The regulatory nightmare that has plagued the Essendon Football Club’s drug saga has reared its ugly head again.
James Hird said he’s surprised. And he said the whole of Melbourne would be surprised. But are we and should we be?
One of the biggest problems the football world has had in understanding the Bombers’ plight is the way in which the issue has been framed.
Several regulatory schemes, most of which are unrelated, have all had a stake in the case: ASADA, Essendon, the AFL and the AFL Players Association to name a few. Each time a party became involved, the landscape and complexity of the issue morphed into something new.
Take Worksafe, for example.
When Worksafe finally came to the party and looked at the incident from a workplace safety point of view, the issue went from being one framed around drug cheats to an issue of occupational health and safety.
The rhetoric went along these lines: imagine going to work, doing something your boss – whom you trust – tells you to do, then finding out months later that you are being investigated by authorities for that very thing your boss told you to do.
Of course, injecting substances without question would happen at very few workplaces, but the analogy is definitely there to be made.
Today we’re no more clearer on what the 34 Essendon players were injected with – legal or not – and whether or not these injections will have ramifications for the players’ future health. After ASADA unceremoniously failed to gather enough compelling evidence to charge the Essendon players with taking a banned substance, it seemed inevitable that we may never know.
But the closing of the ASADA investigation did not rule out the possibility of another trial under the auspices of a bigger, more powerful body: WADA.
And with the introduction of WADA to the fray, the framing of the issue has once again changed. It’s now a David and Goliath battle as a team from Australia takes on a body that was founded in Lausanne, Switzerland, but now officially resides in Montreal, Canada.
Australia versus the world. No, Essendon versus the world. No, it’s got to be Hird versus the world.
It’s something the Essendon players shouldn’t have to endure, especially in the wake of the ASADA verdict and the weight of over two years of speculation being lifted off their shoulders just over a month ago. But the strict liability rules enforced with doping dictate that it’s the players who are ultimately responsible for what they may or may not have had injected into their bodies.
For those who champion clean sport, this is a good day. For those who despair at the thought of young boys’ lives and careers being tarnished, perhaps destroyed, then this is far from a good day. And for those wanting to reconcile the two, this is a day that may ultimately never come to fruition.
We want our athletes and our sporting codes to be clean, but do we want this at the expense of 34 players who are still unsure of what was injected into their persons?
As WADA lodges its independent right to appeal to the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS), these are the issues that will again be raised. But for the first time since the scandal broke in early 2013, the AFL will be totally powerless.
What’s more, this will be a truly independent trial.
There will be no cries of any body acting ultra vires, or beyond the scope of their power, as Essendon claimed the AFL had done when conducting a joint investigation with ASADA. Emotion will be stripped from the trial, which may be presided over by authorities that have never watched, let alone heard of AFL.
Because of this, it’s imperative this new chapter of the doping saga is framed properly so that revisionist history is not played out. Both Hird and captain Jobe Watson have said, in the wake of WADA’s appeal to the CAS, they draw hope and strength from their not guilty verdicts handed down by ASADA.
But the fact of the matter is that the 34 players charged with doping were never exonerated with a ‘not guilty’ verdict. The tribunal didn’t even consider the question because of the lack of evidence tabled at the trial.
And if this same lack of evidence wasn’t enough to deter WADA, Essendon should be worried because if WADA are choosing to pursue the Essendon players then they must have a reasonable belief that there is a case to answer for.
Bryce
Guest
It was time to finally lay this matter to rest,not prolong it,especially after such an exhaustive and lengthy process. Anyone who thinks dragging it on for even a minute longer must have rocks in their head. Bryce.
Dianne Watson
Guest
Oh for crying out loud.All you experts out there that seem to know all the answers. Don't you think all the rubbish you people go on about has been spoken about with the hierarchy. You all sound worse than Caroline Wilson. Can't believe you are all so knowledgeable why haven't you solved the problem and sorted this mess out. You are the one's out of control.
Mikey
Guest
Julian Rogers - "not guilty, by the three judge independent panel, is precisely what was handed down" No it wasn't. The verdict was "not comfortably satisfied" which is a long way short of "not guilty" While the EFC - and a lot of the media - prefers to use "not guilty" when describing the verdict, this is incorrect. It sounds better but does not really reflect the findings which did not provide such a definitive black or white result.
DaveM
Guest
It is almost impossible to believe that Dank is the only person who knows what was injected. My belief is that at least Hird , Dank and Charter knew the full facts. I also have the suspicion that other key people at the club may have been fed misleading information about the true nature of the program. I have had dealings with a Compounding Pharmacist and you dont simply drop off a package of a substance at the Pharmacy and ask the Chemist to make it up into injectable doses ........you have to provide evidence of the substance's nature etc. Interesting that Mr Alawi has reportedly claimed the following : "Mr Alavi compounded 30 to 40 vials of Thymosin from the raw ingredients delivered to him by Mr Charter and was told the mixture was for Essendon." http://www.abc.net.au/news/2014-06-25/stephen-dank-suspected-of-forgery-by-doctor-pharmicist/5550446
julian rogers
Guest
"But the fact of the matter is that the 34 players charged with doping were never exonerated with a ‘not guilty’ verdict." This is an odd statement in the article - not guilty, by the three judge independent panel, is precisely what was handed down. Hate to say it but we have another 6 months media circus coming up, where people can say what they want, and it will take at least that amount of time for another not guilty verdict to be handed down.
Andrew
Guest
In my opinion, 12 mths was not enough. His job at the club is.
mdso
Guest
Incorrect. Lance had four positive tests. None saw the light of day until much later. Someone either misplaced, covered up deliberately or lost the tests. Much later in the investigation they turned up after someone told them where to look.
mdso
Guest
So the AFL employed Robinson and Dank at the Gold Coast Suns, Melbourne also had dealings with Dank and Carlton and Geelong and perhaps other AFL clubs who were also running supplement programs. Dank worked with Robinson were in high demand not only in the AFL but also the NRL. So are you saying when you are talking about people using Dank and Robinson, that the AFL are corrupt? If they knew they were unscrupulous and employed them anyway and then allowed ESSENDON TO EMPLOY THEM. If they were corrupt at the Suns, why would the AFL keep that quiet and not inform other AFL clubs? That argument doesn't hold water. You are talking about a possible conspiracy. Assumptions get us nowhere, there are many things about this investigation which leave us with more unanswered questions than ever and some which make no sense at all. Like gagging the players and leaking stories to the media which are blatantly untrue. No records, no one knows what they took.
Mikey
Guest
mdso you said: "If there were spread sheets then ASADA have them and the AFL has had access to them. Then; where are they? People have said they know they exist and have seen them. So the question is, where are they now?" Question answered - it has been reported that the players lawyers have a copy of the spreadsheets but did not use them as part of the players defence. The reason? Because they were not supported by verifiable documentation. A spreadsheet in itself is worthless iif what is on it can't be verified.
mdso
Guest
And; you know this how? Read it in the paper, saw it on t.v. that assumption has never been proven. When ASADA do an investigation they come in with a forensic team and take everything connected with the investigation. If there were spread sheets then ASADA have them and the AFL has had access to them. Then; where are they? People have said they know they exist and have seen them. So the question is, where are they now? It simply is untrue that ALL the players don't know what they were given. Although this is the story being peddled by media. Why does Jobe Watson interview with ASADA appear nowhere in any documentation? Others also. Why were the players gagged by the AFL? When the authorities investigating were leaking information to the media which could not be answered by the players and staff at EFC? Lots of questions unanswered which need answers, not assumptions and conclusions!
Casper
Guest
Really pjm? Maybe you need to do a bit more research.
Mick
Guest
Regardless, whichever way you boil it down Australian Rules will never completely play 2nd fiddle to soccer - sure it has it's 5 minutes now because of the failed EFC debacle but it is only because of that and we're at the pointy end of the soccer season. In fact I find hard to get my head around why there is even a debate about whether soccer will take over in this country, c'mon Australia leave the comedy to the experts!
Martin
Guest
Not Essendon, rather thanks to WADA.
WhereIsGene
Guest
Hird has already been banned for 12 months for Bringing The Game Into Disrepute. The only person in football's 100+ year history to be found guilty of that charge twice in fact.
WhereIsGene
Guest
Text messages between Dank & Hird prove James knew exactly what the players were being given.
WhereIsGene
Guest
I doubt they can subpoena Dank or any of the other witnesses but we'll see. Its highly unlikely Dank is the only person who knew what was taken at Essendon in 2012. A massive injection program involving almost every player at the club isn't run by a single person and its ridiculous to believe he was capable of hiding its' details from everyone else who worked there, or that he wasn't doing exactly Hird wanted - the text messages between them prove James was being kept in the loop and informed at every stage of the process. Clubs don't hire people like Charter & Dank in the first place unless they plan on breaking the rules without being caught. Both men have the shadiest reputations imaginable and are famous for procuring cutting-edge performance enhancing drugs for their clients.
Bobbo7
Guest
Yep, thanks Essendon
Martin
Guest
Jim, you got no idea and probably read The Age newspaper.
David Ward
Guest
Exactly, Brian. The tribunal hearing was held in camera. The standard of proof is little more than a figure of speech - if you could test all the respondents to this article for what it means to be comfortably satisfied about their convictions I doubt you'd arrive at an objective standard, for example. I'm not sure I'd be comfortably satisfied that a lumbering former ruckman (nick-)named Moose necessarily knows what it means, either. Whatever "framing" has occurred has been shaped by incomprehension as much as self-interest, and is of very little significance in the scheme of things. Most of the media may as well have been reluctant plus-ones dragged along to a concert, periodically aroused by a song they think they recognise. Their rock-solid conjecture is as reliable as the forward estimates for the 2053-54 financial year. WADA's people will have decided to proceed on the basis of the brief McDevitt gave them, and the hope they'll be able to subpoena a couple of previously recalcitrant witnesses to colour in a few of the blanks. Various legal fortune tellers around town confidently predict this won't happen, which is as good a reason as any to suspect that it may. Beyond that, and the fact that every application to have gone before a formal arbitrator to date has failed, emphatically, we have no idea who will prevail. The only thing we can be confident of is that whoever loses will act as if they won. You can bet yr superannuation on that.
pjm
Roar Rookie
Same amount as Lance Armstrong.