When is this bullshit going to end? Honestly. I think I speak for not only fellow fans of the Essendon Football Club, but footy fans in general when I say that having this potentially drag on into a third season is completely unacceptable. I love footy. I want to enjoy footy for the sake of enjoying footy again. Stop fucking around and end it already.
But, at the risk of getting too personal about things, here’s what’s happened today.
A Federal Court judge has dismissed senior coach James Hird‘s appeal against Justice Middleton‘s original ruling in favour of ASADA stemming from last October.
Federal Court Justice Susan Kenny stated that ASADA had acted lawfully and within their powers when conducting its joint investigation with the AFL into the Bombers’ controversial supplements program of 2012.
The court ruled that there was no evident unfairness displayed towards either Hird (pictured above in the exact moment he realised the goose was cooked) or the 34 past and present players during the interview process, and that everyone’s participation was wholly voluntary.
Hird was not present in court when the verdict was read out. The court also ruled for Hird to pay ASADA’s legal costs.
Meanwhile, Essendon’s players have a D-Day set, with final submissions in the closed-to-the-media tribunal hearing set to be handed in by February 18th. The deliberations by the tribunal could take up to a month, leaving players in a state of limbo when their pre-season NAB Challenge fixtures commence on March 7th.
The club will be lobbying the AFL to lift the player’s provisional suspensions, which have been in place since the end of last season, but in yet-a-goddamned-nother twist to things, the players have declared intentions to boycott the NAB Challenge altogether unless the AFL pledges to backdate any suspension handed down to September of last year.
Essendon’s first premiership season game for Season 2015 is on Saturday, April 4th against the Sydney Swans at the SCG. If things aren’t sorted out completely by then, I reckon I’ll be taking a camp chair down to the nature strip out the front of AFL House and booing them for about a month straight.
Photo: Robert Prezioso via Getty Images.
via Herald Sun.
