I think that there may have been an assumption that whatever Dank and Robinson were using at Cronulla ( and elsewhere) was also being used at Essendon. IIRC the initial AFL charge sheet against Hird and co listed substances similar to those of Cronulla and by Sandor Earl individually at the Panthers.
But, as things went down then track and the ASADA investigators did their homework, ASADA probably realised - or the ADRVP let it be known - that the only evidence capable of passing muster through the ADRVP processes - based on a standard of possibility - related to TB4. By that time ASADA and the AFL had invested too much to draw back.
I think it also goes to show that there was probably little to no evidence secured through the ACC process ( involving evidence secured through the AFP , Customs and sworn testimony) to implicate Essendon.
History repeating itself. The AFL could not go Cameron Schwab in the Melbourne tanking affair as Schwab as CEO held Melbourne’s liquor and gambling licensing rights and if found out might not have been a fit and proper person to hold the rights under Victorian law. So, after having dug itself in, the AFL crucified Dean Bailey and Chris Connolly without any evidence apart from some crap about them not making changes on the interchange bench.
The AFL brand stinks.
Spot on bigallan. It is worthy of note that at the time of the tanking affair Melbourne were in desperate financial trouble AGAIN. The only source of a regular income was through the club’s gambling interests. Melbourne was close to bankruptcy. The club president at the time was Jim Stynes, and without wanting to denigrate Saint Jim, it is fair to say that Dean Bailey was the “low hanging fruit”.
According to his Lawyer, Chris Pollard, Bailey was absolutely gutted with the decision and the betrayal (think Jim, Bomber and Danny) and suffered depression because of it. The rest is tragic history.
And iluminares like ‘dermie 5-night 5 day’ brereton perpetuated this line in the media till the end. Anyone disputing this was brushed aside.
Hunt is on QandA Monday. QandA is inviting questions, but I doubt that a sport question would get up, unless couched in general terms about his sports review
This is hopefully all the stuff that should be out in the open if Jackson Taylor gets to discovery.
Going back over the FOI requests available on the right to know site, there are inconsistencies between government agencies in responses.
A request to PM&C for documents relating, inter alia, to communications and briefings between the ACC and PM&C was knocked back on the grounds that no file documents could be identified after reasonable searches.
At the same time, FOI documents released by the ACC record briefings and consultations scheduled with a range of bodies prior to release of the report , including PM&C.
In addition to the TGA, ASADA and the relevant Department responsible for sport at the time, the ACC consultations/briefings were also held with AOC, WADA ( with WADA to provide a written response) and the Codes. The ACC documents released also reveal close coordination on strategies and media presentation.
We have a new Sports Minister. Hunt retains Health. Former physical education teacher and sports scientist Bridget McKenzie will take on sport, rural health and regional communications as the new Nationals deputy leader.
Doing further research into my previous post, not sure why ‘The Australian’ referred to Bridget McKenzie as a ‘sports scientist’. Cannot find any other reference to this anywhere else. However she definitely was a PE teacher at Yarram Secondary College.
She is also a hunter and shooter, in some trouble for claiming electoral expenses for attending a shooters function in Sydney.
Don’t these people ever learn???
No. Because they are not held to account.
And; just because you could be entitled to this or that, doesn’t mean you should grab everything that’s there because you can. There is far too much of this going on.
Except if you are poor or downtrodden. Then you have no entitlements.
…or if you are the ‘low hanging fruit’
National accreditation to halt sport doping by team experts
The Australian 12:00AM December 20, 2017
ESSA chief executive Anita Hobson-Powell says sports scientists would need a relevant university degree and industry experience to secure the minimum accreditation.
CHIP LE GRAND
Victorian Chief ReporterMelbourne
@Melbchief
Australia’s peak sporting body has moved to fireproof clubs and organisations from a recurrence of the Essendon and Cronulla drug scandals by adopting a national accreditation system for sports scientists and conditioning coaches.
Organisations that hire or continue to employ unaccredited scientists and support staff will be stripped of government funding, the Australian Sports Commission will announce today. All sports have until the end of next year to ensure their staff meet the new mandatory industry standards.
A national accreditation system for sports scientists was a key recommendation of a senate inquiry in the scandal that resulted in more than 50 footballers being found guilty of doping offences at the NRL club Cronulla and Essendon in the AFL. At both clubs, the principle villain was Stephen Dank, a self-styled sports scientist who oversaw a disastrous regime of peptide injections in 2011 and 2012.
Dank, a qualified biochemist, was not recognised as a sports scientist by Exercise and Sports Science Australia (ESSA), the industry body that will administer the new national accreditation scheme. He was handed a life ban from all sport in 2015 and declared bankrupt this year.
Australian Institute of Sport director Peter Conde said the accreditation schemes would help protect the health and wellbeing of athletes. “By applying these high industry standards in sports science and strength and conditioning, the entire Australian sport industry is making it crystal clear that we collectively stand for integrity in sport,’’ Mr Conde said.
Nick Brown, the AIS deputy director for performance and innovation, said the accreditation would bring sports science into line with doctors, dietitians and other professionals working with athletes. He said any scientists or conditioning coaches wanting to work in sport must secure accreditation by this time next year.
The AFL and NRL already require sports scientists employed by clubs to hold ESSA accreditation.
ESSA chief executive Anita Hobson-Powell said sports scientists would need a relevant university degree and industry experience to secure the minimum accreditation. Level 2 accreditation will require postgraduate qualifications and three years of experience. Strength and conditioning coaches’ accreditation will be administered by the Australian Strength and Conditioning Association.
The changes are expected to be broadly welcomed by sports scientists, whose profession took a hammering after the “blackest day in Australian sport’’ when the Australian Crime Commission blamed unscrupulous sports scientists for the proliferation of banned substances.
“For four-and-a-half years sports have been sitting in limbo, wanting more guidance from government,’’ Ms Hobson-Powell said. “It is putting this closure to it and we can hopefully move on in a positive light.’’
A national accreditation scheme was backed by the Australian Sports Anti-Doping Authority, which investigated and prosecuted 17 footballers at Cronulla, 34 at Essendon and Stephen Dank for his conduct at Essendon. “We know that support personnel can have a strong influence on athletes’ attitudes and behaviours,’’ ASADA chief executive David Sharpe said. “They have an enormous role to play in upholding the integrity of sport.
Chip forgot to mention Dean Robinson, currently working with the Roosters and whether he is accredited. You know, the one who helped Bock to use a WADA banned substance.
Anyone know anything about the senate inquiry Le Grand mentions? it’s news to me.
'A national accreditation system for sports scientists was a key recommendation of a senate inquiry in the scandal that resulted in more than 50 footballers being found guilty of doping offences at the NRL club Cronulla and Essendon in the AFL. ’
Dam.
They had a Senate Inquiry and I must have missed it.
He got it wrong. There was an earlier inquiry, predating the beginning of the saga, that looked at accreditation for medical/science related occupations which did not have an accreditation system . Sports science was given a focus