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Except that that applies to recreational drugs not performance enhancing ones.

I do agree though, the whole thing is bizarre
 
Miss Hale said:
Except that that applies to recreational drugs not performance enhancing ones.

I do agree though, the whole thing is bizarre
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:frown: come on guys -where's the faith!!??

If Craig Thomsen can claim innocence over 150 fraud charges, surely we can assume that this is also a big misunderstanding.

Duckman
 
This is going to be oh so tricky for the AFL...

Lets say they do find serious problems with the widespread administration of performance enhancing drugs. On the face of it the club should be penalized almost with suspension. Coaches and administrators could be banned, charged. Players could be suspended.

But what would be the effect on revenue of a suspended or severely handicapped Essendon Football Club ? How would the bombers fans respond ? What would the TV networks say about this ?

Will be fascinating to see how it comes out ..
 
Miss Hale said:
Except that that applies to recreational drugs not performance enhancing ones.

I do agree though, the whole thing is bizarre
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Pretty sure there is a clause that if you come forward and admit usage with no other evidence ie positive drug test, the penalty is halved. Not 100% sure though.

It is certainly interesting to see how this plays out.
 

They need an expert:
They should hire Lance Armstrong as the League's Nutritionist Advisor.
 
Duckman#72 said:
:frown: come on guys -where's the faith!!??

If Craig Thomsen can claim innocence over 150 fraud charges, surely we can assume that this is also a big misunderstanding.

Duckman
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Well I am in fact a Hawthorn supporter so am enjoying a fairly healthy dose of schadenfreude at the moment
 
Had a look at some comments made on another forum (Big Football).

While I was only half joking with my comments I think one particular comment may have summed this up rather more clearly.

I don't know about the rest of you, but after practically reading about this for the past 10 hours, I still have no idea what to think of it all. One minute I'm confident we'll come out of it fine, then the next I'm **** scared of the possibilities.

To begin with, let's start with the obvious.

What the **** were they thinking administering supplements that were 'borderline' anyway! The drugs policy is relatively clear cut in regards to what is and isn't an acceptable substance and an acceptable method of administering it. If it was such a grey area, why was clarification not sought? Why even go there if it's borderline? Just utterly ******* ridiculous and incompetent whichever way you look at it.

Now as for the club not knowing, that is pretty damn flimsy. How exactly do you not notice players gone once a month mysteriously? As if players don't mention the injections, the coaches definitely had to have had some idea. That's also ignoring the fact that half of BigFooty knew about this scandal months before it broke. Hell, even the Herald Sun was probing around November asking the club question about it. It's extremelly naive to think the club didn't know, especially as it has been revealed the AFL had launched it's own investigation prior to the club coming forward.

All that is ignoring other questionable things such as waivers, the mysterious $10,000 expenses claimed by Dank, the off-site administering plus the possible criminal involvement.

That's all been done though, unfortunately, we need to prepare for what could still come.

I've come to the conclusion that we are either completely innocent and will walk away free of charges, or we will be found guilty and have all hell brought upon us.

Now, one news oulet is claiming that up to 80% of our list was involved in this program.

WADA/ASADA has a strict 2-year ban for those found guilty of using PED for the first time. Potentially, that could mean up to 30+ of our players would be rubbed out for two years. Then you have to factor in officials who were in on it as well, so chuck in bans for them.

If this is found to be systematic, WADA/ASADA also has the ability to ban clubs as well.

For those still unaware, ignorance is no excuse. Even if the players had no idea what they were being administered, they will still receive a two year ban.

Put simply, if our players have taken a substance deemed to an illicit substance, we are royally screwed.

No ifs, no buts.

Make no mistake, this club will destroyed.

We better ******* pray that no illegal substances were administered.

Hold on folks, these are dark days ahead.
 
Scary stuff. The weapon just keeps firing at his own side. I'm really annoyed.
 
One thing that strikes me as strange is the bit about players signing waivers. I find it hard to believe that not one of these players would not have gone to Hird or someone else high up at the club and brought this to their attention. I can't believe thay all signed the waivers without question and didn't talk to anyone about it

Schadenfreude aside, I sincerely hope this isn't anything serious because it's no good for the AFL if one of our teams are effectively wiped out for a season or two. There are also rumours that other clubs are affected too, if that is true how would that impact on the competition?
 
Another article in The Age outlines how serious the situation could get for Essendon and The AFL.

Short story is that the AFL did all they could to stay out of WADA/ASADA. It was the Federal Government in 2005 that demanded the AFL be subject to the tough oversight of WADA.

Essentially ASADA is not going to whitewash any issues it discovers. The mandatory penalties of 2 years suspension of players who take PED's applies regardless of professed ignorance. If this affects a large number of players the Bombers are effectively crippled for a couple of years and the AFL is similarly affected.

It will be fascinating to see how 'real politick' works over the next few weeks.

 
Trembling Hand said:
Hahaha. Whatever it takes!!

View attachment 50877
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Hahaha yeah I think a few are regretting picking that slogan for the season.

I think the powers to be at bomberland were told what was happening was all above board and then found out later it might not be so innocent.
Obviously once they found out what was really going on they went into damage control. I've got no doubt they knew something was fishy a while ago considering they sacked Danks in the middle of last year.

This has the potential to destroy Essendon and seriously damage the AFL.

I really hope it turns out to be a storm in a teacup for the sake of Essendon and the AFL, but I'm not so sure it will be. Just way too many questions needing to be answered atm.
 
Yes, I hope it is all a storm in a teacup as it wont be good for the AFL.

Sadly, seems to be one after the other coming out, showing how competitive it has all become, big business, greed and the need for more.

Whatever happened to players playing and having a full time job away from the field.
Ahh those were the good ole days lol
 
nomore4s said:
I really hope it turns out to be a storm in a teacup for the sake of Essendon and the AFL, but I'm not so sure it will be. Just way too many questions needing to be answered atm.
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I think it's a storm because of false information being provided by a disgruntled ex player. Reimers seems to have twisted the facts regarding the 'waiver' which sounds sinister. And everyone is having a cow because they were getting injections. Injections don't mean illegal.

Essendon will be completely cleared of this and Reimers has lost any friend he may have had at Essendon. If he had any at all.
 

I'm inclined to call the players victims at this stage.
I simply don't believe they'd knowingly be that stupid.

Essendon will be completely cleared of this and Reimers has lost any friend he may have had at Essendon. If he had any at all.
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If doping happened, ignorance won't be an excuse.
You'll cop a hiding from the AFL.
 

If that waiver is true that alone is as dodgy and unethical as you could force on a player. Very poor form.
 

I hope you are right Kennas, but as more info comes out it is looking like dodgy practices were under taken by the EFC. The main problem is there appears to have been rumours around for a while in regards to this matter and I think it would have all hit the fan sooner or later even if Reimers didn't blow the whistle.

I think there will be no evidence that anything illegal was given to the players and there will be no charges laid but it doesn't excuse some of the poor practices put in place by the EFC. They really opened themselves up to very real threats to the whole organization. If it is found the substances injected were illegal it could get very ugly for everyone involved, especially the players.

I really feel for the players as they truly have done nothing wrong and if the reports are correct raised concerns at the time and were pretty much pressured into complying while being assured everything was above board. It will the the players who pay the biggest price if they were injected with illegal substances, so I really hope nothing comes of this. But either way heads should roll in the upper echelons of the EFC. Some very naive and ill thought out practices put into place in the search of quick success.
 

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2013-02-07/4505884
 
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