Whoop de doo, deals were being negotiated before the penalties were handed down. Shock horror.
how much would you all pay me If I could successfully have Vlad tarred and feathered?
I know people.
Our new slogan for 2014
"Hird has not brought the game into disrepute"
true, but I prefer "give us our draft picks back you corrupt bastards"
KEY:
the AFL acknowledged: "To the best of the AFL's knowledge and belief, Hird did not promote or encourage an unethical environment within the club. Hird has not brought the game into disrepute." -
I will eventually read the guidelines and learn to quote
Can you post the whole thing.
how much would you all pay me If I could successfully have Vlad tarred and feathered?
I know people.
if our lucks in it may have just started.
Oh, you do know people :P
Chip Le Grand's in on the act now. I can't read it, need a subscription or such
No its on the web in full. I dont know how, but i read it all without subscription. Not going to post a link here but if you google the article title. You will see it in full.
If you check the time stamp on the email, these are actually the weapons ideas for sanctions, Hirdy stole them.
Love how the headline reads AFLs drug shame. Not ours for once.
Revealed: the secret offer to James Hird to end the AFL's drugs shame - See more at:
I will eventually read the guidelines and learn to quote
Chip Le Grand's in on the act now. I can't read it, need a subscription or such
No its on the web in full. I dont know how, but i read it all without subscription. Not going to post a link here but if you google the article title. You will see it in full.
Thanks, I tried that before and it didn't work, but does now
how much would you all pay me If I could successfully have Vlad tarred and feathered?
I know people.
People with tar or feathers or both?
Revealed: the secret offer to James Hird to end the AFL's drugs shame
- HOMER LE GRAND
- THE AUSTRALIAN
- DECEMBER 03, 2013 10:12P
THE AFL and Essendon offered James Hird a series of inducements to accept a 12-month suspension from coaching and drop his court action against the league through secret negotiations brokered by Australia's most senior government-appointed sports official. In a bid to end the six-month supplements scandal, Hird was offered study abroad, his full salary while suspended and a dropping of the charge against him if he agreed to the AFL's terms.
The offer, which would prevent damaging allegations against senior AFL officials being aired in open court, provided Essendon with additional sweeteners, including a guarantee that no players would be sanctioned by the league.
The "boys' club" approach, which involved Australian Sports Commission chairman John Wylie acting as an intermediary between AFL chairman Mike Fitzpatrick and Essendon president Paul Little, exposes hypocrisy at the heart of the supplements saga. At the same time as portraying Hird as the principal culprit at Essendon, the AFL was party to inducements offered to him to make the scandal go away.
It also sits at odds with AFL chief executive Andrew Demetriou's public statements that the AFL Commission would determine the charges against Essendon and its officials without "fear or favour" and there would be no pre-determination of the case.
Hird, Mr Fitzpatrick and Mr Little, the former head of transport company Toll Holdings, declined to comment on the closely guarded negotiations.
An AFL spokesman said "numerous discussions took place at different levels" in a bid to resolve the supplements scandal. "These discussions were in good faith, in the best interests of our game, were always appropriate and assisted in achieving the resolution," the spokesman said.
Mr Wylie said he became involved at the invitation of both Mr Little and Mr Fitzpatrick to "assist in communications between the AFL and Essendon at a time when direct communication between them was difficult".
"I did so as a longstanding friend of both Mike and Paul, not as a representative of any organisation, to see if it would be possible for them to reach a resolution consistent with the best interests of the sport and the principle of integrity in sport," he said.
Mr Wylie said any agreements struck between the AFL and Essendon were "ultimately directly between those organisations and are entirely a matter for them".
Mr Wylie, Mr Fitzpatrick and Mr Little are three of the most influential figures in Australian sport and business.
Under proposed settlement terms obtained by The Australian and Herald Sun newspapers, the AFL would acknowledge Hird as a "legend of the game" and Hird would retain his place in the AFL Hall of Fame. "Efforts will be made to find an outstanding career development for him (Hird) during time away from the game," the offer reads.
Hird returned last week from intensive studies south of Paris at Fontainebleu, the European campus of INSEAD, one of the world's most prestigious business schools. He gained entry on merit into an MBA course after sitting a three-hour exam in Singapore. It is understood about half his estimated $120,000 tuition and living expenses are being met through the club. He is also understood to be receiving his contracted salary. The source of the funds is unknown.
During negotiations between Mr Wylie and Mr Little, the idea was discussed of Hird attending Oxford University, where Mr Wylie and Mr Fitzpatrick both attended as Rhodes scholars. Mr Wylie is a trustee of the Rhodes Scholarship Trust.
The offer was presented to Hird on the morning of August 23, three days before a scheduled AFL Commission meeting to hear charges of bringing the game into disrepute against Essendon, Hird, club football manager Danny Corcoran, assistant coach Mark Thompson and doctor Bruce Reid.
The offer stipulated that the charge against Hird of bringing the game into disrepute would be dropped and allegations against the club and Hird "reduced" to reflect poor governance and supervision rather than doping. In exchange, Hird would abandon his Supreme Court action.
Corcoran and Reid would be each offered a four-month ban and Thompson fined and allowed to coach in 2014.
An email from Mr Wylie to Mr Little on August 23 proposed a wording of the reduced allegations against Hird. In return for Hird taking responsibility for the "inadequate governance and oversight" that led to the scandal, the AFL acknowledged: "To the best of the AFL's knowledge and belief, Hird did not promote or encourage an unethical environment within the club. Hird has not brought the game into disrepute."
It is understood Hird rejected the offer. Four days later, with Essendon fearing the loss of premiership points in 2014 and Hird the end of his AFL coaching career and future involvement with the club, Hird accepted a 12-month ban from coaching.
Some AFL commissioners were not aware of the secret offer when they ratified the settlements with Essendon and its officials. The commission was told by the AFL's lawyers that Hird would not be paid by Essendon while suspended from coaching.
Under the terms of his 12-month ban endorsed by the commission, Hird agreed "not to work with any AFL club in any capacity during this period".
The August 23 offer proposed a $40,000 fine for Thompson and a four-month effective suspension for Corcoran -- penalties marginally different from those eventually ratified by the AFL Commission four days later.
The offer stipulated that Thompson would be eligible to coach in 2014. He has since been announced as Essendon's senior coach for next season. It contained a mutual non-disparagement clause restraining the club and the AFL and a double jeopardy provision.
"This is the end of the matter," it stated.
In the final settlement to the supplement scandal endorsed by the AFL Commission on August 27, no Essendon official was found guilty of any charge.
The Australian can reveal that Mr Wylie, an adviser to Mr Little during Toll's 2006 takeover of the Patrick Corporation and a 20-year friend and former banking colleague of Mr Fitzpatrick, was involved in negotiations between the club and the AFL as early as August 5, before the club or any of its officials was charged.
It is understood his role temporarily ceased once AFL executives learned of his involvement and insisted that Essendon deal with the league's deputy chief executive, Gillon McLachlan, and lawyers from Minter Ellison.
Mr Wylie resumed his involvement after August 21, when Mr Little publicly denounced the AFL's decision to release a 34-page "statement of grounds" containing damaging allegations against the club and its officials. A furious Mr Little declared a loss of "total confidence" in the AFL executive team and urged Mr Fitzpatrick to take charge of negotiations.
It is believed that Mr Demetriou and Mr McLachlan were unaware of the offer negotiated through Mr Wylie. "The big end of town -- Paul, Fitzpatrick, Wylie -- mobbed up to get a result," a source close to negotiations said.
"They kept McLachlan and Demetriou out of it."
Immediately after Essendon, Hird, Thompson and Corcoran accepted penalties and responsibility for the failings that allowed the club's use of supplements to spiral out of control, Mr Little announced Hird had been offered a two-year contract extension.
According to the article Vlad had nothing to do with it and the proposed deal never happened. Sales are down now footy season is over.
how much would you all pay me If I could successfully have Vlad tarred and feathered?
I know people.
People with tar or feathers or both?
both. they also do short sheeting.
these are bad people.
Wow.
As much as I’d prefer it to just be forgotten, I really want Vlad and McLachlan run out of their roles before Hird returns.
correction...our motto for 2014 should be..
"the afl acknowledged;
to the best of the afl's knowledge and belief, hird did not promote or encourage
an unethical environment within the club.
Hird has not brought the game into disrepute "
Wow.
As much as I'd prefer it to just be forgotten, I really want Vlad and McLachlan run out of their roles before Hird returns.
I don't want it to end until Vlad publicly says "I did not have sexual relations with that woman".
It's embarrassing that the AFL Executive and part of the AFL Commission were frozen out of negotiations. Could this signify a sea-change in the AFL Executive.
Wow.
As much as I'd prefer it to just be forgotten, I really want Vlad and McLachlan run out of their roles before Hird returns.
I don't want it to end until Vlad publicly says "I did not have sexual relations with that woman".
Unlike Clinton, I'd have no trouble believing it if he said it
Hope the corrupt fat Greek prick gets whats coming to him
Wow.
As much as I'd prefer it to just be forgotten, I really want Vlad and McLachlan run out of their roles before Hird returns.
Vlad and Mclachlan are puppets. Fitzpatrick is the c*nt that needs to get whacked. He is the Commissioner of the most hopeless sports administration in the world.