Essendon’s decision to give David Evans life membership angers father of James Hird
Essendon Football Club’s decision to make former chairman David Evans as a life member of the club has angered the father of James Hird, who described the move as ‘a joke’.
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James Hird’s father has savaged Essendon’s decision to install former chairman David Evans as a life member of the club.
Allan Hird has also taken aim at current Bombers boss Lindsay Tanner for defending the Australian Sports Anti-Doping Authority’s conduct in the investigation that led to the suspension of 34 Dons players.
“Lindsay Tanner has made David Evans a life member. What a joke,” Hird Sr said.
“David Evans was the chairman of the club when he concocted a tawdry deal with Andrew Demetriou keeping 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.”
Hird Sr said Evans had “infamously” asked his son “to lie in his testimony to ASADA to protect his mate Andrew Demetriou”.
“One honest thing David 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’,” he said.
“Evans has been true to his word … (he) has offered no explanations for what happened under his watch either in his resignation statement or since. Talk about going to ground.”
Management for former Essendon player Nathan Lovett-Murray, one of those wiped out in the ASADA doping case, have also called on Tanner to step aside.
Tanner, a former federal Labor MP, told club members last week that his board would not support a fresh inquiry into the supplements saga.
It followed revelations the drug at the centre of the scandal, Thymosin Beta 4, was only added to ASADA’s banned list the day before the club “self-reported” its supplements program in February 2013.
It was also revealed crucial pieces of evidence used to convict the Essendon 34 had been manipulated.
Former Bombers captain Jobe Watson tweeted at the time: “As I say to my bulldog Benson, if it smells, keep digging.”
But Tanner said last week: “Any such inquiry will cause significant distress for the people who are most affected … and the club therefore does not support the concept.”
Lovett-Murray’s agent, Peter Jess, wrote to Tanner on Friday and told him his comments “beggar belief”.
“To allow 34 fine young men to be permanently tarnished as drug cheats and a champion of the club, Jobe Watson, stripped unjustly of his Brownlow Medal, is simply unconscionable given the flawed investigation process and outcome,” Jess said.
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“To have the convictions overturned, in my view, is a positive that you and the club are compelled to support.
“On the one hand you have supported David Evans to life member status yet ignored the players who are captured by the ongoing injustice.
“Step aside now and let somebody with empathy and conviction take up the cause.”