Allan Hird: Essendon debacle still has the power to astonish me
Just when you think you’ve heard everything about the Essendon drugs farce something outrageous emerges to take your breath away, writes Allan Hird.
Opinion
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I thought I had seen and heard everything about the miscarriage of justice in which 34 Essendon footballers were wrongly convicted and booted out of the 2016 AFL season.
But Essendon chairman Lindsay Tanner has taken it to a new level by defending ASADA. Tanner has defended the mob that convicted the Essendon players with doctored evidence. As the Herald Sun reported on October 15, ASADA changed documents used to convict the players by substituting a WADA prohibited substance for a substance that was not prohibited.
To be clear, to get convictions, ASADA had to build a circumstantial case.
There was no evidence the players took the banned substance TB-4.
There were no positive tests, no admissions from the players, no witnesses.
In fact, the AFL Anti-Doping Tribunal, comprising two judges and a barrister, stated ASADA’s case lacked an “evidentiary basis”.
At the Essendon AGM on December 5, The Age reported that “Tanner has rubbished a report that casts doubt on the guilt of the 34 Bomber players”.
Tanner admits the reporting by the Herald Sun is true but then goes on to say it is misleading. Welcome to the world of Tanner logic.
But I guess if you are the head of the Essendon Football Club and you acknowledge the 34 Essendon footballers did nothing wrong but at the same time defend the system that kicked them out of football for a year, logic may not be your strong suit.
Tanner is reported to have said at the AGM that the ASADA list of banned substances is just a guide. The fact ASADA got around to listing TB-4 as banned on February 5 2013, seven months after ASADA alleged the players took it, appears to be irrelevant to Tanner.
How were the players supposed to find out what was banned in 2012? Jump into a time machine and fast forward to February 2013? Tanner is running the ASADA line.
ASADA responded to the Herald Sun exposé with this: “Whether a substance was on ASADA’s former Check Your Substances tool has no bearing on its status as a prohibited substance on WADA’s Prohibited List.”
But hang on. ASADA did not list TB-4 in 2012 and WADA did not list TB-4 in 2012. According to Tanner it is misleading to point that out.
Why does ASADA have a “Check Your Substance” tool then?
Is it there to mislead athletes, lull them into a false sense of security, so ASADA can ping them?
Importantly, why doesn’t Tanner defend the players instead of ASADA?
He reportedly said the club does not want an inquiry because it would distress the players. But two players, Jobe Watson and Nathan Lovett-Murray, have come out swinging as a result of the Herald Sun report. I doubt it would be distressing to the 34 players if an inquiry demonstrated they were not ”drug cheats”.
If that wasn’t bad enough, Tanner announced at the AGM that David Evans was to be made an Essendon life member.
Evans was the chairman of the club when he concocted a deal with Andrew Demetriou to keep the AFL and the Essendon board safe from any prosecution while throwing James Hird, Mark Thompson, Bruce Reid and Danny Corcoran under the bus.
The deal was also supposed to protect the Essendon players too; and we know how that turned out.
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THE QUESTION DANIHER CAN’T ANSWER
Evans infamously asked James Hird to withhold information in his testimony to ASADA.
One thing Evans said about the scandal that led to the wrongful conviction of the 34 Essendon footballers was this when he cut and ran back in July 2013:
“I will make no further comment until further notice.”
Evans has been true to his word. Despite the draconian penalties handed down to the club and support staff and the 34 players for alleged events while he was chairman, he has remained silent. Evans has offered no explanations for what happened under his watch either in his resignation statement or since.
Lindsay Tanner has made David Evans a life member. What a joke. The Essendon Football Club today is not the club I have supported since I was born in 1946.
Allan Hird is a former Essendon player and father of James Hird.