In recent weeks Essendon fans and the ‘Hird’ faithful have been out to damage the reputations of Andrew Demetriou and the AFL Commission over their handling of the Essendon supplement scandal, in what is now regarded as the ‘Get Demetriou’ campaign.
The Essendon hierarchy and supporters do not need to further vilify the AFL or proliferate the anti-Demetriou bandwagon. The club has a responsibility to gag its own officials and employees from expressing speculative statements and let the past be by moving on.
Unfortunately for the ‘Dons, reports regarding inducements allegedly made to coach James Hird in order to get him to accept a 12-month suspension are being fuelled by media frenzy. Instead of moving forward, the club is moving backwards into uncharted territory and needs to silence the vindictive negativity throughout its supporter base.
This week James Hird’s wife came out and supported her husband’s position and payments by the Essendon football club. In an unprecedented outburst she has dragged the supplement saga back onto the front page of most dailies and electronic media. She has claimed that AFL CEO Andrew Demetriou has known all along that her husband is being paid by Essendon during his 12-month ban.
Hird’s punishment was part of the club’s penalties handed down by the AFL Commission – which included a $2 million fine and being banned from the 2013 finals – for its controversial 2012 supplements program.
Her comments contradict Demetriou’s statement last week that Hird was not being remunerated by Essendon or the AFL. Mrs Hird also accused the AFL of “threatening” her husband and the Bombers and wants the governing body to “stop distorting the truth”.
The relevant parts of the ‘Terms of the Deed’ agreed to by Hird when the penalties against the coach and Essendon were made public are as follows:
1. The AFL will impose a 12-month suspension on James Hird from the AFL effective from August 25, 2013.
2. James Hird will not work with any AFL club in any capacity during this period of suspension.
At the time, AFL chairman Mike Fitzpatrick said Hird’s suspension would be backdated to August 25 and he would not be able to work at any AFL club during the next 12 months. As part of the suspension deal he cannot be paid by the Essendon Football Club either.
It’s understood the AFL believe the second point, that states he cannot work for any club in any capacity during his suspension, carried the obvious inference that he should therefore not receive payment from any club. The specific no-payment term was then made clear to Essendon in discussions following the public announcement in late August.
Mr Demetriou also recently said the terms of the settlement included the stipulation that Hird would not be paid by Essendon or anyone else amid suggestions that he is being paid while on suspension. Demetriou further indicated that the Bombers would face more “severe sanctions” if it was found the club was paying Hird.
An AFL spokesman confirmed that was true, but added: “Subsequent to the sanctions being handed down, specific terms of James Hird’s 12-month suspension were outlined in discussions with his employer, the Essendon Football Club.”
It has not yet been determined whether those conversations are legally binding, but if a person is suspended then logically, unless specifically put in writing they should not receive any remuneration during the period of their suspension. Further reports indicate that as well as Hird’s senior coaching salary, there are reports alleging that the $120,000 international business course Hird enrolled in was also being paid through the Essendon football Club.
How can the Bombers, and Hird, gain anything but the wrath of the AFL by pursuing the AFL’s CEO. Essendon and Hird need to mend the bridges rather than burn them. If the Hird faithful don’t fall in line then they should be reminded that the ASADA player drug supplement issue is not over yet and there may be more repercussions on the road ahead.
This mess was created because one of the AFL’s ‘legends’ and hall of fame inductee James Hird was involved in the distasteful supplements scandal. The AFL has shown extreme patience, tolerance and leniency towards the individual to minimize his negative impact or tarnish his image too much in front of young and impressionable AFL fans.
However, it is now time for the AFL to step in and review the penalties to Essendon, Hird and company. The AFL must press ASADA for hard evidence of illegal supplement substances and begin the process of suspending officials and playing personnel no matter what the public relations fall-out. It is time to put reputations aside and make the recalcitrant and guilty pay, silencing this distasteful issue once and for all.