So Peter Gordon says he's looking at an appeal against the CAS decision by his Bulldog players. I'm not so sure that grounds for appeal exist but, I suppose that in this day and age when some legal firms can even be listed and subject to the ups and downs of the stock market, any work that comes the way of the profession is welcome.

17 hours ago, Sir Why You Little said:

There was another one i was told....Have won a lot of Flags lately...

His words about them were 'I hate them so much'.

Not all about Essendon but Martin Flanigan nails it again with this article:-

Why do sports scandals still shock us?

And I know that there's a real preoccupation with the Bombers scandal but I really do like the tweet he quotes:

"Linda Connolly: Jesus. if only people had as many questions for (& were as hard on) our politicians as they are on #hird, democracy might even work! (sic)"

When will the movie be coming out? Who will play James Hird? The movie could be called Don't be A Danker ………. mmmm 

Surely there is someone in our fearless Legal fraternity that would be able, to ubiquitously pick off a Dank and nail him as a fat domino.

Did David Evans know about Essendon's performance-enhancing program?

Heh heh whoops

Crikey had that article on their main page but quickly removed it. About the same time, the author's twitter account closed.

It looks like someone might be in a touch of hot water.

I think Hardie, the author of the Crikey article, is the guy who likened the Fed Court case to cricket scores eg ASADA all out for 55, EFC 0/300.  He is a sports lawyer but didn't read the score board at the Fed Court case very well: ASADA thrashed EFC!  However, you would think he is sufficiently aware of the laws of libel to not write something that is incorrect about Evans...I won't quote Hardie here, just in case.  To me Hardie is drawing a long bow on Evans.  Hardie was hired by EFC to help them in the days of the Fed court case so one wonders why he would now drop Evans in the you know what. 

An interesting part of the article is:  I’ve never really bought the lack of governance line -- from what I had already learnt and what I have learnt since, the program, which appeared to me to be legal, was pretty well documented for a performance-enhancement program in sport. To be clear, performance enhancement is not banned in sport, only some forms, methods and substances. To talk about the use of performance-enhancing substances misses the point; it’s better to talk about prohibited substances and others that are not. What Essendon had done was better documented than what I had seen in cycling, I had seen the records of a few doping programs in Europe and used some in my PhD thesis. The Essendon program had much better-informed and consenting athletes compared to what I had seen in cycling and to things I had learnt recently about programs run within swimming in Australia."

Unfortunately, he doesn't question nor explain where the records have gone and why EFC continually say there weren't any.  If the substances were not prohibited why would the records go missing, Mr Hardie??  It seems CAS found the answer. 

Hardie has not done the EFC nor the players any favours here...in fact the opposite.

At the end of the day, CAS got it right.  Everything else is grandstanding!  Or sour grapes.

titus.

Best one yet

7 minutes ago, biggestred said:

titus.

Best one yet

Why can't this be all sorted in The Bricklayers Arms with arms

29 minutes ago, biggestred said:

titus.

Best one yet

No co-incidence that the NBA and NFL have the most grotesque humanoid freaks on the sporting planet. Their drug codes work wonders.  

2 hours ago, ENYAW said:

When will the movie be coming out? Who will play James Hird? The movie could be called Don't be A Danker ………. mmmm 

The bloke who played Jennifer Garners dad in Alias will play Dank.

whilst we are raking over the coals

anyone got any more info or links on gerard healy's role in this. i seem to remember that before the fan got struck with excrement that healy tipped off the afl that essendon were experimenting with supplements or whatever. anyone know more detail on what he knew, what he reported, how he found out etc?

here's one

 

24 minutes ago, daisycutter said:

whilst we are raking over the coals

anyone got any more info or links on gerard healy's role in this. i seem to remember that before the fan got struck with excrement that healy tipped off the afl that essendon were experimenting with supplements or whatever. anyone know more detail on what he knew, what he reported, how he found out etc?

here's one

While I do recall some comments that Healy had raised it I clearly remember in 2012 an article with the AFL bemoaning the influence of sports "scientists" and them by passing club docs.

Feels like they were on to something but didn't push it further.

http://m.theage.com.au/afl/afl-news/afls-war-with-sports-scientists-20120312-1uwi3.html

 

"THE AFL has unofficially declared war on the game's high performance managers in the growing frustration that their influence at some clubs is running out The move will come at next week's coaches conference after senior AFL doctors protested that they were being overruled in certain cases, potentially endangering player health and safety.....

A final straw for the AFL came last week when Essendon blamed its fitness and recovery advice on the decision to fly to Wangaratta for a pre-season game when the bus journey would have taken 2½ hours. Some clubs pay as much as $300,000 for a respected high performance manager.

The issue has also raised eyebrows at the AFL Players Association, which last year invited Seward, Geelong's former club doctor, and the Cats' high performance expert to address the players on the issue. The AFL regards the Geelong model as among the best practice the game has on offer."

Although I don't agree, I think I can see where Balme is coming from. The AFL is a purely local competition. There is no international competition at all. Therefore, in the mind of people like Balme, the AFL should make its own rules because whatever happens within the AFL competition doesn't affect anyone else. It's not like a club from, say, Spain, misses out on winning an AFL Premiership flag or someone from Japan missing out on a Brownlow medal because someone within Australia was doped up. Before I get jumped on, I repeat, I don't agree with the view.

15 minutes ago, La Dee-vina Comedia said:

Although I don't agree, I think I can see where Balme is coming from. The AFL is a purely local competition. There is no international competition at all. Therefore, in the mind of people like Balme, the AFL should make its own rules because whatever happens within the AFL competition doesn't affect anyone else. It's not like a club from, say, Spain, misses out on winning an AFL Premiership flag or someone from Japan missing out on a Brownlow medal because someone within Australia was doped up. Before I get jumped on, I repeat, I don't agree with the view.

Like you I disagree with the view as the vast majority of players in the AFL would not 'cheat' and they would be affected if other players/teams en masse break the anti-doping code be it AFL's or WADA's.  And we know the AFL Tribunal is a joke when it comes to penalising well known players for on-field misdemeanors so it is reasonable to assume its inconsistency would continue if the AFL separated from WADA. 

Breaking away from WADA (which won't happen) would be a free-for-all as the AFL and its Tribunal are too weak/inconsistent to enforce its own rules and values. 

 

14 minutes ago, La Dee-vina Comedia said:

Although I don't agree, I think I can see where Balme is coming from. The AFL is a purely local competition. There is no international competition at all. Therefore, in the mind of people like Balme, the AFL should make its own rules because whatever happens within the AFL competition doesn't affect anyone else. It's not like a club from, say, Spain, misses out on winning an AFL Premiership flag or someone from Japan missing out on a Brownlow medal because someone within Australia was doped up. Before I get jumped on, I repeat, I don't agree with the view.

I think we can all see where Balme and all his mates are coming from. 

They don't want an International Body nosing around the comfy little AFL where they all prosper very nicely. I was disgusted when i heard his answer to WADA

I thought Neil was a better man than that. 

None of these suits care about performance enhancing drugs the just like the pay cheques the comp generates...

1 hour ago, Sir Why You Little said:

I think we can all see where Balme and all his mates are coming from. 

They don't want an International Body nosing around the comfy little AFL where they all prosper very nicely. I was disgusted when i heard his answer to WADA

I thought Neil was a better man than that. 

None of these suits care about performance enhancing drugs the just like the pay cheques the comp generates...

Sadly you are correct  and they find it hard to understand that the AFL is part of the real world.

The self interest being showed by numerous AFL types leaves me in wonderment.

29 minutes ago, old dee said:

Sadly you are correct  and they find it hard to understand that the AFL is part of the real world.

The self interest being showed by numerous AFL types leaves me in wonderment.

Unfortunately such attitudes seem to be part of the Australian way. I recall a work colleague a while back being bewildered at (in his words) how Shane Warne could be such a great cricketer and such a !@%# of a bloke. We hold sportsmen, especially footballers and cricketers, on too high a pedestal IMHO, and as a result it all goes to their heads at such a young age that they get warped ideas about the world and their place in it. Cue Neil Balme's comments. I had the impression that he is generally a reasonable bloke, but clearly he has spent nearly all his adult life in the insular world that is the AFL. Perhaps each and every AFL player and coach should spend a few days a month on community service, just to show them how the other 99.99% live ... 

41 minutes ago, Red and Bluebeard said:

Unfortunately such attitudes seem to be part of the Australian way. I recall a work colleague a while back being bewildered at (in his words) how Shane Warne could be such a great cricketer and such a !@%# of a bloke. We hold sportsmen, especially footballers and cricketers, on too high a pedestal IMHO, and as a result it all goes to their heads at such a young age that they get warped ideas about the world and their place in it. Cue Neil Balme's comments. I had the impression that he is generally a reasonable bloke, but clearly he has spent nearly all his adult life in the insular world that is the AFL. Perhaps each and every AFL player and coach should spend a few days a month on community service, just to show them how the other 99.99% live ... 

Australians in general don't like to believe their champion sportspersons could be drug cheats or corrupt unless they have a woggy name.

On 1/23/2016 at 4:25 PM, biggestred said:

Did David Evans know about Essendon's performance-enhancing program?

Heh heh whoops

Hardie is a wnker of the highest order. His articles and tweets are so ridiculously biased they should be ignored completely.

Why wouldn't anyone believe  a word of what Dank says or supposedy said? There is not one thing he has uttered in the public domain that has any credibility.

As for Evans and the managemnt.Of course they knew about the drug programme. It cost around $700k and they measure everything in sport. They would have had approval to hroe dank and robinson and run the programme. Would Evans have know the nitty gritty about what was given to the players. Its probably unlikley but there is no doubt the pressure on him was immense to do a deal with the AFL. When Hird refused to be the fall guy and the club chose to target Demetriou, it was too much for Evans.

I don't know him bit know a number that do. He is an upstanding guy. And much more likeable than Paul Little. 

3 minutes ago, jnrmac said:

Hardie is a wnker of the highest order. His articles and tweets are so ridiculously biased they should be ignored completely.

Why wouldn't anyone believe  a word of what Dank says or supposedy said? There is not one thing he has uttered in the public domain that has any credibility.

As for Evans and the managemnt.Of course they knew about the drug programme. It cost around $700k and they measure everything in sport. They would have had approval to hroe dank and robinson and run the programme. Would Evans have know the nitty gritty about what was given to the players. Its probably unlikley but there is no doubt the pressure on him was immense to do a deal with the AFL. When Hird refused to be the fall guy and the club chose to target Demetriou, it was too much for Evans.

I don't know him bit know a number that do. He is an upstanding guy. And much more likeable than Paul Little. 

I just like the article because Hardie has been so biased the whole way and here he is saying that everyone knew what dank was doing (when the narrative has been that no one knew what dank was doing).

Firmly put his foot square in it.

Of course the whole club knew what they were doing. they knew they had to be quiet. they knew it was illegal. they all bloody knew.

In mid to late 2013 Martin Hardie, a legal academic from Deakin University who has conducted long-term research into the anti-doping regimes in Australian and international cycling, was approached to provide assistance to the Essendon Football Club following the claims made about the club's use of supplements during the 2011-2012 season.

Surely this can't be the same person who wrote objective academic articles about how innocent Essendon was?

I wonder if Hardie has any explanation as to what happened to all the records of the program which he claims was carefully documented.  Other than the obvious one that it showed that his claim that it was all legal is baloney.

6 minutes ago, sue said:

In mid to late 2013 Martin Hardie, a legal academic from Deakin University who has conducted long-term research into the anti-doping regimes in Australian and international cycling, was approached to provide assistance to the Essendon Football Club following the claims made about the club's use of supplements during the 2011-2012 season.

Surely this can't be the same person who wrote objective academic articles about how innocent Essendon was?

I wonder if Hardie has any explanation as to what happened to all the records of the program which he claims was carefully documented.  Other than the obvious one that it showed that his claim that it was all legal is baloney.

The Dons ate my homework?

16 hours ago, Red and Bluebeard said:

Unfortunately such attitudes seem to be part of the Australian way. I recall a work colleague a while back being bewildered at (in his words) how Shane Warne could be such a great cricketer and such a !@%# of a bloke. We hold sportsmen, especially footballers and cricketers, on too high a pedestal IMHO, and as a result it all goes to their heads at such a young age that they get warped ideas about the world and their place in it. Cue Neil Balme's comments. I had the impression that he is generally a reasonable bloke, but clearly he has spent nearly all his adult life in the insular world that is the AFL. Perhaps each and every AFL player and coach should spend a few days a month on community service, just to show them how the other 99.99% live ... 

Funny thing is most people make their opinions without ever meeting the person.

I've met Shane a few times and found him a pretty likeable bloke.