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Leagues and Governing Bodies

AFL Club Essendon Looks To Save Season After CAS Upholds Suspensions

Australian Football League side Essendon will take its first step toward recovering from a "self-inflicted" doping "catastrophe" at a meeting with the AFL on Wednesday, as it looks to finalize details that will allow it to "field a team" in '16, according to Courtney Walsh of THE AUSTRALIAN. On a "disastrous day for Essendon and the AFL," a ban the Bombers described as "manifestly unfair" was handed to 34 past and present players by the Court of Arbitration for Sport over the club’s '12 doping program. The two-year suspensions, "which are backdated to last March in the majority of cases," will expire in November, placing the Bombers under "extreme pressure in every regard." The Bombers said Tuesday that they were "yet to fully examine potential recruits despite preparing themselves for the possibility there would be suspensions." It is "not certain who will come into consideration" but the AFL "believes they should largely be drawn from a pool of players with AFL experience from the past two years." Australian Sports Anti-Doping Authority and World Anti-Doping Agency, which "vigorously pursued Essendon," ­described it as "justice for clean athletes" around the world. ASADA CEO Ben McDevitt described the penalty as the "most devastating self-inflicted injury by a sporting club in Australian history." The CAS suspensions "have also compromised" Port Adelaide, the Western Bulldogs, St. Kilda and Melbourne, which field former Essendon players (THE AUSTRALIAN, 1/13).

RULING TO WREAK HAVOC: In Sydney, Chip Le Grand reported the scandal "will wreak havoc across the AFL for months." While both the AFL and Essendon said they had "no choice but to let the judgment and suspensions stand," lawyers involved in the case are "seeking expert advice on whether the verdict and, particularly, the severity of the penalty handed down by the Swiss-based court can be appealed in a local ­jurisdiction." An AFL Commission hearing next month will decide whether to strip Jobe Watson of the Brownlow Medal -- for the league’s "best and fairest player." And possible legal action by current and former players "given false assurances by their club" about the substances they were given ensures the CAS judgment is "not the final word on the scandal." Submissions by AFL counsel Geoff Gleeson in support of the AFL tribunal’s findings and for the players, if found guilty, to be given "no period of suspension" did not persuade the three-man CAS panel chaired by British sports law expert Michael Beloff. Doubts over the "provenance and make-up" of the substances injected by former club sports scientist Stephen Dank were pushed aside. One lawyer who "closely followed the case" said, "It was a complete stitch-up." Former Essendon coach James Hird, who resigned last year at the urging of the board, said the finding was a "miscarriage of justice" and accused CAS of "mischievously" telling half the story. The AFL Players Association, which ran the legal defense for the players, expressed "bitter disappointment" with the judgment. AFLPA CEO Paul Marsh said, "They are the victims, not the perpetrators" (THE AUSTRALIAN, 1/13).

LEGAL OPTIONS: In Melbourne, Jon Pierik reported one AFL player agent "even suggested the Bombers and the AFL could face damages" of more than A$30M ($21M). Several agents were trying to "ascertain whether players could be paid during their suspension." One agent said that "blue-chip players" such as Watson, Dyson Heppell and Michael Hurley, "who were on lucrative base payments, could be paid, but those relying on match payments might not be so fortunate." Marsh said he was unsure whether under the WADA code the players could be paid, but AFL CEO Gillon McLachlan said that he "expected the AFL-listed players would be." McLachlan: "They will be paid. Whether they are paid everything in their contract or something less ... I imagine they would be getting the vast majority of their payments." The banned players were also "attempting to learn whether they could even work as media commentators and attend matches at AFL-sanctioned venues." Should the players sue the Bombers, as veteran agent Peter Jess said would "almost certainly be the case," the club could find itself in "severe financial distress." Marsh said the prospect of legal action was "very high" but said the preference would be to settle out of court. The Bombers, having worked to "rebuild their damaged brand in recent months, will hope their sponsors do not quit," for contracts generally have an out-clause should club or players "find themselves in breach of the anti-doping code" (THE AGE, 1/12).

DIFFERENCE MAKER: In Melbourne, Roy Masters wrote a "full-season suspension of Essendon players for taking performance enhancing drugs and only a three-game ban" for National Rugby League side Cronulla footballers? The main difference is the Sharks "admitted taking banned drugs," while the Bombers, over three long years, have "persistently pleaded they did nothing wrong." ASADA rules allow for a 12-month discount for substantial assistance and Cronulla players, after some initial misgivings, "readily co-operated with ASADA investigators." The NRL allowed ASADA to "conduct its interview without any interference." The Cronulla injection program was "abandoned after a month, when the club doctor learnt of the drug use." Essendon's lasted an "entire season." The NRL's was a "cottage operation compared to the AFL club's sophisticated thousand-needle regime." ASADA did offer Essendon a three-month penalty -- "the same as one quickly accepted by Cronulla -- but it was rejected" and Hird initiated legal action against the AFL and ASADA, "thereby removing the lighter sanction from the table" (THE AGE, 1/12).

'HARSH PUNISHMENT': In Sydney, Patrick Smith commented AFL Chair Mike Fitzpatrick "arrived for the critical press conference as glum and serious as usual." This time "he had reason." He said, "The players have received a harsh punishment today, and we will be offering them support in the coming months. The program at Essendon in 2012 was a stain on our game. ... As tough as this sanction feels, the AFL accepts the decision of CAS." The AFL "accepts the decision of CAS?" Pray, "what was the league’s alternative?" Yes, it was "a stain on AFL football" but it was significantly the fault of the AFL. Its "supervision and governance over the experimental nature of its clubs’ sport science programs was negligible." The AFL is "no cleanskin in this" (THE AUSTRALIAN, 1/13).

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