The Essendon Football Club has gone public with the findings of the internally launched Ziggy Switkowski Report into the club’s management and administrative protocols.
Citing legal reasons, the club has said the document itself cannot be made public.
Club chairman Davis Evans summed up the findings thus – “Problems occurred in selection, recruitment processes, induction processes, management of contractors … in the football department.”
That précis is damning for the football department.
It actually points to a systematic failure from key personnel with regard to practices that could still have seismic ramifications for the club.
Yet, as alluded to in the media prior to today’s media conference, no staff will be shown the door as a result of their roles in the fiasco.
In other words, those who were ultimately responsible for putting the club through the wringer will be kept in the same positions of trust, a trust that they individually and collectively breached.
The reports states that “a number of management processes broke down, failed or were short-circuited”.
The term ‘short-circuited’ is a major concern as it suggests that certain club protocols were in fact worked around.
It was confirmed by Evans that the man everyone truly wants to hear from, the club’s former sports scientist Stephen Dank, was not interviewed during the compilation of the report.
Switkowski noted that “a disturbing picture of a pharmacologically experimental environment was never adequately controlled or challenged or documented”.
That is perhaps the major strike against the club.
Several people within the organisation, including coach James Hird, were aware that it was pushing the boundaries, indeed going to what it believed was on the border of legality under the WADA Code.
The report, in fact, stated that the “Football department set a course of pushing things to the legal limit. It is unwise, perhaps reckless, for any club to even approach this ‘line’.”
Such a course however, once it is chosen as the path forward, surely required, if not demanded, the closest possible scrutiny.
The report states that the club was unaware of the use of doctors outside those normally engaged by the club.
One of the major substances under the spotlight with regard to its possible use on the players – anti-obesity drug AOD-9604, a substance banned under the WADA Code – is not mentioned by name anywhere within the report.
The Bombers players will shortly commence their interview process with ASADA as we continue to wait for the ant-doping agency’s ultimate findings.
There is little doubt that AOD-9604 will be on the agenda there.
Sport, for quite some time, has been walking a tightrope on the scientific edge.
It is a practice that can have extreme consequences if you lose your balance and fall onto the unscrupulous side of the wire.
The dangers of illicit sports science practices have been chronicled in myriad reports and articles, and yet, despite the warnings the Essendon Football Club chose to paddle into muddied waters with next to no reconnaissance.
It beggars belief that a club’s administration could task certain contractors with the ultimate well-being of a squad of players and yet fail to oversee the program through due process.
The Switkowski Report was all about defining what shortcomings there were within the club’s management practices that led to one of the most widely reported drug scandals in Australian sport.
It was never charged with looking at what substances were administered and the protocols that were followed in doing so.
That responsibility has been entrusted to ASADA.
Once their investigation is concluded, and depending on the outcomes reached, it will be fascinating to see if Essendon revisits the question of personal liability within the club, and in doing so, jettisons certain staff for their role in it all.
Until then we remain in a holding pattern.
But after today it is safe to say that those who oversaw this fiasco will continue to do so for the time being.
One wonders whether such a stance is actually transmitting the right message, both within the club and externally.
Steve M
Guest
IMO as Head of the Football Department, James Hird did not act upon Dr Reids letter by sending an email to the alleged culprits.
Richard
Guest
Hansie, I agree with you but I reckon someone/some people will be held accountable in time.
Richard
Guest
Redb, it's clearly obvious it was not acted upon. Hird put in some guidelines but were they adhered to? Why are essendon in this mess? It's pretty clear that if the concerns were presented to the board then Evans wouldn't have had to go to the afl and ASADA. Imagine what he thought when he heard about the letter that they never saw! However, lets look at it from your perspective as you have interpreted the report and Evans press conference. If as you say Hird addressed it, then Hird is incompetent and in trouble.
Hansie
Guest
The report finds substantial management failings, yet nobody in management is held responsible ... This looks like Essendon conducting an exercise in crisis management.
Redb
Roar Guru
It was acted on, by Hird. Ziggy report: Following concerns about the program in January, the Senior Coach reasserted the principles about the supplement program that: • any supplement must be WADA and ASADA compliant • it must not be harmful to players health • players must be properly informed about anything entering their bodies, and • every product was to be cleared by the doctor
Redb
Roar Guru
White collar crime is rampant. It occurs in many organisations to clarify the point.
p.Tah
Guest
Melbourne Storm... Rugby league Melbourne Rebels... Rugby union
Richard
Guest
Dennis, following my earlier posts, I watched the press conference again, read as much of the report as I could find and listened to a vast array of views and thoughts from a variety of different sources. Whilst I may have been polite earlier in my comments, there is no doubting that there has been a complete breakdown of governance at the club. Just who was in charge, how it got to where it got to, and how it was allowed to happen is diabolical to say the least. Again, if Dr Reid's letter was acted upon, it would have been a very different story. We wait and see what happens next post AFL/ASADA
vocans
Guest
As far as I see it, all Swit's report (which tells us what we already knew in a series of euphemisms) does is lead us to ask the questions: who (singular or plural) made use of the organisational laxity? And who was responsible for the laxity, and was it intentional on their part? We hope ASADA etc will shed light on that. Due process and still waiting.
Micko
Guest
Obviously their "Whatever it Takes"was a "brain"storm of the Footy Department...
Dennis Brennan
Guest
If Dank, Hamilton and Robinson are the only culprits to be disciplined, how did they get so much power? David Evans and James Hird must take ultimate responsibility. To what extent they knew what was going on is largely irrelevant. The fact 'it' happened, whatever 'it' actually was, occurred on their watch as leaders of the club. Hird believes he has done nothing illegal and will be vindicated. This may be true, but gross errors in judgement and management can not be denied. Evans will stand for re-election at the earliest possible time, in November. Why could he or the board not call an extraordinary general meeting immediately given the gravity of the situation. As for standing again, what level of incompetence would Mr Evans consider appropriate not to re-nominate. I hope the ASADA report will not be the white wash of a few scape goats that this report appears to be.
Dennis Brennan
Guest
If Dank, Hamilton and Robinson are the only culprits to be disciplined, how did they get so much power? David Evans and James Hird must take ultimate responsibility. To what extent they knew what was going on is largely irrelevant. The fact 'it' happened, whatever 'it' actually was, occurred on their watch as leaders of the club. Hird believes he has done nothing illegal and will be vindicated. This may be true, but gross errors in judgement and management can not be denied. Evans will stand for re-election at the earliest possible time, in November. Why could he or the board not call an extraordinary general meeting immediately given the gravity of the situation. As for standing again, what level of incompetence would Mr Evans consider appropriate not to re-nominate. I hope the ASADA report will not be the white wash of a few scape goats that this report appears to be.
Cugel
Roar Rookie
Yep, they were playing the ball when all the other teams' were using rucks and mauls.
Stavros
Guest
Maybe I didn't word that correctly. What I mean is that whatever decisions Essendon make regarding their own staff is their business. If they find that Robson, Evans and Hird were responsible for the process breakdown, but decide to keep employing them, then that is their right. Its got nothing to do with anyone outside of the club.
Glenn Mitchell
Expert
I take it Stavros given your comment that you believe ASADA should not be investigating Essendon's practices as what they " do internally is their own business'. If that is the case we will just have to accept total anarchy in sport where no one is ever accountable.
Stavros
Guest
James, I agree. What Essendon do internally is their business. Don't know why guys like Glenn Mitchell are so keen to see heads roll.
Richard
Guest
I also suppose that in the alpha male environment of the footy dept as Ziggy refers to, the Doc was marginalised. That is very sad if that indeed happened. But again,we just don't know.
Richard
Guest
Glenn, I totally agree with you. It obviously went to someone and as mark said did not reach the board. Whoever didn't pass it on or refer it to the board could have potentially stopped a great deal of trouble for the club. I am still unsure why Evans can't confirm who received the letter and why it was not passed on. I can only conclude that in time action will be taken internally. As to James point, the media are into that as the questioning suggested today. It is a very obvious question and certainly not an unfair question.
Richard
Guest
James, the media annoy me at the best of times. And yes they can probably smell some blood in the water and the media herd is chasing hard. However, aren't they also asking some obvious questions? And realistically, do you not think at the very least that someone in a position of authority other than dean Robinson should be held accountable? I state again, I sincerely hope that no doping has taken place however this whole episode has cast a dark shadow over the competition so the charge of bringing the game into disrepute still stands. Iam not sure this is a disgraceful attitude but more a realistic outcome. I am not saying this to wind you up more as a talking point so please take my comments in the spirit that they are intended. Cheers
Australian Rules
Guest
That quote bears out the irrefutable failure of the Essendon Football Club. We know that the club had a extensive injecting program. We don't yet know whether the substances used were illegal or banned. Appallingly...neither does the club. THAT is the damning fact which will apply *regardless* of the findings of the ASADA report. The club has failed its players miserably.