James Hird overdose: Father Allan Hird speaks out
UPDATE: JAMES Hird’s dad expects him to make a full recovery from his health scare and said his family had rallied around the Essendon legend in his darkest hour.
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JAMES Hird’s dad expects him to make a full recovery from his health scare and said his family had rallied around the Essendon legend in his darkest hour.
Allan Hird on Tuesday said he was still reeling from news his son was receiving treatment in a Melbourne mental health centre following a drug overdose last Wednesday.
“I’m concerned about him, I have been all along,’’ Mr Hird said. “He’s my son and it’s a shocking thing.’’
But Mr Hird was not surprised the Essendon supplements scandal had finally taken its toll on the former Bombers star player and coach, banned by the AFL for a year at the height of the crisis.
“I’m not going to provide a running commentary of everything that has happened,’’ he said from his home in Brisbane.
“But I’m ashamed at the AFL, I’m ashamed of the club I grew up supporting and I’m furious at the Australian government.”
Mr Hird accused the AFL, Bombers and the former Gillard government of treating the Brownlow medallist and premiership captain as a second-class citizen.
“He’s been treated as an object, not as a person,’’ he said.
“I hope Jim is on the road to recovery and I expect he will make a full recovery.’’
Mr Hird hoped his son would stop being demonised.
“He’s a human like everyone else,’’ he said. “He’s a determined person — just look at his football career and the hurdles he had to overcome — but he’s a human being who’s had lies told about him.’’
Mr Hird, who played for Essendon in the 1960s, said he’d visit James in Melbourne “when the time is right’’.
Mr Hird claimed the AFL, government officials and members of the Bombers board had tried to cover up the “real” story behind the scandal and made his son the fall guy.
“All the people that are trying to get the real story out are hitting a brick wall,” he said.
“They won’t let it out — the AFL have got a blanket ban on anything to do with the AFL 34 group.”
Mr Hird told the Herald Sun his famous son had confided in him regularly and believes he had been “set up’’ by those he trusted most.
He labelled AFL executives “bullies”.
“They certainly set Jim up ... he talked to me all the way through,’’ he said.
“They threw him under a bus.
“Jim was offered up as compensation in 2013. And look how that deal ended — the players were found guilty.”
The AFL has again been contacted for a response, but said earlier this morning after Mr Hird gave a radio interview that it was not commenting.
On radio station 3AW, Mr Hird also accused the AFL of being “thugs” and “bullies”.
“I think they had some dignity and some integrity, but they haven’t got a moral compass,” he told 3AW host Tony Jones.
Jones told listeners Mr Hird, 70, contacted the radio station to air his side of the story and was not paid for the interview.
In the interview Mr Hird said the Gillard Government got themselves “into a hole” and peddled the notion of Hird being used as a scapegoat for political reasons.
“Jason Clare and Kate Lundy over blew that crime commission report enormously and they needed something,” he said.
“It was when the member for Dobell was in that sex-scandal using union money for prostitutes, two ministers resigned (and they were) well behind (in) the polls.
“They announced Essendon guilty through the media before ASADA started its investigation.
“Jim fought all the way through for his own integrity through this, he never allowed them to make him the scapegoat.”
AFL chairman Mike Fitzpatrick pulled out of a meeting with Hird five times saying “it was the way it is” and they needed a face for the saga, Mr Hird said.
A deluge of emails from supporters to the club saying “don’t do it” saved Hird from being sacked after he appealed his ASADA-AFL anti-doping case, his father said.
“He said If I get through the next 24 hours I will be okay Dad,” Mr Hird said.
“He said ‘I can’t trust the people that run the club’ but he could trust the supporters and the players were with him too, of course.”
Mr Hird said his son’s only fault throughout the saga was trusting people.
He said Hird trusted Stephen Dank’s integrity because he came from an AFL-owned club, the Gold Coast Suns, after the AFL approved his employment.
Mr Hird said the news of his son’s overdose came out of the blue.
“My daughter has been keeping me regularly informed,” he said.
“I’m in Brisbane, I’m coming down shortly to see him but my daughter has been keeping me informed.
“He’s fine.
“I had no inkling, just out of the blue, but anyway, that’s where it is.
“I don’t really know what the cause is, that’s really between Jim and God, I don’t want to make any overt connection, I don’t believe that it’s appropriate.”
Mr Hird added: “But what I do want, Tony, is for the truth to come out about what happened to Essendon from 2013 and what’s still happening.
“Conspiracy is probably the wrong word in a legal sense but in the general public’s eye I’d say a conspiracy between the Gillard Government, the AFL and elements of the Essendon board plus the Australian anti-doping authority to get a result for something, to get everyone out of a hole.”
“Right from the start I believed Jim trusted people too much. He put too much trust in the club doing the right thing, he put too much trust in the AFL, he put too much trust in our system of government.
“And I think if he had his time over again he would have done it differently.
“Remember, he put out when they started this supplements program at Essendon, two basic rules — it has to be WADA compliant — in fact he put out three — the doctor has to sign off on everything, and it has to be not injurious to the players’ health.”
He said four years on no player was unhealthy as a result of the program.
Asked if he was surprised that Hird stood up for so long, Mr Hird said “you just have to look at the genes”, saying his grandfather was a fighter.
Mr Hird said he was supporting his son and keeping up the public fight to clear his name.
“He’s my son. He’s got my undying love, and it lasts forever, and it’s enormous. You do what you can.
“What I can is prosecute the case for a judicial inquiry, or a Senate inquiry into this case.”
“Let’s get everyone in a witness box.
“He is very happy that the truth comes out, that’s what he wants.”
Asked if Hird would “bounce back”, he said: “Oh, hell yeah.
“He won’t play football again, he’s too old. But he’ll bounce back.”
The Herald Sun understands Hird was transferred from Cabrini’s to a specialist mental health centre where he is still receiving care.
Hird’s wife, Tania Hird, says her husband’s health is her “primary focus”.
In a statement she said: “We wish to express our appreciation for the public support that has been given to James and our family since news of his hospitalisation became known.”
A close confidant on Friday night accused the AFL of hounding the Bombers great.
Hird’s former lawyer, Steven Amendola, said the ex-Essendon coach was the victim of years of bullying by league chiefs.
Former St Kilda coach Grant Thomas sensationally lambasted the league for being “notably absent” in the days following the former Bombers coach and 1996 Brownlow medallist’s hospitalisation, claiming executives are too “busy”.
Beyondblue chairman Jeff Kennett said the incident was a “cry for help”.
“Assuming these stories have a basis of fact, this is a cry for help by an individual and I hope that he will get that help,” Mr Kennett told SEN.
On Monday the AFL Players’ Association offered its support to Hird.
Association chief Paul Marsh confirmed the players union had contacted “someone close to” Hird and, like for all former AFL players, was on call if needed.
“James is a former player. We have over 3000 past playe100rs as members of the AFLPA,” Marsh said.
“We’ve reached out to someone close to James to offer our support and if we can help James or his family in any way, we will.”
Hird played 253 games for Essendon between 1992 and 2007, sharing the 1996 Brownlow Medal with Michael Voss and winning two premierships 1993 and 2000, when he was captain.
He was selected in the All-Australian team five times and won the Bombers’ best and fairest award on five occasions. He also captained the club from 1998 to 2005 before retiring at the end of 2007.
Hird and wife Tania have four children, a daughter and three sons.
TIMELINE — JAMES HIRD’S STORY
1990 — Hird is drafted to Essendon at pick No. 79 in the 1990 national draft.
1993 — He plays in a premiership team in just his 20th game.
1994 — Hird wins the first of five Best and Fairest medals. He wins again in 1995, 1996, 2003 and 2007.
1996 — He wins the Brownlow Medal, sharing it with Brisbane’s Michael Voss.
1998 — Appointed Essendon captain.
2000 — After a long recovery from foot and hamstring injuries, Hird leads the team to its best season in league history, winning 23 out of 24 games and a premiership. He wins the Norm Smith Medal as best player afield in the Grand Final.
2 002 — Hird suffers serious facial fractures in Round 6 but returns eight weeks later.
He is ranked the third best Essendon player of all time.
2007 — After 253 games for Essendon and 343 goals in a glittering career, Hird retires at the end of the season, alongside legendary coach Kevin Sheedy.
SEPTEMBER 28, 2010 — Hird appointed Essendon coach for four years. He tells the media he is putting his reputation on the line by returning to the club.
FEBRUARY 5, 2013 — Essendon “self-reports” to ASADA and the AFL, asking the league to investigate concerns about the potential inappropriate use of supplements during the 2012 season.
Hird tells a media conference he is disappointed and shocked.
APRIL 11 — Former Essendon sports scientist Stephen Dank claims through the media that he injected Hird with Hexarelin, which WADA banned for players in 2004. The claims were denied by Hird and never substantiated.
AUGUST 13 — Hird and Bombers head of football Danny Corcoran, club doctor Bruce Reid and assistant coach Mark Thompson are charged with conduct likely to bring the game into disrepute. The Bombers say they will fight all charges.
AUGUST 26-27 — The Bombers are disqualified from the 2013 finals series, fined $2 million and stripped of their picks in the first two rounds of the 2013 and 2014 national drafts. Hird accepts a 12-month ban.
MARCH 20, 2014 — Hird departs for France with his family, to attend one of the world’s most prestigious business schools.
AUGUST 25 — Hird’s 12-month suspension ends. He returns to work at Essendon, but takes a back seat during the club’s finals campaign.
AUGUST 18, 2015 — Hird resigns as coach, believing the club would not be able to move on from the supplements controversy while he was still in charge.
JANUARY 12, 2016 — The Essendon 34 found guilty of doping by WADA, and 12 current Bombers are banned for 12 months.
JANUARY 14-15 — In a two-part exclusive for the Herald Sun, Hird reveals what happened at Essendon during 2012-13, saying: “I concentrated on my task as head coach, satisfied that the supplement piece of the high-performance puzzle at Essendon was compliant. It seems that what transpired was that the protocol we put in place was not always followed.”
JANUARY 4, 2017 — Hird admitted to hospital.
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