essendon scandal

[MJRomeo81]

Yeah, okay.

Just out of curiosity, do you know what Essendon was actually charged for? Do you realise that the bans and punishment you are asking for are out of step with doping sanctions worldwide, even in cases where the doping was proved?

This isn't about doping. This is a club who thought they were above the game. Standing tall claiming the AFL is out to tarnish their name. Treating players like guinea pigs. The AFL warned Hird about the supplements program. What did he do in response? Nothing until shit hit the fan. The text messages are out there.

You think the punishments are that harsh? $5M is nothing for a club like Essendon. No finals this year and no points next season is reasonable. I mean think about it. Essendon miss out on finals this year, big deal. That's one game they wouldn't have won anyway. Melbourne Storm were stripped of their premierships for salary cap breaches. Essendon has no clue what injections their players received yet they get off with missing finals? Weak. This time next year it will be like nothing happened.

Essendon can still trade into the draft. Which means they can get top quality youth if they make some good moves.

[lala1911]

This isn't about doping. This is a club who thought they were above the game. Standing tall claiming the AFL is out to tarnish their name. Treating players like guinea pigs. The AFL warned Hird about the supplements program. What did he do in response? Nothing until shit hit the fan. The text messages are out there.

You think the punishments are that harsh? $5M is nothing for a club like Essendon. No finals this year and no points next season is reasonable. I mean think about it. Essendon miss out on finals this year, big deal. That's one game they wouldn't have won anyway. Melbourne Storm were stripped of their premierships for salary cap breaches. Essendon has no clue what injections their players received yet they get off with missing finals? Weak. This time next year it will be like nothing happened.

Essendon can still trade into the draft. Which means they can get top quality youth if they make some good moves.

Melbourne were also awarded the wooden spoon for that year when they would've finished in the top 4.. so Essendon should be grateful that they won't win the spoon. Essendon got off very lightly.

[Greatness]

Not satisfied here. The AFL were too soft. The word "deal" should not be appearing in this context. Essendon put themselves above the game, insisting that they had done nothing wrong, and now they are making deals to soften the penalty?

Hird is adamant that his name had been tarnished yet he accepts a deal? This is weak. Quite frankly I would be embarrassed to be an Essendon supporter.

Useless. Essendon should be given the death penalty. 5 years no draft picks. $5M fine. No finals this year and playing for no points next season.

Just another example why I stopped watching AFL years ago. Like how Melbourne were found "innocent" in the tanking saga yet the club was fined and heads rolled. The 3 strike drug policy is also laughable. The league has no integrity.

Little: "We have learnt from our mistakes ... the club accepts the commission's penalty."
"James Hird told the commission tonight that he took responsibility for the club's shortcomings."

And he only cops a 12 month ban? Should be banned from the game FOR LIFE. The AFL knows Essendon = $$$. The league is too sackless to deliver a knockout punch.

+1billion. Agree so much with this. I was expecting something like: $5m fine, stripped of premiership points 2012, 2013; loss of first and second round picks 2013, 2014 National Draft with no Free Agency.
However, EFC got away with sanctions that were not much worse than what Adelaide got for the Tippet situation.
There is still the ongoing ASADA investigation who can still recommend the AFL to hand out infraction notices and if that does happen you'd expect EFC to be absolutely hammered from all angles. Work Safe, players would sue, ASADA, ACC?? there's so much here.... It's incredible really.

[Greatness]

Yeah, okay.

Just out of curiosity, do you know what Essendon was actually charged for? Do you realise that the bans and punishment you are asking for are out of step with doping sanctions worldwide, even in cases where the doping was proved?

(Disclaimer: I hold allegiance to no AFL team apart from Greater Western Sydney. Carn the mighty Giants.)

Have you read the charge sheet? If you read through the evidence in there, there is so much that went wrong. ASADA investigation isn't finished either so this isn't the end.

[götze]

i bet you if it was any other team they would have got harsher penalties

[Professor Polonsky]

Have you read the charge sheet? If you read through the evidence in there, there is so much that went wrong. ASADA investigation isn't finished either so this isn't the end.

I've read the charge sheet. You might as well take anything a prosecutor says at face-value as well, if you believe everything that was said in it.

What's important is what Essendon was actually found guilty of. I'm not even bothering to respond to the other posts in this thread, because they're all rhetoric ("Essendon should have been given the death penalty", "banned for life", etc.) by individuals who seem to know very little about punishments for doping in sport.

Jamaican athletes whom were actually doping received bans of less than a year (Yohan Blake, VCB will only get 6 months, etc). Contador only got a year. Even in the worst cases of doping in cycling, the cyclists usually aren't banned for longer than two years. Gatlin came back after four years, and that was following a second doping conviction.

The supplement program was terribly managed, and yes, it had the potential of giving the players a banned substance. Those who adminstered it should have received bans in the 1-2 year range. As a club, the punishments seem about right - the 9th place finish this season is harsh, but just as it will provide a strong deterrent against similar programs.

But here is the funniest bit of it all. If you go by the ACC report, Hird's text messages on the charge sheet ("the other teams are way ahead of us [in terms of doping programs]"), the behaviour of players, their recovery times, the very common soft-tissue injuries... I'm willing to wager a hell of a lot of money that doping occurs in most, if not all, teams. I first said it in 2006, when I first watched Australian football, and I was laughed off. I think I'm going to have the last laugh...

[Russ]

If you go by the ASADA report, Hird's text messages on the charge sheet ("the other teams are way ahead of us [in terms of doping programs]"), the behaviour of players, their recovery times, the very common soft-tissue injuries... I'm willing to wager a hell of a lot of money that doping occurs in most, if not all, teams. I first said it in 2006, when I first watched Australian football, and I was laughed off. I think I'm going to have the last laugh...

lol