Re: f*** off..c***
Posted: Wed Oct 01, 2014 7:51 pm
I wish some one would inject him with Nembutal = vindicated.tonysoprano wrote:From the Age...if true, good bye James. What a f****** disaster.
Resolute, but now alone in his legal fight against the Australian Sports Anti-Doping Authority, James Hird will challenge the Federal Court ruling that Essendon Football Club also considered appealing but resolved to accept.
Hird has issued the instruction to his legal counsel and formalised the decision to continue his already costly legal battle ahead of Essendon's best and fairest count on Wednesday morning.
While not unexpected - both Hird and Essendon were advised by their respective lawyers 12 days ago that they had compelling grounds to challenge an adverse finding from Justice James Middleton - Hird has confirmed his position since returning home this week from a short trip abroad to continue the business studies he commenced while serving a league-imposed 12-month suspension from coaching.
The coach and club had until October 10 to declare whether they would appeal the finding that Justice Middleton announced on September 19 and Hird's latest high stakes legal move will only further isolate him from detractors, and once again places him directly at odds with the AFL's hierarchy.
Only on grand final day, chairman of the AFL Commission, Mike Fitzpatrick, characterised ASADA's recent victory in the Federal Court over Essendon and one of the club's icons as a victory for the code.
While Hird promptly departed for America after Justice Middleton's judgement – the trip was pre-arranged and meant he was not in Melbourne for any AFL-related activity during grand final week – he continued taking legal advice from abroad.
Before formalising his appeal, Hird had been awaiting a decision from Essendon's board about whether the club would also challenge the Federal Court ruling. Fairfax Media revealed on Wednesday that Essendon was not prepared to continue its fight against ASADA - a decision that chairman Paul Little said would be made by the club's board.
Hird and Essendon have already spent a small fortune to argue that ASADA's investigation last year into the supplements program run at the AFL club in 2011/12 was unlawful, and should therefore be rendered invalid.
Justice Middleton could not have dismissed the Hird-Essendon argument more categorically, however, when he announced his judgement a fortnight ago.
The ruling also contained a glowing endorsement of ASADA's former CEO, Aurora Andruska.
Hird is entitled to go it alone in a Federal Court challenge given his legal action against ASADA was made independently of Essendon, even if it became an exercise conducted jointly by the parties.
ASADA has alleged 34 past and present Essendon players used banned drug thymosin beta-4 when they participated in the Bombers supplements program in 2012.
While the players have received show cause notices from the anti-doping agency, there was an agreement with authorities that this crucial aspect of the anti-doping proceedings would be stalled while Hird and Essendon contested the validity of ASADA's investigation into the club.
Hird has not received a show cause notice from ASADA and in August last year gained a contract extension from Essendon at the same time the AFL issued the coach with a 12-month suspension over matters that remain the subject of an unprecedented anti-doping investigation.
With Hird increasingly on the outer, however, this latest decision will do nothing to allay his critics. In the aftermath of Saturday's grand final, football legend Leigh Matthews said Hird should step aside as senior coach; a position he officially resumed last month. Matthews said Hird should "fall on his own sword" and argued that Essendon, already damaged immensely by the scandal that is unresolved after 20 months, needed a "fresh start".
"It's not about guilt, or right or wrong," Matthews, who is also a board member at the Brisbane Lions, said in calling for Hird to stand aside.
"I was supportive of the position of the senior coach 12 months ago, but I think now it needs a fresh start."
AFL Commission chairman Mike Fitzpatrick addressed the saga on grand final day before an audience of influential guests.
"A cloud that has hung over our game – most unfairly in my view – was conclusively dispersed by a Federal Court judgment in favour of the processes employed by ASADA in the Essendon supplements case," he said.
Former AFL CEO Andrew Demetriou, who was replaced mid-season, also said in the lead up to the grand final that the Federal Court verdict left him feeling personally "vindicated" that his conduct had been proper.
"I can't think of anyone at the AFL who has ever injected any player," Demetriou said last Monday.
"This is not about the AFL or about ASADA, it's about what took place at the Essendon Football Club."
Read more: http://www.theage.com.au/afl/afl-news/j ... z3Esaycz6p
