nudder12 wrote: ↑Sun Dec 05, 2021 11:47 pm
Bruce Francis has a hearing at the AAT tomorrow (Dec 6th), seeking to reveal details from ASADA's case against the Essendon 34.
Story copied from Herald-Sun.....
A secret document used to charge 34 Essendon players with anti-doping violations is being sought at a tribunal hearing on Monday.
Sport Integrity Australia is fighting the release of a key piece of evidence used to ban the Bombers players from the game and label them as drug cheats.
Campaigner Bruce Francis is taking the body to the Administrative Appeals Tribunal in Brisbane at 10am.
He is seeking the release of the “CEO Recommendation Show Cause Pack”.
It is understood that the AFL will give evidence supporting Sport Integrity Australia, the body that replaced the Australian Sports Anti-Doping Authority, seeking to keep the document secret.
The AFL is expected to argue that releasing the document will compromise its relationship with the sport watchdog.
The CEO Recommendation Show Cause Pack was partly based on ASADA’s official briefing to the Anti-Doping Review Violation Panel.
That panel needed to sign off on any charges against players.
A redacted document seen by the Herald Sun details the briefing that ASADA gave to the panel.
The document refers to Thymosin as the substance that was injected into the Essendon players.
However, Thymosin Beta 4 was the banned substance.
It was expected that Mr Francis, a former Test cricketer who has been campaigning for the Essendon players to be exonerated, would argue that there was no evidence of the banned substance being used.
The briefing notes, which were released under Freedom of Information laws, detail the outline of the case against Essendon and its players.
It states that ASADA’s then chief executive Ben McDevitt was provided with evidence of “possible violations”.
The document also outlines how players signed a consent form for the use of a substance called Thymosin.
The report claimed it had evidence of widespread use of “prohibited substances including peptides, hormones and illicit drugs in professional sport and highlighted links to organised crime.”
The AFL disqualified Essendon from the 2013 finals, fined the club $2 million and stripped of its picks in the first two rounds of the 2013 and 2014 national drafts in 2013.
The AFL’s Anti-Doping Tribunal later found in 2015 that it was not satisfied there was evidence that Essendon players breached the anti-doping code.
In its judgement, it said: “Many of the reasons provided by the ASADA CEO were contentious and lacked any proper evidentiary basis.”
The World Anti-Doping Authority appealed the AFL’s decision.
In January 2016, the Court of Arbitration for Sport found against Essendon.
It banned 34 players, including 12 who were still on the list, from professional sport for 12 months.
