- Video
-
Club Roar
Captured a great grassroots sporting moment? We want to see it!Content Collections
The Roar Community
- Join
- Login
‘Mud sticks’ is an old adage that will haunt Essendon. It will take a miracle for the Bombers to escape from this chaos with their dignity intact.
Sports fans don’t forget history (in the case of the Western Bulldogs, it may be all they have). Think of the turmoil that has surrounded clubs over the last decade or so:
West Coast Eagles won a premiership – almost two – then the fabric of the place started to collapse with rumours and then proof of rampant recreational drug use by current and former players.
Carlton’s systematic salary cap breaches cost them a potential all-out assault on the top of the table when they were fined almost $1 million and a raft of draft picks, including Brendon Goddard and Daniel Wells.
In an attempt to stockpile young talent, Melbourne went out to make it as hard as possible for their players to win, thus ensuring they made the cut for the priority pick. The inevitable investigation couldn’t prove what was glaringly obvious, so scapegoats were found and punished.
And the less said about St Kilda’s ‘team bonding’ the better.
In those cases there was blame laid and responsibility taken (even if reluctantly). The stench may still linger, but the garbage has been removed.
When it comes to Essendon, the ongoing fight to prove something that is so far from the issue smacks of misguided hubris and attempts of smoke-screening the truth.
James Hird has gone from the golden boy of the AFL and god-like status of Bombers fans to an ostracised megalomaniac. He has shown time and time again that he is Essendon. He will utilise their funds and reputation as he sees fit. When the entire club saw their attempt to derail this investigation fail and readied themselves to take their punishment (which if agreed to when it was first offered, would now be over), Hird pushed it to even more staggering degrees by considering a High Court appeal.
He is not fighting for the innocence of his players and club, he is fighting to free himself from responsibility on a technicality.
Essendon fans (and only Essendon fans) say that he his challenging an illegal investigation and that he feels justice hasn’t been properly served. He is battling for his rights to be protected by the law.
I have no problem with that. It’s his entitlement as a citizen in a democracy. The problem, and what I feel would be the same views held by the rest of the football fraternity, is that he is dragging the entire club through the dirt with him.
Whether it’s intentional or not, while he is the head coach, everything he does in the name of this investigation with be directly and legally linked with Essendon FC. If he feels an injustice has been done then he should have put the club before himself – fallen on his sword and walked away. He could then challenge as many judges as he likes in his quest for his truth.
Imagine the martyr he would have become!
The leaders of that club should have had the intestinal fortitude to jettison him when his delusions of grandeur began to affect the reputation of the club. But for some reason still unbeknownst to any logical person, they have let the Hird Circus come before the protection of this 144-year-old organisation that has been a powerhouse for decades.
Now at the hands of one man that history is going to have a huge stain on it. And I don’t think that stain will ever be removed.
Who’s in your ultimate team? Pick the best team and compete with other fans for daily prizes on Draftstars. For the best odds on the game try out Aussie bookmaker PlayUp. Think. Is this a bet you really want to place? Set a deposit limit.