THE ESSENDON 34: ON TRIAL

[low flying Robbo 979]

the worst thing about this decision is having to deal with three quarters of my facebook feed being filled with "to all the essendon haters: <insert expletive here>"

[Guest]

This is no capitalist problem. Demetriou was a left wing dictator. The AFL is not free market there are salary cap restrictions, draft concessions etc... Me thinks you are just anti capitalist and find reason to hate capatlism it wherever you look.

You might actually want to live under a dictatorship before making statements like that. Demetriou had left wing tendencies (and a villa on Lake Como), yes, but to call him a dictator?

Capitalism (in our actual society) is the system that we have but to say it is always fair and always punishes the indolent and rewards the deserving and righteous is just as silly as your first statement and this trial has shown it. It's shown that you can rant rave, hire spin doctors and lawyers who can confuse the issues and get off without a mark against your name despite other reviews and trials having established that you have done wrong.

the worst thing about this decision is having to deal with three quarters of my facebook feed being filled with "to all the essendon haters: <insert expletive here>"

They should feel about as good as Christopher Skase when he didn't get extradited from Majorca. It's proved that they just can spin a good line of bull***t.

,

Edited March 31, 2015 by Colin B. Flaubert

[KingDingAling 3,758]

This is no capitalist problem. Demetriou was a left wing dictator. The AFL is not free market there are salary cap restrictions, draft concessions etc... Me thinks you are just anti capitalist and find reason to hate capitalism wherever you look.

I agree with that 100%. The AFL is predominately a socialist regime.

This whole counterbalancing in regards to equalisation is just one of many examples of this.

[KingDingAling 3,758]

the worst thing about this decision is having to deal with three quarters of my facebook feed being filled with "to all the essendon haters: <insert expletive here>"

They still got done for malpractice and were heavily fined and lost draft picks.

Let their fans have their day in the sun, this saga has already set Essendon back a very long way.

[iv'a worn smith 1,979]

Again, while I hold no sentiment whatsoever for Esserdin, where's the evidence?

[sue 9,126]

I agree with that 100%. The AFL is predominately a socialist regime.

This whole counterbalancing in regards to equalisation is just one of many examples of this.

And so it should be. Otherwise we'd end up with just 2 teams fighting it out in the usual duopoly.

[Outside fifty 967]

Given the nature of corporate culture these days this finding does not surprise me in the least. The AFL is and has been for some years a conflicted and consequently corrupt organisation.The bottom lines versus an equitable competition, sadly the bottom line won. They stuck their heads in a bucket of sand when Westcoast went off the rails and consequently they are reaping that harvest as we speak. They established the ridiculous three strikes policy and were stupid enough to boast about it. They were stupid enough and greedy enough to throw millions at the folly that is GWS. IF ever an organisation needed to embrace good governance over short term expedience then the time was now. Sadly I feel that we may now be witnessing it's crowning glory of it's capitulation to corruption and the bottom line. I know I shouldn't be surprised, with a straw man in charge could we have ever expected anything less

[sue 9,126]

Not too surprised after learning the Chairman Jones let Barry Hall off an obvious suspension so he could play in the GF.

This will now probably run till most of the players are on the pension.

[rjay 25,063]

This is just staggering. It makes one questions one faith in the AFL and it makes you wonder if our system (I don't mean the AFL, I mean the capitalist system we live under) is fair.

How can a club that:

1) Self reported due to an off site injection program.

2) Had a review of it's internal practices by the former director of Telstra which concluded that it was running a 'pharmacologically experimental environment'.

3) Had it's senior coach stood down for 12 months, it's assistant fined $30,000, it's football boss suspended for 6 months,

4) Was fined 2.1 million for said off site injection program.

5) Has fought the ASADA and the AFL tooth and nail to make sure the case wasn't even heard with a lot of their arguments not being about whether said events ever happened but more about the legality of and technicalities surrounding the investigation.

6) Had two of the main architects of the regime not even take the stand due to fears they would incriminate themselves (or in Charter's case, get bashed)

now be found to have not done anything wrong, period.

When it says this decision makes you lose your faith in the AFL and society in general it is for two reasons. The first is that a certain person, who can only be described as a sociopath and a narcissist, has gotten his way. If St. James had come out and said that the injecting regime never happened at all and that was what he was basing his case on then I have no problem with him. However, he has never said that, doesn't have the documentation to prove otherwise and has continued to obfuscate and pettifog the issue which today has made him look the way he always has wanted to be perceived (without sin). All the while, a CEO, a club president and a premiership winning coach have all been forced to fall on their swords for the good of the club. Why hasn't the Golden Boy been forced to take any culpability at all? Oh that's right! He was suspended for a year! All the while taking a paid vacation in bloody France with his job waiting for him when he got back. In the meantime as well, the Essendon board has been superseded by the James Hird fan club. This is not to mention the players in this. We still have no idea what they have been injected with? What might happen to them 20 years down the track? After this trial is over, I can see James Hird and Essendon

The above example just goes to show that if you have enough money and profile and you completely lack a sense of shame (though this can be compensated for by the size of your ego), justice is irrelevant. Just shout, spin and dig into your wallet deep enough and the truth can walk in and out of a court without being recognized.

The second thing that annoys me is that this shows that the AFL needs to do an in depth review of itself and not just into how this fiasco took place. How can it fine a club 2 million dollars on one occasion for running a hazardous injecting program then 1 year later run another trial (conducted under the umbrella of the AFL yet again) on whether the players took a prohibited substance and come up with a duck egg? Can anyone see my confusion here? So they ran a hazardous and experimental injecting regime that no one was harmed by and the results are all tiggety boo? I get the first trial was about how the club was run and the second was about if the players had injected prohibited substances but there is a huge discrepancy in the punishments between the first hearing (multi-million dollar fines and suspensions) and the second (everyone walks away scot free). Remember as well that the AFL tipped off Essendon that they were going to be investigated by ASADA which shows the depth of their incompetence.

For years and years, up until the time of Ross Oakley, we have been force fed back slapping AFL propaganda. We have constantly heard about how the standards our game abides by is so much higher than that of those no-necks up in NSW and Queensland who play that heathen code of bum sniffing and then we see that it's biggest club has been involved in a co-ordinated injecting program in which the paperwork cannot be located and Gary Pert warns the code that there is an ongoing drugs problem in the AFL and the off field behavior of some players becomes volcanic in the off-season . We were told about how closing stadiums in the suburbs where there was a genuine sense of camaraderie amongst those who attended was necessary in order to 'grow the game' and then we wonder why most games are mostly sterile affairs where supporter engagement is close to nil and why certain clubs get financially hosed on their stadium deals. We get told that a club in Western Sydney is required and then see 5000 people turn up to their games, 3/4s of their off field staff leave in the space of 3 years and all this despite the AFL being told by a senate committee that establishing a team there would never work. It's time for the head wobblers in the AFL to have a bloody good hard at look at themselves.

Sorry 'Colin', the club has been found to have done something wrong and has been dealt with by the AFL. I don't think they copped their fair wack and there may be more to come.

Today's decision was about whether the players had taken a particular substance and the tribunal found the evidence could not prove they did.

I don't like the decision but I haven't seen the evidence. There will always be a black cloud hanging over this whole situation and I will wait with interest to see how WADA handle things from here on in.

[Guest]

Sorry 'Colin', the club has been found to have done something wrong and has been dealt with by the AFL. I don't think they copped their fair wack and there may be more to come.

Today's decision was about whether the players had taken a particular substance and the tribunal found the evidence could not prove they did.

I don't like the decision but I haven't seen the evidence. There will always be a black cloud hanging over this whole situation and I will wait with interest to see how WADA handle things from here on in.

Fair enough, I should have put in 'in this case'. I was pretty s****y about this. It seems that the two decisions are completely contradictory however. When combined into one big decision it sends the message 'the Essendon Football Club ran a risky and secretive off site injecting program in which none of their players were injected with anything on the current banned substances list.'

[deefrag 277]

So correct me if I am wrong, but illegal drugs went into the DrugsLords Den but they vanished without anyone taking them?

You have a problem with that?

[Wrecker45 3,378]

Sorry 'Colin', the club has been found to have done something wrong and has been dealt with by the AFL. I don't think they copped their fair wack and there may be more to come.

Today's decision was about whether the players had taken a particular substance and the tribunal found the evidence could not prove they did.

I don't like the decision but I haven't seen the evidence. There will always be a black cloud hanging over this whole situation and I will wait with interest to see how WADA handle things from here on in.

WADA and ASADA's weakness ie. not being able to prove what was ingested is Workcovers strength. Essendon will be belted for this just not by the anti-doping authorities.

[KingDingAling 3,758]

And so it should be. Otherwise we'd end up with just 2 teams fighting it out in the usual duopoly.

We currently have the top 8 sides playing off each year. We basically have the 2 top sides fighting it out - Hawthorn/Syd.

You think things will change? You are kidding yourself, the AFL couldn't run a bath.

[wattsup 470]

THE AFL IS CORRUPT

[What 18,810]

Not too surprised after learning the Chairman Jones let Barry Hall off an obvious suspension so he could play in the GF.

Couldnt agree more.

The Australian 'justice' system is stuffed, and this is just more proof

[Guest]

WADA and ASADA's weakness ie. not being able to prove what was ingested is Workcovers strength. Essendon will be belted for this just not by the anti-doping authorities.

We can only hope. I think if WorkCover does show that they ran a shambolic operation then we finally might get the trigger for the AFL to have a good hard look at itself and how it does business.

[Willmoy1947 4,140]

Perhaps Mods in my humble opinion to look at changing the title on this topic to a more contemporary one.

However if not I would still like to keep putting in my two bobs worth thanks.

[Jara 1,153]

Don't go near Bomberblitz without a sick-bucket. I did, just out of curiosity, and regret it.

One thing has always peeved me about supporters; when they say they're "proud of" their boys. I don't get it. It seems like a misunderstanding of the word "proud". I suppose if your child or somebody you're responsible for does something noteworthy, you could say you're proud of them. But how could you be proud of a bunch of overpaid blokes you don't know who just slithered out of a drug charge because the evidence was destroyed?

Worst part is that they managed to beat us with their refuse. What will they do to us now?

One of my hate-footy days.

[Barney Rubble 1,576]

Absolutely gob smacked.

Circumstantial evidence is overwhelming.

Then an AFL tribunal say they are innocent.

FMD how corrupt are the AFL?

Surely ASADA & WADA will now go for the Jugular?

I had lost a lot of faith with the AFL, now I have no faith.

They have no credibility.

But I guess they get back 2% cred with dropping the price of chips to $3

[What 18,810]

Worst part is that they managed to beat us with their refuse. What will they do to us now?

We always beat them when the real stuff starts

[dpositive 1,672]

WADA and ASADA's weakness ie. not being able to prove what was ingested is Workcovers strength. Essendon will be belted for this just not by the anti-doping authorities.

Doubt workcover will touch it

If AFL has not enough evidence they certainly wont find any

WADA is the only body that can stop the continuation of pharmacological experimentation without any records being conducted to enhance performance.

Or the genie is out of the bottle

and the club with the best pharmacist and access to best drug regime wins.

[old dee 23,870]

Two years ago I said the Players will get off because there is no evidence of what the players were given or when.

I hate to say it because it sticks in my craw badly.

BUT

I told you all so.

Not even the need for wet tram tickets.

A disgrace but it was always going to be the result.

[rjay 25,063]

WADA and ASADA's weakness ie. not being able to prove what was ingested is Workcovers strength. Essendon will be belted for this just not by the anti-doping authorities.

I wouldn't bank on work cover doing anything. This is where the politics will really play.

[What 18,810]

Contact details for WADA and ASADA... no point venting in here, take it up with them.

https://www.wada-ama.org/en/contact-us

http://www.asada.gov.au/about/contact.html

Bumping the WADA and ASADA contact details

We as a sport loving public must be heard

[biggestred 5,125]

So the players are not guilty because they dont know what they were injected with.

Id be suing if my employer injected me with something unknown.