Sorry Saga - “It’s actually quite funny people thinking they know more than they actually do”

It is a shame that Neil Mitchell did not ask Gil for his views on Caro’s smear on Greg Ritchie and his involvement with the Crows.
Bruce Francis has taken up the cause
twitdoc.com/8UWC

6 Likes

1 Like

1 Like

Its not very often this happens to the AFL. Normally people back down and go and hide in a corner or are paid hush money.

He is a man worthy of our support Jackson Taylor. A very courageous man.

25 Likes

What was the $ figure he needed?

1 Like

Remember this is just a conversation Gillon is having. It doesn’t mean he plans to do anything and why would he? The plan up until now has worked well for him. This sudden openness might fool some of the people some of the time but there are people who won’t be fooled easily again. They are the ones who have been targeted, whose lives will never be the same. Without proof, without evidence where certain parties were prepared to change evidence by leaving bits out to ensure the agenda cemented its place in history.

Under Gillon’s watch, some of the worst behaving AFL accredited journalists, camped on the Hird family’s front lawn, humiliated the whole family not just the coach of the EFC but; also his wife and children. The media also created its own storm which affected all the families of not just the affected EFC players but many of the EFC players and EFC staff and supporters. That’s right us, we have also had to wear some of the abuse too.

Without any evidence of TB4 being at the EFC and prior to the AFL Tribunal where the players were found not guilty but it was too late, the court of public opinion convicted them long before CAS ever did. Not weeks, not months but years of innuendo and out and out lies. Similar things happened to Jobe Watson and Essendon players. Bomber Thompson has recently had plenty to say about the saga.

Remember this lesson well and on advice from previous examples of behaviour, never trust a great white shark.

22 Likes

Excellent Bruce. Anyone who can bring Carowhine to task over her abhorrent behaviours is doing a good job in
my book. I find it interesting the AFL seldom do. I wonder why is that?

7 Likes

That’s what Jake Niall does. I’ve seen him at pubs around Northcote and Clifton Hill watching footy, taking notes - when the game is on at the MCG a 10 minute train ride away. Patrick Smith has done the same thing for years, but he lives down on the coast somewhere.

find it hard to believe that the media put up with this accreditation nonsense …seems to be censorship by another name to me …

4 Likes

yeah I bet Hird & Thompson could find a few made up things that had significant ramifications to them that were printed by afl media

2 Likes

Caro got a hit by the Press Council for her Hird sacked article , yet she remains in their Hall of Fame.

1 Like

Theres Hall Of Fame for 'journalism?
Seriously?
We are a nation of soft ■■■■■ if thats required in general employment.

4 Likes

There’s a very simple and straight-up response to Gil and the idea of disaccrediting media - it goes a’something like this:

“take out the bits we don’t need”

4 Likes

Gils comments on Friday or whatever farking day it was were a massive croc of ■■■■ and flies in the face of everyone who has been involved in the saga. Don’t worry about coaching innuendo, worry about crap that ruins future employment outside the AFL such as the saga. Losing your job as a coach has 0 impact on future employment inside or outside of the AFL.

2 Likes

This is the 3rd of a series of video releases which Fact Check statements made by ASADA whilst at Senate Estimates in March 2016. We trust these videos will allow you to support our request for a Parliamentary inquiry into Sports Anti-Doping in Australia.

Regulation requires regulators to act without fear or favour, not to target. In the Essendon case, ASADA does not appear to have applied a consistent set of regulatory standards which would have allowed athletes to prove their innocence.

This is a most serious matter.

It can only be addressed by an open Parliamentary inquiry which allows all parties to be scrutinised, including athletes, sporting bodies and regulators.

It is in the national interest.

18 Likes

Scorpio. This has already been completed and submitted.

2 Likes

J34 has presented a Submission to the Sports Minister for consideration on the development of the National Sports Plan. The document was prepared before the announcement of the Sports Integrity Review. However, a separate note was sent with the submission in response to the appointment of Howman to the Review Panel and appears below

Please find attached my submission for consideration in the establishment of the National Sports Plan.

At the time of completion of this submission the Minister of Sport, Greg Hunt, announced a review into Integrity of Australian Sport. Mr Hunt also stated that ex- Director General of WADA, David Howman, had been appointed as a member of the Review Panel.

Australian sports fans, and athletes, would be perplexed and concerned about this appointment given that Mr Howman presided over WADA during the period when a Russian State sponsored program involving doping of Olympic athletes was uncovered by German media, which revealed that WADA officials hand “sat on their hands” for nearly four years, ignoring statements and warnings by whistle-blowers and fellow members within the Olympic movement.
U.S. Republican Senator, John Thune, Chairman of the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation, which has jurisdiction over U.S. sports, and contributes a significant amount of tax-payers money to finance WADA (U.S.$25m), sent a 7-page letter to WADA criticising the agency for letting at least four years pass before pursuing tips from Russian whistle-blowers, and for containing its ultimate investigation to Russian track and field in spite of claims that cheating transcended sports and implicated other countries.

Despite comments from WADA officials that claimed that a reason for the slow response was the fear for the safety of whistle-blowers Senator Thune said “officials’ concerns for the personal safety of whistle-blowers only raised questions about whether the regulator had proper policies in place to solicit information and protect people from retaliation”. He also said in the letter that “WADA’s excuse for its long delay in aggressively investigating these allegations overlooks the fact that the evidence WADA received from the whistle-blowers centered on allegations of corruption at the WADA-accredited anti-doping laboratory in Moscow and at the Russian national anti-doping agency, both of which are under WADA’s direct oversight.”

The Senator Thune Committee letter requested answers to 11 specific questions — five of them focused on potential conflicts of interest among WADA’s leadership.

Mr Howman, as an executive member of WADA, was ultimately responsible for the integrity of the WADA Code and WADA Banned Substances List. As a Medical Scientist I am abhorred at the lack of scientific rigor employed by the WADA Medical and Scientific Review Panel in making recommendations for inclusion of a substance onto the banned list. For example the addition of Meldonium onto the banned list on January 1st 2016 completely overlooked a basic scientific element of a substance profile – pharmacokinetic studies. An unforgiveable error considering how many athletes were duped into believing they were drug cheats.

These same sports fans and athletes, mentioned above, would ask the question that if we are looking to establish an Australian anti-doping framework, one customised for Australian athletes, and including non-Olympic Sports and indigenous team sports such as the AFL, why do we need to employ David Howman, who brings experience from an organisation beset with governance, integrity and conflict of interest issues and lacking rigor in medical science. Surely our country has individuals, including athletes, with the experience, integrity, reputation, together with a strong and relevant skill set that can provide a world’s best practice outcome for our athletes and the population that supports them.

… on behalf of Justice for the 34.

34 Likes

Good stuff @bomber5au, thank you for all the hard work you/J34 do.

13 Likes

I find it curious that there is no athlete representation on the panel. The Australian Athletes Alliance ( which includes AFLPA) has welcomed the inquiry. It may be that the alliance sees its best interests served by lobbying the panel, but it might have been useful to include a retired athlete of the likes of Kieran Perkins to provide some balance. As it is, there appears to be bias in favour of the establishment institutions : WADA, CAS/IOC arbitrator and sports federations.

3 Likes