Essendon.

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  8. #38
    Immortal GIGS20's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by jargan83 View Post
    There is only going to be one club potentially going broke and that is Essendon.
    and it's hard to call that undeserved.

    My wonder is that with the cover up that was attempted by Demetriou (forgive me for only being on the fringes of this, so not knowing chapter or verse) by 'suggesting' that there might be some action pending (ie destroy all evidence and look as pure as the driven snow) How many other clubs were 'dabbling' and not thrown under the bus?

    I don't know (or really care) what the answer is to that, but if Essendon are the scapegoat that protects the AFL from widespread charges I would say they have the right to be pretty pissed off!

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    C'mon the

  9. #39
    Immortal jargan83's Avatar
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    Demetriou was cleared by the ACC of any form of tip off to Essendon which would constitute a cover up. But his leaving his post a week before all this comes up looks awfully suspicious.

    17 other clubs showed they were happy to throw Essendon under the bus last August when Essendon threatened to go to court and the 17 other clubs stood behind the AFL.

    The head of ASADA on TV this morning said he was not preparing any Show Cause notices or Infractions for Cronulla. That probably means he's not doing the dirty work but I would be gobsmacked if Cronulla come out of this intact.

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  10. #40
    (a.k.a. Mr Pinkbits) Stone Cold's Avatar
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    Essendon will not go broke. They have plenty of cash and supporters. Over the last two years they have had record memberships. Essendon should have gone to court to defend the charges but they were bullied by the AFL and Demetriou.

    I'll be happy when this has all blown over...in two or three years time based on the current timings

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    coz Stone Cold says so

  11. #41
    Immortal jargan83's Avatar
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    When this blows over Essendon will be a basket case

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  12. #42
    Champion Tonkar's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by jargan83 View Post
    Innocent players will not be involved as it only the 2012 playing list under scrutiny.

    This issue has dragged out so long because it's not on a sporting timetable. ASADA have had a retired Federal Court judge going over the evidence for weeks so they haven't issued these notices for a giggle.

    There is only going to be one club potentially going broke and that is Essendon.
    Yes Innocent players will be harmed as if a few or maybe more players are taken from the playing list it means that the chances of the rest of players maybe with out a full list and could even come to a point they may not be able to field a side...

    The Afl are all to blame they have not kept clubs and players in line for yrs and now its got out of hand and Essendon got caught... Just listen to the Cousins reports and how many players are on the brink of getting caught before he blew thw whistle the 3 strikes rule is a sham and Demetriou had it there to make sure certainn players just got the warnings...


    there was a big write up in the west last weekend featuring how WA could be proping up potentaly 4 Vic clubs that are on the brink ofgoing broke

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  13. #43
    Immortal jargan83's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Tonkar View Post
    Yes Innocent players will be harmed as if a few or maybe more players are taken from the playing list it means that the chances of the rest of players maybe with out a full list and could even come to a point they may not be able to field a side...
    No innocent players will be harmed as ASADA is chasing targeted players. The AFL has a commitment to the broadcasters for 9 games a week and they will probably allow Essendon to top up their playing list with free agents and state league players. There was even talk last year about players not in ASADA's sights to be allowed to walk away from their Essendon contract if the proverbial hits the fan.

    Quote Originally Posted by Tonkar View Post
    The Afl are all to blame they have not kept clubs and players in line for yrs and now its got out of hand and Essendon got caught... Just listen to the Cousins reports and how many players are on the brink of getting caught before he blew thw whistle the 3 strikes rule is a sham and Demetriou had it there to make sure certainn players just got the warnings...
    The AFL are not to blame for a club conducting a deliberate an illegal supplements program.

    The three strikes rule only applies to recap relational drugs but I do agree that it is a ridiculous rule. Wendell Sailor returned a positive test and was gone on the spot when his B sample came back and also tested positive.

    Quote Originally Posted by Tonkar View Post
    there was a big write up in the west last weekend featuring how WA could be proping up potentaly 4 Vic clubs that are on the brink ofgoing broke
    That's a very WA centric view of the AFL's plans for financial equalisation of the competition. The two WA clubs aren't the only ones to be slugged with Collingwood, Richmond, Essendon (for the moment ) and Hawthorn also being subject to the AFL's cash grab due to them being well supported clubs.

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  14. #44
    Champion Tonkar's Avatar
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    Thanks Jargs for the for you input much appreciated I am just anti AFL drug rules and hate Demetriou with a passion he is a money grabbing dick head along with the likes of Big Eddy mac

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  15. #45
    Immortal jargan83's Avatar
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    I would love to see Demetriou on the stand under oath because I reckon he and the AFL have some skeletons in the closet. Quite right about all him caring about is the bottom line of the balance sheet.

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