Essendon players should not be issued with infraction notices. It is as simple as that!
The naming of 14 past and present Bombers players last week by the Herald Sun brought the whole supplements saga back to the forefront of public consciousness.
Although the debate was largely focused on the ethics of publishing the players’ identities, it was irrelevant to the issue at hand. What is relevant is that the investigation into the whole sordid ordeal is yet to be wrapped up and made public.
The players still face an uncertain fate. Whether we know their names or not doesn’t change that fact.
But it would be a travesty of justice if any one of those players were rubbed out for what was essentially a breach of trust.
Yes, I know that the athlete is responsible for what goes into his or her body and even the most robust of excuses is seldom considered by the anti doping authorities. But on this occasion a couple of simple facts need to be looked at.
At the beginning of each year the AFL visits every club and runs a seminar for the players. Among the topics discussed is the administration of ‘substances’. The players are instructed to run anything past the club doctor that they are unsure of.
Pretty simple stuff. But what happens when your club doctor signs off on the substance involved? Where to then for the unfortunate player who is told to place his trust in the medical fraternity?
As we learnt during Jobe Watson’s now infamous interview on Fox Footy’s ‘On The Couch’ program, Essendon’s doctor, Bruce Reid, had signed off on the AOD drug that Watson believed he had taken.
And while rumour abounds that the doctor was ridden over roughshod by a pack of the club’s ‘alpha’ males, it must be remembered that Dr. Reid was the only member of this whole mess who actually had the balls to follow through on his threat of legal action against the AFL.
The league was so spooked by his refusal to back down that it decided in its infinite wisdom to drop all of its accusations against him. He is no easybeat!
So now we have the unique situation of the players being caught in the middle, which is where this particular case veers away from the situation that professional cycling has faced in the past.
For the most part in the cycling world, the individual riders knew exactly what they were taking and knew unequivocally that what they were doing was wrong. In fact many riders, Australia’s own Stuart O’Grady included, would go and source their drug of choice personally.
Of course teams had doping programs as well, with doctors and managers intimately involved, but there was no wool being pulled over the cyclists’ eyes.
They knew exactly what was going on and it led to an omertà: a fiercely protected code of silence at the top level of the sport that was broken only at an individual’s peril. I have little to no sympathy for them.
The only mistake the Essendon players made was to follow the directions of their controlling body and accept the word of their club doctor. They shouldn’t be made to pay for someone else’s negligence, especially when those responsible for their welfare have escaped largely unscathed.
Stephen Dank, perhaps the instigator of the whole affair, hasn’t even been spoken to by ASADA. Dean Robinson, aka ‘The Weapon’, is free to do as he chooses.
Yes, he lost his job at Essendon, but he wasn’t sacked. He was stood down on full pay when the story first broke and then resigned before his ‘tell-all’ interview with Channel Seven.
The ill-conceived interview earnt Robinson a tidy sum, but all it really showed was that the besieged fitness manager didn’t know the meaning of the phrase ‘black ops’.
And we have already spoken of the doctor.
We could go on and debate the role played by head coach James Hird and the severity (or lack there of) of his punishment, but we’d be going over old ground.
There is still some doubt over whether or not the substances administered to the Essendon players were or are legal. If they have crossed the doping line, then the situation as a whole needs to be looked at when deciding on punishment.
While the doping authorities would like to see everything in black and white, the fact remains that there is a lot of grey in this case and it must be adjudicated accordingly.
Unfortunately for the Essendon players, they are the ones that stand to lose the most. The whole saga has been extremely divisive with opinion swinging wildly from one extreme to the other.
One universal point of view, though, is that this must never be allowed to happen again. Steps must be taken by everyone associated with the sport to ensure we don’t revisit this scenario two, five, 10 or 20 years down the track.
Otherwise we have learnt nothing.
David
Guest
Q. Why do players take any supplements? Perhaps to gain an unnatural advantage? Take supplements out of the game! Put all clubs /players on notice and make an example of essendon that will echo with all sports and players in Australia. I don't like cheats...no supplements please
David
Guest
You are missing the point Any supplement legal or otherwise is administered for a reason. Q.what is the purpose? I think you. Will find it provides an unnatural advantage to the players...else there would be no supplement program. My view is that supplements of any kind are unnatural...ban them ALL..and put all clubs on notice. It is so wrong for clubs to be injecting players at all...wake up players and wake up clubs!
skeptical mullet
Guest
Gene... you say... "essendon continues to claim they do NOT BELIEVE anything illegal was given to players at the SAME TIME as saying they do NOT KNOW what was given to the players. The first statement is absolute just marketing garbage" Essendon cannot be absolute of their surety because no records were taken. They have signed consent forms, Dank's schedule of injections and receipts...if any of these are not kosher the club are in trouble and Dank should be hung. This is not equivalent to having no idea as you allude to, and as for marketing garbage, well, they are complete bufoons if , as you think, they are trying to dupe the whole world by saying they have proof when they don't. I can't recall hearing this. I know Dank has said this. If they have proof how do you know they haven't provided it? FACT-you don't. This investigation isn't privy to the public, you do understand this?...well..except the 'leaks'. Your conclusion they lied and misled is a complete non-sequitur. In fact one of their players admitted he received it(AOD) on national television. You think the essendon hierarchy were at home chuckling and thinking-we'll just tell them we have proof. At best this whole affair is bad record keeping and hence governance. At worst it is far more sinister. The club were seduced by a snake oil salesman who didn't deliver what was demanded- safe and legal supplements. "Also there is this one inescapable FACT you would have everyone forget … It’s not over" Underbelly referred to AOD specifically, not being on Dank's impending charge sheet...how do you glean underbelly would have people forget?.. You are right about one thing only. It's not over.
Cat
Roar Guru
Underbelly, Yes essendon continues to claim they do NOT BELIEVE anything illegal was given to players at the SAME TIME as saying they do NOT KNOW what was given to the players. The first statement is absolute just marketing garbage, if they don't know what was given they cannot have any clue whether it was legal or not. Its nothing but wishful thinking and something to give the Essendon sheeple something to hold onto like its some fact that it isn't. Essendon has claimed they had permission to use AOD and could prove it, thats FACT, also FACT is they have NEVER EVER ONCE provided that so called proof. Thats PROOF they LIED and MISLED. Also theres is this one inescapable FACT you would have everyone forget ... It's not over ...
Underbelly
Guest
Here we go again......"Surely you can understand that Essendon have not denied that the players were administered banned PEDs?"....really? The club has never admitted that & has publicly stated many, many times that they believe the players were not administered PED's.....too many sheeple make up their own statements as "facts" to suit their agenda...... in regards to AOD, IF media reports are to be believed, then that substance hasn't even made it to the list Dank has been requested by ASADA to respond to.....don't you find that a little bemusing when every armchair expert here has scientifically confirmed its a banned PED??? After tens of thousands of investigative hours, interviews, discussions, dissections & analysis from experts all across this country there are still 0 positive tests, 0 infraction notices, 0 bans, 0 conclusive evidence - ZIP.....that's right ZIP... But let's not let the "facts" stand in the way of a good story..... The best any armchair experts, media, commentators & sheeple can still come up with is IF, possibly, could, maybe, should, I think, I've heard, I understand, I believe, I feel, my sources said, .....oops, sorry I forgot, have to stop ranting.....they are guilty.....cos.....well just cos of the "vibe" of the whole thing....
skeptical mullet
Guest
Try and get a handle on this handles... Belly boy didn't say it's a conspiracy. He accused others of such. Emotive issues cloud our comprehension.. Surely YOU must understand- if Jobe said on television he was given human growth hormones and anabolic steroids-do you think he would still be playing? You may choose to believe otherwise...As Underbelly say's-everyone is an expert and has a theory-usually supported by a shrill cry of 'guilty' and a statement of fact. May I ask you, If the report about Melbourne is correct, and players were injected by Dank, then what is the arbitrary cut off point you've arrived at for 'serving time'. When you say- "any other club that had ignored the rules to the same degree would be dragged into it." - I assume it's a matter of 'degrees' then. So how many injections before being punished/outraged.11?...23?...9?...100? ,,,and what were the 'rules' being ignored? If banned substances were taken, then fair enough. Apparently there are 40 peptides, 2 of which are banned. I've followed this fairly closely. Mark Thompson asserts the AFL knew essendon were undertaking this program but chose to ignore it. If so, the implications as a governing body are obvious and essendon may be partly justified in feeling aggrieved. Until we have all the info laid out in front of us rampant speculation and judgement will endure....and we all must live with it.
handles
Guest
Yeah, sure. The whole thing is a conspiracy against the Bombers, because, um, because, nobody likes black and red. Right? Surely you can understand that Essendon have not denied that the players were administered banned PEDs? Jobe Watson admitted it on national television. And as much as you might choose to believe otherwise, any other club that had ignored the rules to the same degree would be dragged into it. The AFL has no control over the investigation, and if they did, they certainly wouldn't be directing the flak in the way of one of their most successful clubs. The Bombers did the crimes, and the Bombers will serve their time. Live with it.
Underbelly
Guest
So 2 years on from an ACC investigation, 12+ months of an ASADA investigation, 1000's of hours of investigative reporting from journos, an AFL investigation and even an internal EFC investigation and yet there's still no conclusive proof that banned PEDs we're administered?? It's one thing to throw out wild allegations, it's another to prove guilt. Argue all you like about AOD but there's still no clarity from ASADA.... If you want to argue on moral grounds that injecting supplements is wrong then everyone's entitled to their view. But I didn't hear those same moral crusaders jumping up & down about the Hawks experimenting with injection procedures in 2012...... http://m.theage.com.au/afl/afl-news/hawks-set-the-pace-in-injection-science-20120924-26hhg.html Nor did I hear the same emotion from the moral crusaders about Melbourne's association with Dank that was initially hidden from the AFL and the correspondence between club doctor.... http://mobile.abc.net.au/news/2013-04-18/text-messages-reveal-danks-demons-involvement/4637954 Where are the moral crusaders calling for the AFL to come clean on last years AFL survey which revealed "The supplements survey also found that 12 clubs conducted programs with medium or high levels of supplement use and lacked "a single point of accountability".... http://m.afl.com.au/news/2013-10-15/afl-no-needles-policy 14 months ago the majority of people would have known what a PED is or even heard of AOD. Yet now everyone's suddenly an expert.....because of what they've read online or in the media..... To listen to all the "experts" here going about what happened at the EFC when even the most comprehensive investigations have not yet delivered anything conclusive is laughable. When pushed by Doc Reid to court the AFL dropped everything.....hardly what you'd expect when their "charge" sheet clearly showed the club was guilty.... So despite various organisations spending tens of thousands of hours investigating the EFC there's still ZIP..... But stick to your wild allegations, accusations, circumstantial evidence, conspiracy theories & "expert" scientific supplement analysis....cos they are guilty.....why?.....well......cos it's just the "vibe" of the whole thing....
kick to kick
Guest
Fair points -especially on the standard of proof. I may have underestimated ASADA in that the recent "show cause" notice to Stephen Dank over 34 alleged drug administration breaches at Essendon suggests action against players will follow.
clayts
Guest
Interesting isn't it. If the bombers were say, a Chinese swimming team or an Italian cyclist, we would have all found them guilty beyond question at the mere mention of any substances. But no, they are Australian and a footy team so they can't possibly have done anything wrong.
Jeremy Darke
Roar Rookie
To quote the mighty peter griffin, "you know what grinds my grits!!??" Drug scandals in Aussie sport! All this Dank business has gone on for too long! How long does it take to get all the details and sort this stuff out?? It is ruining the AFL and the NRL with speculation this and speculation that!!! Give your fines, make your bans and lets just move on!!! How about that for a solution!!!???
pope paul v11
Guest
Old Dankster's been issued with a show cause. The comments of his Barista, putting his thumbs in braces and calling ASADA odd is hilarious. Have a look at your client matey?
skeptical mullet
Guest
According to a media report last year (largely unnoticed ) AOD has had 900 odd trials dating back over a decade. It has been given a 'generally recognized as safe' rating by the U.S. food and drug admin. Ian,when a study/trial asserts safety outcomes to be equivalent to placebo then I suggest you will have a similar 'cancer event' in the placebo/control group. Cherry picking of information can lead to skewed conclusion's, not to mention, sensational headlines. Ian, if you have evidence that Essendon players took beta thymosin , as you state as a fact, then I suggest you present it pronto to ASADA. Game over, suspensions. Did you happen to read an article in the 'Australian' around mid January this year which 'reported' that the AFL (and asada?..can't remember) 'ignored' 'evidence', such as a spread sheet found on Dank's computer with a schedule of injections. On the schedule 'Thymodulin' - a legal form of Thymosin (as opposed to Beta 4) was indicated. Also the club has a picture of a bottle of Thymodulin in Dank's fridge. Instead, when players were asked 'did you recieve Thymosin?' many couldn't say or recall except to respond with 'it sounds familiar'...if that report is true, you can see how using snippets of information can lead to a very skewed outlook, to sensationalism, to mass hysteria..oh, and 'bonus points' for some. The point is, I'm not accusing you of 'cherry picking', rather- ignorance...(of all the info...thus far..not a crime) and like the majority it seems, no critical thinking skills... Hopefully, now Dank's been called out, he will go to court and then we may hear all the evidence laid out instead of the mainly ramblings of a 'sensationalist and lazy media'.
Rabbitz
Roar Guru
Sorry Sean but you are plain wrong. The ultimate responsibility lies with the athlete. That is exactly the point of the "Strict Liability" provisions. It immediately removes the "I didn't know" and the "someone else gave it to me" defences so prized in the early days of anti-doping investigations. If you are found to have doped, found to have intended to dope or are found in possession of banned substances and/or methods to administer the banned substances then "Strict Liability" applies. As you said "It is pretty simple". If ASADA/WADA find any of the offences likely to be proved then they must issue infraction notices and must test the allegations. This is the real world, not the protected fairyland of the footy world. It is a pretty hard place out there in the real world, and no one ever promised that life had to be fair.
handles
Guest
All of these players would have been highly drug aware. From the first rep game they play as 16 y.o. kids, they get drug awareness lectures, along with signing codes of conduct and all the other palaver. Ignorance can never be an excuse.
handles
Guest
Try playing the ball Stavros, not the man.
Cat
Roar Guru
Players ARE responsible for EVERYTHING that goes into their bodies. Even more damning in my opinion is the blind acceptance the EFC playing list has shown towards the club Administration who made this all happen. If I was a player AND I was stupid enough to blindly allow myself to be jabbed with who knows what and then had it blow up like it has, I damn sure would be screaming for heads to roll, I would not be hiding behind them and martyring them.
Stavros
Guest
Don't put me in that category. I am in a small category though. The category is "let's wait and see what the results of the investigation brings before jumping to conclusions"
GazzaW
Guest
The players are responsible for what goes into their bodies and they weren't diligent in questioning what went on. But the "then" Essendon leadership has acted shamefully in allowing these players to be put in this situation. I doubt any of these players would have done this in a private manner they only did it because the club made it available. Where are the records if it was above board then the club would have those record ready for scrutiny but they can't. We forget how young some of these guys are and how desperate they are to please what's likely to be their only football employer A employer who can let them go at a moments notice with little or no prospect of being employed anywhere else as a player. Also from a young age club unity is drilled into our juniors making them even more vulnerable especially when first drafted to such practices. This betrayel of trust makes what Essendon did even worse than what it initially appears. However ASADA makes regular visits these clubs and briefs them on the rules so some players must have had an suspicion somewhere. And the rules are clear you are responsible for what goes into your body so regardless on how you feel if ASADA determines they they took peds then they will be punished.
Avon River
Guest
#Fadida I don't condone Essendons behaviour or methods nor the players acceptance as it would be too easy to set up a no fault program otherwise. However in the case of AOD9604 the discussion should stay on track so talk about criminal action or muscle building is probably off the mark. IWs alarmist post was odd given the link didn't support his proposition. But in no way do I suggest that which you try to categorise me as. Did you actually read the posts?