Allan Hird: Focus needs to be on ASADA as well

THE penny has finally dropped for Rita Panahi about the AFL’s manipulation of the Essendon supplement saga process, writes Allan Hird.

• Secret Dons tape: Crisis meeting recording emerges
• Secret tape exposes rage over AFL ‘betrayal’
• Read the explosive meeting transcript
• Bill Shorten to hear case for ASADA inquiry

THE penny has finally dropped for Rita Panahi about the AFL.

Her article reveals she now knows the AFL attempted to manipulate the process in relation to the Essendon supplements saga.

Welcome to the party Ms Panahi.

RITA PANAHI: AFL STILL HAS TO GIVE US SOME ANSWERS OVER ESSENDON SUPPLEMENT SAGA

Allan Hird.

Those of us who have read Chip Le Grand’s excellent book, the Straight Dope, Michael Warner’s reporting in the Herald Sun and the transcripts of the Federal Court case Hird vs. ASADA have known since 2013 that the AFL has never been interested in the truth.

Indeed, it has actively sought to hide the truth to protect its office bearers.

But as the saying goes better late than never.

All Ms Panahi has to do now, on her self-realisation quest, is to have the same revelation about ASADA under its soon to be departing CEO Ben McDevitt.

She runs the line that Mr McDevitt is some kind of white knight on his charger trying to clean up sport. Well the facts show he is quite different.

The facts show outgoing ASADA chief executive Ben McDevitt is anything but a white knight, says Allan Hird. Picture: Ray Strange

Let me go through some lines she uses to pump up Mr McDevitt’s tyres. Ms Panahi quotes Mr McDevitt as saying: “we know that hundreds, if not thousands, of injections were given to Essendon players during the course of 2012”.

Think about that for a minute. If Mr McDevitt knew the number of injections, why didn’t he give an exact figure? It’s either hundreds or it’s thousands.

Either he knew it’s hundreds or he knew it’s thousands. It can’t be both.

Perhaps Mr McDevitt is confusing the number of injections with the sweet coloured sprinkles mums and dads use to make fairy bread.

Ms Panahi relies on the decision of the Court of Arbitration for Sport that found the players had taken Thymosin Beta 4, a substance banned under the WADA code to defend Mr McDevitt.

But how did the players get to be tried by CAS? Simply because Mr McDevitt was after convictions not justice.

LISTEN NOW: SECRET DONS CRISIS MEETING RECORDING EMERGES

READ THE EXPLOSIVE MEETING TRANSCRIPT

The CAS decision could never have been made if Australian legal principles had applied.

That is the precise reason why Mr McDevitt did not challenge the decision of the AFL Tribunal comprising two Australian Judges and an eminent barrister that found the players had no case to answer.

The tribunal used Australian legal principles and Australian rules of evidence when it cleared the players of any wrongdoing.

ASADA had the right under the WADA architecture to appeal the AFL Tribunal decision in Australia. But Mr McDevitt knew that he would lose because the case he ran before the tribunal had been thrown out because of lack of evidence.

That’s right, there was no evidence the players had taken TB4.

Ben McDevitt knew that he would lose because the case he ran before the tribunal had been thrown out because of lack of evidence. Picture: Ray Strange

Instead, ASADA under Mr McDevitt’s watch gave WADA $US100,000, use of ASADA’s lawyers and the access to ASADA’s failed tribunal case to have the players tried again before CAS.

He knew Australian legal principles and rules of evidence would not apply and he knew the case before CAS would be a fresh trial.

So here we have a highly paid Australian public servant funding the trial of 34 Australians in a foreign court knowing they would not receive Australian justice.

Furthermore, under Australian law, there is a simple but powerful principle, double jeopardy, and this means you can’t be tried for the same crime twice.

But the Essendon players were, and Mr McDevitt engineered it that way.

Ms Panahi accepts Mr McDevitt’s line that the players did not reveal the injections they had as an indication of their guilt. It is simply not true the players did not tell about their injections.

Rita Panahi accepts Mr McDevitt’s line that the players did not reveal the injections they had as an indication of their guilt. It is simply not true. Picture: Peter Brew-Bevan

Many did, and in any case, at the time in 2012, there was no requirement for them to do so. That statement by Mr McDevitt, besides being untrue, was an irrelevant distraction.

The players were charged with taking TB4. Yet there is absolutely no evidence whatsoever that TB4 was ever mentioned in any document or conversation to the players.

ALLAN HIRD: WADA INQUIRY NEEDED IN LIGHT OF ESSENDON DRUG SCANDAL

In fact, the players first heard of TB4 when they were charged with taking it. So, what is the point in Mr McDevitt trying to infer the players had something to hide?

Mr McDevitt has history in making things up to justify his case. In his testimony to senate estimates on March 3, 2016, he said the players did not do any research into the substances they were given. He said all they had to do was look up the website.

Well, many people have done so, including some of the players, and the WADA banned list for 2012 does not list TB4.

So, what would be the point of the players going to the website? The substance they were charged with taking was not listed.

All of this of course calls into question Ms Panahi’s attempt to portray Mr McDevitt as some sort of white knight trying to clean up sport. More likely his aim throughout was convictions, not justice.

My advice to Ms Panahi would be: before jumping in to champion someone, do your research. The corollary is also before trying to impugn the Essendon players’ reputations, do your research.

Allan Hird is a former Essendon player and father of Essendon great James Hird.