Last Tuesday evening the AFL’s general counsel Andrew Dillon announced that based on evidence in ASADA’s interim report, the Essendon Football Club was charged with bringing the game into disrepute.
“The AFL should be ruthless, not conciliatory, and punish Essendon and all its personnel severely”
Charges of unbecoming conduct were brought against coach James Hird, assistant coach Mark Thompson, club doctor of 30 years Bruce Reid and football manager Danny Corcoran.
Essendon captain Jobe Watson was the first to comment that he and his AFL team-mates felt vindicated by the league’s decision not to charge them with anti-doping violations. The same captain and Brownlow medallist who in a recent television interview self-confessed to taking the banned substance AOD-9604, something that ASADA and WADA would probably pursue with an infraction notice in the not too distant future. Speculation is rife that if Jobe Watson were to be charged and convicted, he could be stripped of last year’s Brownlow Medal.
While the AFL charged the Bombers and four of their officials with bringing the game into disrepute, Dillon said on evidence to hand no anti-doping charges would be laid against players by the AFL. However, Dillon noted the Australian Sports Anti-Doping Authority’s (ASADA) investigation was still open and players could still be issued infraction notices (only ASADA or the world body WADA can do this) if further information comes to hand.
The club and accused individuals have the right to defend the AFL charges and will do so in front of the AFL Commission which is scheduled to hear the charges on August 26 before issuing the appropriate penalties, including stripping Essendon of its premiership points this season, taking away draft picks, issuing heavy fines and as a last resort if deemed necessary, de-register the club for a number of months or years.
The AFL should be ruthless, not conciliatory, and punish Essendon and all its personnel severely. The Essendon hierarchy and fans alike have to accept the fact that basically everyone involved with this tragic self-inflicted mess is proverbially ‘cactus’. What people ‘think’ down at Essendon is completely irrelevant, to fix the problem and preserve the integrity of the league, the AFL should deal the appropriate punishment and allow the rest of the footy world get back to playing Australian Rules Football.
From whatever angle one looks at the Bombers, they have brought the game into disrepute, but when their own captain admits to a systematic supplement injecting regime, there is a smoking gun somewhere. The proof may exist in the soon to be completed ASADA report and there may be many accounts of Essendon players and staff being injected with supplements. Someone, to ‘save their skin’, will eventually step up or break ranks and point the finger.
Anything that came before this performance enhancing supplements issue, especially Brownlow medals, hall of fame and glorified football reputations, should count for nothing, they are irrelevant. The public and media expect nothing more than transparency and complete fairness from the AFL, but at the same time expect nothing less than the full weight of its punishing power for all that has taken place, substantiated in the final ASADA report which has yet to be completed.
If the punishment dealt by the AFL is deemed by ASADA and WADA to be inadequate or soft then WADA can come over the top, ‘squirrel grab’ the Essendon Football Club and deliver a real message to the entire AFL including the commission. WADA will not stop because the AFL will be left in a quandary over their fragile draft and salary cap rules. If indeed ASADA and WADA decide to pursue punitive measures, they will make sure to suspend the infringing players for two years, forcing the AFL to make the banned players enter the draft system if they wish to play on, so that they never play together again in the same team.