Reflective blog post - Essendon Drugs Saga

(Image retrieved from http://www.heraldsun.com.au/news/opinion/bombers-crisis-a-blow-for-all-fans/story-e6frfhqf-1226572108974)

“The Essendon AFL drama has raised issues concerning the role of high performance management in sport. Comment on the Essendon drama. You may choose to focus on the role of the high performance manager,the role of other staff including the club doctor and coach, and the AFL itself.

Some questions ou might like to blog about include. Should the AFL be held acountable for failing to react earlier? Should James Hird be suspended or acked over his role? What wer Essendon trying to achieve out of their high performance program? Was the program ethical? I look forward to your comments.” 

Since that ominous day in February, Essendon have been the black sheep and bad boys of the AFL. ASADA and the Australian Crimes Commissions “Organised Crime and Drugs in Sport” document purporting to contain information and evidence of use and dealings of peptides and illicit supplements within sport in Australia rocked the nation and put a lot of people on notice. It was a dark day for Australian sport, casting a widespread black cloud over our athletes, and whether spoken or unspoken, appeared on the face of it through the way it was handled by the media to tar many with the same brush. Eventually it came out that only a few players/clubs/codes were being ‘looked into’, leading to an outcry about the way the charade was handled.

Essendon approached the AFL and ASADA about concerns they had with a supplements program that went on at the club during the 2012 season. Looking at this as it’s written one would be forgiven to think that Essendon aren’t bad guys, that they believe they were on the receiving end of some shifty dealings and were bringing them to light, that they should be spared punishment because they came forward. Someone taking a deeper and more cynical look can be forgiven to believe that they were trying to take advantage of the AFL’s weak drugs policy by self-reporting, possibly trying to mitigate any harsh penalties which could potentially be imposed.

Either way, Essendon has been punished and their season has been rendered null and void.

• Club ineligible for the finals in 2013
• Highest they can finish is 9th
• Club fined $2 million
• Club loses pick in both rounds of the 2013 and 2014 AFL draft
• Apparently allowed to trade into both these drafts though
• Coach James Hird is suspended from any involvement with any AFL club for 12 months
• He will supposedly be warmly welcomed back by all at Essendon after this term to resume coaching duties
• Football operations manager Danny Corcoran suspended for 6 months
• Senior assistant coach Mark Thompson fined $30 thousand
• Team Doctor Bruce Reid is contesting any charges made against him by the AFL

The former Chairman and CEO both fell on their swords before there was an opportunity for their heads to role. Those who run a club should know or at least have an idea about what’s going on in their club, if this fails to happen then the system becomes unregulated and leaves itself open for trouble. There are two avenues this situation originated with; either the board and higher ups knew what was going on and endorsed it or allowed it to continue, or they had no idea and their lack of knowledge was exploited. The role of the board and higher management staff is to run and regulate the club to produce the best possible winning environment within the codes of the game.

Clearly some shady things were happening at Essendon during this period. Players being injected with substances is bad enough let alone having to take it to offsite rooms and done behind closed doors. Undoubtedly somewhere along the line, people knew what they were doing, whether the substances were illegal at the time or not, were not in the spirit of the game.

If the coaching and support staff the club is paying highly for cannot produce consistent winning performances out of the team with the; nutritional advice and support, state of the art strength and conditioning and training facilities and logbooks of knowledge these coaches and staff possess on paper and in their heads, then they are either not up to the challenge of training/supporting a professional sporting team and are probably being paid well above their worth in this case.

The 2012 season in question when these supplements were supposedly used, Essendon didn’t even make the grand final (eventually won by the Sydney Swans), so what good did all this supposedly not illegal yet “on the down low” from everyone supplements program get them? They’re no closer to a premiership than before the program was in progress.

The real victims in all of this saga are the fans. They are the ones who have paid to see their team make the finals this season, they are the ones who put faith in this team, and they are the ones who undoubtedly receive snide comments and are looked down upon for wearing the colours of their team.

If the end result of this supplements program was to produce winners, to produce a club that will be talked about for years to come as one of the greatest, then they have sullied that chance. Before all this Essendon was one of the greatest AFL clubs of all time (equal most premierships won!). Essendon will be talked about for years to come, it just seems now it will be for all the wrong reasons.