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The Court for Administration of Sport (CAS) has found 34 Essendon players guilty of taking prohibited substances as part of the club’s 2012 supplements program.
The players are reportedly set to miss the entire 2016 AFL season. Of the 34 players charged, 17 are still in the AFL – 12 at Essendon, and five at other clubs.
More:
» Essendon doping saga: Full list of players to miss 2016 AFL season
» Read CAS’s statement regarding the Essendon finding
» Potential top-up Bombers: Could Kelly, Stokes or Lake return?
» Essendon players guilty: Social media reaction
» Hey WADA, you got the wrong man
The 12 players still on the list at Essendon are Jobe Watson, Brent Stanton, Cale Hooker, David Myers, Michael Hurley, Michael Hibberd, Tayte Pears, Tom Bellchambers, Travis Colyer, Dyson Heppell, Ben Howlett and Heath Hocking.
The five players now at other clubs are Jake Carlisle (St Kilda), Angus Monfries and Paddy Ryder (Port Adelaide), Stewart Crameri (Western Bulldogs) and Jake Melksham (Melbourne).
In order to support what remains of their playing list, the AFL announced today that it would allow Essendon to upgrade all rookie-listed players to its senior list, and also to sign ten top-up players for the 2016 season.
The league confirmed that suspended players’ salaries would still be counted in the salary cap, and that players would still be paid their salaries. Essendon will receive an additional salary cap allowance from the AFL in order to sign top-up players.
The other clubs affected by bans will be allowed to upgrade rookies to replace their banned players, as if they were on the long term injury list.
The AFL confirmed that having already sanctioned Essendon for governance breaches in 2013, it would not take any further action against the club despite these new developments.
There is no final decision yet on whether or not Jobe Watson will be allowed to retain the 2012 Brownlow Medal. The AFL commission will meet in February to make a decision on this, and Watson will be invited to address the commission.
Essendon chairman Lindsay Tanner said the club’s position was that they felt CAS’s ruling was incorrect, but recognised that they must accept its authority.
Tanner said he could not speculate on whether or not any banned players would seek to take legal action against the club, or look to appeal their suspensions.
Tanner strongly insisted that the club would not only survive its current trials, but thrive in the future. “We will prevail. We will survive, and we will succeed.”
CAS released a full statement on their website, reading as follows:
“The Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) has today issued its decision in the arbitration procedure between the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) and 34 current and former players of Essendon.
“The appeal filed by WADA against the Australian Football League (AFL) Anti-Doping Tribunal’s decision of 31 March 2015 is upheld and the appealed decision is set aside. The 34 players concerned are sanctioned with a period of ineligibility of two years, commencing on 31 March 2015, with credit given for any individual period of ineligibility already served. Thus, most of the suspensions will come to an end in November 2016.
“The arbitration procedure was conducted by a panel of CAS arbitrators: the Hon. Michael J. Beloff QC, barrister in London, United Kingdom (President), Mr. Romano Subiotto QC, Solicitor-Advocate in Brussels, Belgium, and the Hon. James Spigelman AC QC, barrister in Sydney, Australia and London, United Kingdom.
“The Panel held a hearing with the parties in Sydney, Australia from 16 to 20 November 2015. In its Arbitral Award, the Panel found to its comfortable satisfaction that Clause 11.2 of the 2010 AFL Doping Code (use of a prohibited substance) has been violated and found by a majority that all players were significantly at fault.”
Former Essendon coach James Hird, who lead the club through the 2012 season but resigned his position in 2015, released a short statement in response to the ban.
“I am shocked by this decision. I firmly believe the players do not deserve this finding. They do not deserve to face a twelve-month suspension from the sport. This is a miscarriage of justice for 34 young men.”
Hird also said that he intends to make further comments later in the week.