The parents of a former AFL footballer have revealed they were ‘blackmailed’ by a crime gang

The parents of a former player have revealed they were “blackmailed” by a crime gang over their son’s unpaid drug debts while he was in the AFL’s “medical model”.

The parents of a former AFL footballer have revealed they were “blackmailed” by a crime gang after their son became addicted to drugs while in the league’s controversial “medical model”.

This masthead can reveal information has been provided to Australia’s leading sports integrity agency of how criminals sent the parents a photo of the player with them, threatening his safety unless they immediately paid his drug debts.

Under the league’s so-called “medical model”, players identified as occasional or regular drug-users can be exempted from the three-strikes program. The players can then be secretly tested “off the books” before games to ensure they are not positive, potentially being withdrawn from their team to avoid suspensions under the World Anti-Doping Agency code.

Federal MP Andrew Wilkie exposed the scheme in parliament in March, airing claims from ex-Demons doctor-turned-whistleblower Zeeshan Arain that medicos had even suggested faking injuries to explain why players needed to miss games due to positive drug tests.

A Sport Integrity Australia investigation into the AFL program said the secret tests conducted by club doctors did not breach the WADA code and found “no evidence”, beyond the testimony of Dr Arain, that injuries had been “feigned”.

AFL chief executive Andrew Dillon. Picture: Michael Willson/AFL Photos

But in a 38-page report released last month, SIA called for “an immediate overhaul of the current AFL drugs policy to bring it into line with current societal trends and increasing integrity and health threats in sport”.

SIA warned that the AFL – and Australian sport more widely – was at a “crossroad” and identified “key issues” around players buying drugs from criminals. It also recommended “independent oversight” of illicit drugs policies “to ensure good governance and transparency”.

Mr Wilkie has now revealed that his office has been presented with “credible evidence of a family being blackmailed by drug dealers over their son’s unpaid drug debts”.

“The parents were told that criminals would destroy their son’s reputation if they didn’t hand over cash, and we have seen proof that cash payments have been made,” Mr Wilkie said.

“The family had a photo of their son, which was taken by criminals, sent to them and my office has been shown that photo. This information has been provided to Sport Integrity Australia.”

Mr Wilkie said the family detailed how their son – who was on an AFL club’s list at the time of the alleged extortion – also witnessed senior teammates taking drugs, including the use of ice pipes, just days after being drafted at age 18.

“The kind of drug use being described by the families isn’t occasional, recreational drug use,” he said. “We are being told of players using the medical model to continue taking illicit drugs for multiple years.

“Rather than helping players get off drugs, the medical model has enabled players to continue taking drugs in secret.”

While the AFL has claimed that its drugs program had been vindicated because SIA found the “off the books” tests did not violate WADA rules, world anti-doping godfather Dick Pound condemned the league for downplaying “the seriousness” of the report.

Federal MP Andrew Wilkie. Picture: NewsWire / Martin Ollman

Mr Pound – WADA’s founding president – told the Herald Sun: “I guess it’s one of those things where you will seize upon anything that mitigates against a total disaster.

“You polish up the little nugget that you found and hope that the rest goes away, but clearly the overriding conclusion (of the report) was that this is not the way you should operate.

“It’s probably time for a serious sports organisation to do a mea culpa – ‘Okay, we clearly have got this wrong and an independent commission (SIA) has made it very clear that it thinks we’ve got it wrong, so it’s our house, it’s our sport and we’ve got to get it back to where it ought to be’. Or do they need outside parties to tell you what you are going to do?”

In March, Mr Pound had likened the AFL’s secret drug-testing regime to East Germany’s notorious state-run programs of the 1970s.

When asked if he stood by his comparison, Mr Pound said: “My concern is that it is very much like the East Germans, who did all these tests and simply did not report them. Nobody knew what the tests were and why all of a sudden athletes were withdrawing (from competition). And all of that stuff was deliberately clandestine, and it seems to me very much in parallel with what the AFL are doing.

“That’s where the danger lies … so when ‘Frederick’ doesn’t show up on Saturday, we say, ‘Oh well, he must be sick or left the iron on at home’. That’s the difficult part of this when you play that kind of game.”

SIA chief David Sharpe – a former Australian Federal Police officer who has pursued drug cartels in Mexico, Colombia and Vietnam – has warned that footballers taking cocaine, methamphetamine and ecstasy were ­vulnerable to bikies and organised criminals who either sold them the drugs, or saw them taking them.

“Sport Integrity Australia, along with several partner organisations, have identified evidence across Australian sports of clear dangers of criminals influencing sport through the supply of illicit drugs, including by preying on athletes or support staff to access inside information,” last month’s SIA report said.

Mr Wilkie said he would assist a separate WorkSafe investigation launched late last month into the AFL drugs code if asked.

Originally published as The parents of a former AFL footballer have revealed they were ‘blackmailed’ by a crime gang