Exactly. AFL the main villians !
One of my most memorable lines from the movie Mississippi Burning is when G-Man Rupert Anderson (Gene Hackman) says to G-Man Alan Ward (Willem Dafor) “Looks like the rattlesnakes are starting to commit suicide” after they trick the weakest link into thinking the other is going kill him if he doesn’t tell the truth in their investigation of the death of a young black man in 1964 Mississippi.
I think it’s more a message to ASADA.
The AFL is itching to get control of drug testing so it can pull levers, etc. as you’ve pointed out. It means that another Essendon situation can only be played out under the AFL’s full control, they way it likes.
I would expect they would set up their own company to do this using WADA accredited labs for the testing.
1 Like
So why object to the FOI request? If the FOI request is successful, doesn’t that give them extra ammunition to give ASADA the flick?
1 Like
Exactly. It’s baffling to me why the AFL has picked this issue as one to threaten ASADA over.
There have been a thousand other things they could have chosen to have a hissy fit at ASADA over.
I see it hitting one of the strands of the cable.
You didn’t list any medications on your DC forms so you must have been taking stuff you wanted to hide .
We couldn’t find ANYdrugs in your sample so you must be guilty.
8 Likes
The authoritarian government removes the possibility of contrary opinion and squashes all dissent before it takes root. They also have to ensure impediments to their absolute rule such as FOI and free media are opposed and neutralised. Most importantly information which proves their lying, corrupt behaviour must remain secret.
3 Likes
Does anyone actually have any insight into how likely it is that these docs are going to be released?
Didn’t it come under the 2008/9 WADA code back then and not, under the revised code in 2015 by WADA and a short time later by the AFL, during the investigation itself. This then meant that all the responsibility changed and became the responsibility on the athlete to prove they had not cheated or accidently, taken a banned substance.
2 Likes
This is just a stalking horse being used by the AFL. It’s got nothing to do with the AFL being scared of the outcome and those documents being released at all. The documents don’t incriminate the AFL. In fact the AFL can stand there all day, hand on heart and say - our Tribunal found the players not guilty based on this exact evidence.
Like @BakerWasAStar has said, this is all about the AFL wanting to do it’s own thing with regard to drug testing. It’ll set up a company called “AFL Laboratories” or something.
If ASADA lose this case (to block the request) then the AFL will be able to argue that ASADA isn’t able to protect the confidentiality of athletes and their tests either due to the current (ineffective) workings of the ASADA Act or the FOI Act.
The AFL will argue that they have an obligation to ensure the privacy of its players and if ASADA can’t guarantee that, then the AFL should be able to walk away from any existing arrangements with ASADA and make its own arrangements without penalty, i.e. without losing government funding for breaking the WADA agreements.
13 Likes
And; at the time the spilling of information was going on, the AFL backed the guilt and not the innocence of the EFC players and staff by its silence and condoning of leaked information and leaving out the bits we don’t want.
What makes anyone think that AFL will NOT desert the sinking ship again (if its ASADA) to save its own bacon. Remember this, the AFL is a “me first” organisation, they make sure they are the only ones with a life jacket. They do not share anything unless it suits their cause.
9 Likes
Which is annoyance value for the AwFuL. All it will do is escalate what was probably going to happen sooner or later (AwFuL split from ASADA), meaning they will have to pony up the money (to set up AFL Labs Inc.) that they’d earmarked for [sarcastica] really important things [/saracastica] like growing the game in China, India, The Maldives, Malta, Greenland etc. et al. or Dill’s 2018 midyear junket or propping up the white elephant that is Gold Coast Suns.
1 Like
Another little business, amongst the many they share in, for the blokes at the top.
How fortunate they are to be so lucky in business???
2 Likes
What have you got to say now Mr Demetriou?
6 Likes
Hand out the cigars boys, another baby into the fold. Our own drug testing labs. You little beauty!
1 Like
They’ll turn it into a money making exercise somehow.
1 Like
What are the pro’s and con’s of getting the information released?
Testing is a revenue stream for ASADA (IIRC around $400k). Apparently there are cheaper WADA- accredited options.
The EFC financial reports listing ASADA/WADA costs do not give a breakdown of the costs. But if the clubs are billed for tests, that could be an additional incentive for them to endorse the AFL stepping away from ASADA testing.
Not sure whether there is any connection to the National Sports Plan due to come out mid year.
3 Likes
There’s a drug dungeon right across the road from windy hill. The AFL should use that.
19 Likes
class action anyone???
3 Likes