Former Essendon coach James Hird says he accepts “a level” of responsibility for the supplements scandal that has rocked the AFL.
The Court of Arbitration for Sport this week upheld the World Anti-Doping Agency’s appeal against the AFL tribunal decision to clear 34 players of taking the banned substance thymosin-beta 4 while Hird was coach, handing 34 past and present players a 12-month ban.
In an ABC News 24 interview at The Ethics Centre in Sydney, Hird said he should have done more too prevent the situation that has now enveloped the club, cruelling its performance since 2102 and potentially ending careers.
“It is not just 2016 that it has wiped off (for the players) and potentially beyond but it has been 2013, 14 and 15 where they weren’t able to get the opportunity to play the football to their ability,” he told interviewer Tracey Holmes.
“I have a level of responsibility in that. I should have known more. I should have done more when the opportunity came.
“I feel extremely guilty for that and bad for that. I can only apologise for that. I made decisions in real time that in hindsight, I think were wrong.”
But Hird said others at Essendon made the situation worse and, while he had no objection to ASADA freely conducting its own investigation, he hinted the AFL had denied the club and the players a fair hearing.
“I don’t feel like a victim myself but those 34 players are victims of this situation, a situation that, at the first instance, is the responsibility of the Essendon Football Club,” he said.
“The football club and as a part that I had in it, has to put up its hand and say we made mistakes.
“Those mistakes were compounded by people in authority and outside the club.
“When I feel guilt, sadness, devastation for the players, I am also upset at the way the procedural fairness or process was enacted to deny our players procedural fairness and the football club fairness.”
Hird said part of the blame should be shared by club doctor Bruce Reid, who he said approved supplements for use, because he had a better understanding of the supplements and their effects than other members of the club’s hierarchy.
Dr Reid remains at the club.
“We all should have done more and Bruce would admit he should have done more as well,” Hird said.
When asked at what point he thought Dr Reid should have taken more responsibility, Hird said: “I don’t think Bruce should have to leave the Essendon Football Club.
“Bruce’s primary concern at all times is the welfare of players. Bruce is a very, very good man. I think he has paid a price – not the price that the players have paid – the players have paid the ultimate price for this and their careers, a lot of them, are either ruined or they have gone back a long way.
“I don’t know whether Bruce has taken enough responsibility or not. That is something you will have to ask Bruce but I do know that he has worn a lot of criticism for this.”
Hird said he still believed the substances given to his players were legal.
“At no time did I ever, ever consider that banned or performance enhancing drugs would be at our club,” he said.
“It is just something that never entered my mind. I still to this date don’t believe that anything banned was given to our players.”
Hird said no one can say what substances the players were given.
“Sports scientist Stephen Dank can say for certain what they were injected with.
“But if that is the case, if no one can say for certain what they were injected with, how can 34 men be found guilty?”
Hird said Dank showed he and others photographs of thymomodulin, an approved supplement, and thymomodulin appeared on spreadsheets related to the supplements program.
Hird said he questions where Dank obtained his supplements and believes Dank had no reason to deliberately dope Essendon players.
“No one knows except Stephen Dank what they put in those injections. I don’t see why he would do it,” he said.
The saga had taken a terrible toll on his family, Hird said.
It had also changed him.
“Definitely, an experience like this can’t help but change certain elements of you as a person.
“You are a lot harder. You don’t trust as much.”
andyl12
Guest
"no positive blood tests" Actually, WADA produced blood samples that formed part of their case. "no confessions" Many at the club wanted to confess until Hird talked them out of it. "the players should have had a right to legal counsel and a ability to say nothing at the interviews" ASADA needs more powers if it is to do its job. How Dank was allowed to stay silent, given his centrality to the whole saga, is beyond me. Luckily the hush-hush didn't work for Lance Armstrong.
andyl12
Guest
If the coercion you talk about did in fact occur then J Middleton would've ruled in Hird's favour on 19th September 2014. And if the coercion you talk about occurred then James Hird and the EFC would've conducted themselves very differently throughotu most of 2013. I just can't accept that anyone at the AFL has an anti-Essendon agenda- if they did then they wouldn't keep giving Essendon blockbuster fixtures that they don't deserve, they wouldn't have instructed CAS to minimise player suspensions, and they wouldn't have appointed a three-man judiciary that on 31st March 2015 was too incompetent to find the guilty players guilty.
Dok
Roar Rookie
The AFL was convinced they were guilty, Hird was not, i am not, haven't seen any proof as yet, the players should have had a right to legal counsel and a ability to say nothing at the interviews, just like the rest of us, my advice to you whether guilty or not if you are ever interviewed is seek legal counsel and say nothing until they arrive, professionally trained investigators can have you guilty of anything with questioning techniques. Essendon and Hird and the players are the scalp of the darkest day, a penchant to get Dank and quite simply embarrassment by ASADA for AOD 9604. No confessions, no whistleblower, no reliablechain of actually getting tb4 nd no proof onsite or off of TB4 near Essendon players, no positive blood tests
Dok
Roar Rookie
She is not a journo, she is a rumour monger, a gossip columnist, a mouth piece for the AFL and it's agenda which in this saga was guilt initially and then work backwards, had the AFL not got involved this would have turned out very different, had the AFL not coerced the players into interviews with ASADA without legal counsel, everything may be have different. When you are interviewed whether you are guilty or not you should have counsel, the players did not, when you are interviewed whether guilty or not don't say anything until your counsel arrives. In fact she just carries on like you. Professional trained investigators can make people look guilty if they so decide and ask questions in a way that can make them look guilty, if the decide that they are guilty.
Dok
Roar Rookie
yer nah
andyl12
Guest
She's not perfect, nor is any journalist. But her investigations into this matter have been top-class and deserve an award.
Lroy
Guest
+10, agree with all of that ;-)
andyl12
Guest
No.
Reccymech
Roar Rookie
Really, it was just a 'fluff' piece from her. No real 'pit bull' interview technique. Now you want an interview get Leigh Sales! She would of carved up 'he who shall remain blameless'.
sydneyboy
Roar Rookie
Lroy Agree with you, particularly second last paragraph. With the benefit of hindsight it is apparent that the players should have been separately represented. It is clear that the players who had the greatest involvement would have been the senior players and it would be in their interest to keep as a tight group where there may have been some players who had minimal involvement but are being tarred with the same brush. There are varying degrees of culpability and presumably the penalties would have varied depending on the level of involvement. With only one representative ( for 32 players, I understand 2 had their own lawyers) it is clear that the players were going to be treated as a group and peer pressure would have kept them together even when it was against an individual players best interest. If all had seperate representation although it would have been unweildy I would be surprised if the penallty would have been identical.
Dok
Roar Rookie
She has bad mouthed a lot of people, Hird aside and this saga aside that much is extremely clear, yet carry on with your agenda of saying anyone with a different view is a Hird disciple.
Dok
Roar Rookie
Actually they do
Aransan
Guest
Thanks for the link Doc. In the subsequent interview Hird said that unknown to Essendon in 2012 the AFL had concerns about them leading to blood tests being taken and he wished that they had said something to Essendon at that time. My guess is the information leading to the AFL's concerns came indirectly from the Australian Crime Commission which had obtained information coercively and which had to be kept confidential. The information could be used to point investigators in a direction where independent evidence could be obtained. On the other hand I believe Hird was upset that Essendon was forced to self-report based on evidence that should have been kept confidential. I think he is trying to have this both ways.
Lroy
Guest
To be honest, the Bombers were probably lucky to escape under the ASADA prosecution.. ''Correspondence between Alavi and Dank regarding “thymosin” refers to TB4'' was part of the final verdict.... but the Tribunal found them innocent because it couldn't be proven that TB4 was injected, to the players. partly due to the poor record keeping at Essendon. TB4 is used by bodybuilders and weightlifters to aid recovery... the other thing Thymosin has virtually no benefits for professional athletes... why would Dank inject something that had no benefits? If it was all above board, why was so much of it done offsite? I for one hate needles, and given the controversy about things like Gulf War Syndrome ( cancer caused by injections from their own doctors in allied troops) I would be very reluctant to have some bloke like Dank sticking needles in me. These final suspensions are pretty much a result of a few people deciding to fight this thing from day one. Once ASADA came calling, and the scope of the poor record keeping and management became clear, they should have pleaded ignorance, thrown themselves at the mercy of ASADA and taken whatever penalties were being offered. Bombers fans, there really isnt too much you guys should be angry about, the CAS verdict was exactly in line with how they operate, they operate under a different burden of proof to regular Australian courts. You have to prove your innocence , not the other way around. Given what we now know, they probably got it right.
Dok
Roar Rookie
The AFL thought they could control it through Wilson, claim their scalp and carry on, they knew this saga was divided on club lines, in footy you just couldn't put the genie back on the bottle, exactly the same situation as Lindy Chanberlain, the media completely controlled the narrative and had her tried and convicted.
Macca
Guest
Redb- Those who ignore the lessons of history are doomed to repeat it. And yes your are signing up top up players, congratulations on your first signing a bloke who will be 32 before the season starts, missed the entire 2015 season because of a drugs suspension, was solely a negating player and looked past it in the 2014 season - who's next Ben Cousins?
Redb
Roar Guru
Macca, Your living in the past and making no sense. You have obviously no clue about reality yourself. Essendon is signing up top up players right now from around the footy world - I'd say that's getting on the with the job ahead in 2016. Again thank you though for your interest in the Essendon Football Club.
andyl12
Guest
"Caroline Wilson is a AFL journo, she is not even a football journo, she is just a gutter snipe rumour monger." The talk I'd expect from a Hird disciple who's PO'd that their drug-cheating players got caught out.
andyl12
Guest
Actually they don't.
Dok
Roar Rookie
Actually they do.