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I picked myself up off the floor and read it again trying to hold back the laughter.
The Ziggy Switkowski report stated that the Essendon AFL club doctor, Bruce Reid had detailed in a letter to the Essendon board serious concerns about the drug supplement program run by Dean Robinson and Stephen Dank, but the Essendon club management and its chairman David Evans have never seen any letter and have no idea where that letter ended up.
There were other letters and emails and they didn’t get to the board either.
Why didn’t the doctor just arrange a meeting with the chairman or other members of the board and tell them in person what was going on?
Unbelievably, we also learned that there is a ”lack of clarity” about who actually ran the football department and who is accountable for the rapid diversification into exotic supplements, the increased number of injections, use of off-site injection rooms, the emergence of unfamiliar drug suppliers and the marginalisation and loss of control by the Bombers medical staff.
Could this all be bizarrely true or is this just another attempt at a cover up by an AFL club?
The AFL press has always written that the game of AFL is doing very well. If you say it often enough you soon believe it.
The AFL of course has their own AFL Media Department, with more journalists than Fairfax media.
Whenever there is a crisis in AFL, the Media Department circles its wagons and reassures all that everything is well and there is nothing to worry about.
Is this protectionism leading to a management culture in AFL where they believe they are invincible and have little need to be accountable for their actions?
David Evans was always going to fall on his sword, but what is Andrew Demetriou’s role in all this and what is his level of accountability.
Evans says the buck stops with him, but as its likely that Essendon is not the only AFL club being investigated for performance enhancing drug abuse, should Demetriou have to face the music?
What exactly was Demetriou aware of?
As he says, did he really have no knowledge that AFL clubs under his control were abusing their responsibilities as an AFL club and lacked accountability for their actions to themselves, their club and its players and fans.
In one sense, that’s why Andrew Demetriou has such tight control of the AFL and its media department. Not only to protect the game, but to protect himself.
Where others see mountainous challenges and labyrinthine complexities and keep falling off their chairs, Demetriou remains seated. He keeps it simple, lifts confidence and has a proven ability for building successful AFL clubs of what where once rubbish suburban VFL teams.
No, so far as Andrew’s concerned, it’s more complex than we mortals could ever imagine and that’s why he needs to be in control.
Just as the AFL was once the answer to the VFL, the AFL Media Department is the answer to the AFL.
It’s brilliant stuff if you believe anything is possible, which Andrew obviously does.
Will this cause any significant damage to the Essendon AFL club, Demetriou or the AFL itself? I doubt it.
Although the numbers are down on their best years, the fans are still out there in lemming-like droves baying for blood to be spilt on the hallowed MCG turf, screaming as loud as they can through their serpentine striped woollen scarfs and turban like beanies, that not only keep out the cold, but also let people know who they are and what they stand for.
No, Andrew will continue to be revered as “the greatest sports administrator this country has ever seen”.
As soon as it all blows over, the AFL Media department will be back to shipping out more AFL feel good stories than the Australian media can handle.
So here we are again, just like the last time and the time before that, smoke pouring out the back of the AFL world-domination machine, pretending there’s nothing to worry about. Just keep the juggernaut going at all costs.
On the surface it all sounds like terribly serious investigative sports journalism.
It’s not.
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