Whateley is one of few (very) who can truly call themselves
balanced Journalists in Footy. The rest of them think THEY are the story.
I am in no-ones camp....not Hird, not Bomba, not Little. I am however in the Essendon Footy Clubs camp.
"Gerard Whateley: Absurd week has Essendon and James Hird at absolute cross-purposes
Gerard Whateley
October 03, 2014 10:00PM
JAMES Hird clings to his coaching position by a matter of legal complexity.
It’s a poor precipice from which to grip onto power. Particularly given the leadership inherent in such a job.
Rage though he might, Hird must understand the consequences of his actions. If he casts an eye to the last day he would surely see that it’s not him in the coach’s box.
Essendon’s request that Hird not pursue a Federal Court appeal wasn’t an act of oppression, a denial of a citizen’s legal rights.
It was finally a decision of responsibility and pragmatism. Actual implementation of a catchphrase that the players’ interests are primary.
As it related to Hird it was a workplace condition previously spelt out when the board gave him a reprieve in March. His defiant actions amount to wilful insubordination. He knows that.
To fully understand Hird’s position you would have to have lived the past 18 months in his shoes.
His conviction is such that he testified under oath on matters few others were prepared to. He has worn the unrelenting character assassinations.
He has every right to fight the injustice he perceives thrust upon him and his family with every last breath.
But no longer can it be on Essendon’s time and it can’t be on Essendon’s dime.
The absurdity of the week has the club and its coach at absolute cross-purposes.
Essendon backed away from a lengthy and costly appeal, declaring its desperation to trigger the judgment phase for 34 players.
It pleaded with ASADA to move swiftly in re-issuing show cause notices complete with the full brief of evidence.
Through the Federal Court discovery process, key figures have seen the 100-page summary document on which ASADA chief executive Ben McDevitt relied to advance the cases previously.
Essendon chairman Paul Little has described the contents as “weak circumstantial” evidence.
It’s time to test that opinion.
The legal team assigned to the players has proposed an expedited strategy. They would not answer the show cause notices, prompting the Anti-Doping Rule Violation Panel to immediately place the names on the Register of Findings.
Infraction notices could be issued for a fast-tracked AFL Anti-Doping Tribunal to convene in November.
Common facts would be established to avoid the cumbersome need for 34 individual cases, streamlining the trial to the pointed question of whether Thymosin beta-4 was administered in the club’s supplements program.
A verdict would be anticipated in December. Players would know their fate by Christmas.
In a process some fear might linger for years, it is an attractive, if high stakes, proposition for footballers with a limited career span.
It might also slow those inclined to seek closure at ASADA’s bargaining door.
On Thursday Hird unveiled the polar opposite strategy.
His petition seeks to injunct ASADA from any further progression. This is done under the banner of acting in the best interests of the club, the players and the game. None of those parties agree.
Hird spoke of the stain that will forever be attached to the players should he not appeal. But nothing that happens in Federal Court can remove that.
It is a flawed premise that the show cause notices might simply go away as if none of this ever happened.
The only remedy to emancipate the players is to directly address the charge of using a prohibited substance, either by beating it at a tribunal or plea-bargaining as duped parties.
The players have been slow to take responsibility for their own fates but, at the moment they are striving to get there, Hird stands obstructively in the way.
On Wednesday night the red and black sect that once waved the “Stand By Hird” placards chanted for Mark “Bomber” Thompson like their saviour.
The curiosity is Hird largely retains the favour of his players, a group he is destined never again to lead.
All that remains is a small but distinct opportunity to do the right thing."
http://www.heraldsun.com.au/sport/afl/g ... 7079437127