If Watson was a Chinese swimmer who beat Thorpie for a Gold Medal, what would the public be saying right now?
If Watson was a Chinese swimmer who beat Thorpie for a Gold Medal, what would the public be saying right now?
The view that's forming among the cognoscenti is Bombers will be docked ALL Premiership Points in 2013.
HP
This has been going on far too long - the AFL needs to say now what the penalties will be for certain circumstances. I.e. club-wide injection of banned substances = no premiership points in 2012 or 2013. Individual players who took banned substances = no awards 2012 and 10 match ban from date of sanction. So on and so forth.
Then at least one variable is taken out, we can have confidence the AFL won't stitch up a deal and it is left to the investigators simply to find out the circumstances. It also means a player like Watson can admit what occurred, take his penalty and get on with things. As it is he will be playing under a cloud for months *and* should get a penalty later.
In horse racing jockeys know what substances are banned; right down to codine. Yet the AFL hasn't been able to supply a list of banned substances to footballers. As the governing body you would reckon they would have a comprehensive document for players and clubs. Take away any excuses from clubs, players and medicos.
Interesting article today on Matt Clarke on the AFL website. He's a VFL player banned for 2 years for taking a banned substance, which was some kind of energy/ protein supplement given to him by a teammate before a match. He knew full well he was going to be drug tested that day but took with an assurance from his team mate that it was perfectly legal ( which it turns out it wasn't). If he can cop two years for that, how can any Essendon player systematically injected over a period of time with a substance that is deemed to be banned cop any less? ASADA have set the precedent, they must be consistent or risk a lawsuit from Matt Clarke, who's initial suspension was 9 months but extended to 24 on appeal from ASADA! For one pretty minor indiscretion you would've thought. I recommend reading the article it's quite a sad story.
http://www.afl.com.au/news/2013-07-0...r-on-road-back
Last edited by goswannie14; 5th July 2013 at 03:37 PM. Reason: Added link to story
I think it's going to get messy.
all of a sudden *bang* messy.
AFL will be looking to lessen the mess right now, and if that means that the Bombers get off relatively easily, OR if that means they will hit them hard, they will choose the least harmful course of action for the game.
The difference between insanity and genius is measured only in success.
The problem with "stripping points" is that it is unfair to the teams that are being beaten by the cheats ... they don't actually receive those points, and similarly players who are missing out on Brownlow Votes to an opponent who has an (alleged) advantage can't get them back, they're gone!
The authorities have to get the finger out and move ... it is now an official joke!
I will bet you dollars-for-dimes that the AFL goes soft on Essendon. If they were planning to be tough they could not have let it go on this long.
It's tough to go soft while still adhering to WADA.
If the ruling comes out and deems the players guilty of taking a banned substance, then a precedent has been set, and that would mean that those players concerned would incur a 24 months suspension/ban. Interesting times coming up to say the least.Originally Posted by Melbourne_Blood
Tougher than letting someone get away with a racist comment when you have a zero-tolerance to racism policy?
The drug everyone is talking about the Essendon players taking is not supposedly performance enhancing but who knows as it has not been tested on humans. This drug is banned because it has never been leaglised for use in humans in any country in the world.
Anti-obesity drug AOD9604 is still a trial drug and therefore illegal to be taken by humans in any form until clinical trials have been completed and the drug is passed for human use by the Therapeutic goods Authority. This is not going to happen in a hurry. I know because I was involved in an effort to get a range of drugs passed for HIV in the early '90's and it took almost 10 years for some of them and in them meantime many people died.
The Essendon Football Club and its players have broken ASADA and WADA rules by using this drug as it is automatically banned as it has never been approved for human usage. But I think there is a more important issue here and that is player welfare. The players were literally being used as Guinea Pigs or trial patents for the drug. This is illegal at the least and certainly if any player was to exhibit complications from the drug then they could sue the club and all the officials who mandated this drug. Beware! Drugs that have not gone through Clinical Trial Processes and have not been approved for human use are very often toxic. There is a reason the TGA and similar bodies in other countries do not pass these drugs and that is either the side effects or that they don't work.
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