Hello, you either have JavaScript turned off or an old version of Adobe's Flash Player.
Pressure ... James Hird admits the saga is taking a toll on players. Source: Michael Dodge / Getty Images
AFL legend Leigh Matthews has questioned whether Essendon has done anything to bring the game into disrepute and is at risk of being made a scapegoat.
Hello, you either have JavaScript turned off or an old version of Adobe's Flash Player.
Charges of disrepute or conduct prejudicial to the interests of the AFL could be laid against the club and officials as soon as 9am Tuesday in the long-running doping saga.
But Matthews said it appeared that the Bombers had not broken any specific rules.
"We've had this leak and that leak and now we, as in the grapevine, seem to believe there'll be no specific rule breaches but the AFL will go back to its catch-all of bringing the game into disrepute to make a scapegoat of somebody," Matthews said on Brisbane radio yesterday.
"The somebody is the Essendon management, whether it's James Hird the coach or the club itself.
"But I am yet to see any evidence of what they have actually done to bring the game into disrepute, as opposed to innuendo that we read about in the paper day after day."
Hird sent a message to club members after a day of meetings at Windy Hill that included football department staff, lawyers and the club board. The club's front office was closed for half an hour from 4pm.
The coach maintained the club was still planning for finals.
"All I will say on the matter to you is that I am looking forward to dealing with the facts," Hird told members in relation to the drugs investigation.
"As a coaching and playing group we will be doing everything we can to turn around our form slump over the next three rounds to ensure we go into September primed and ready to play finals football," Hird said.
Matthews said the mooted charge of bringing the game into disrepute suggested the AFL's rules "aren't good enough".
"In other words they haven't broken any specific rule but we don't like what they've done so we'll slam them with bringing the game into disrepute," he said.
"Yes, they may have been sloppy in their governance, sloppy in their management, they might have delegated to some people that they wish they hadn't delegated to potentially. But that isn't bringing the game into disrepute in my view.
"I just think the AFL now unfortunately - and I hope the commission can look through it - it's one thing to look after your brand and your game but you've got to make sure there's an element of fairness in what you eventually do."
AFL boss Andrew Demetriou will sit on any commission hearing of charges against Essendon and its officials.
Commissioner Bill Kelty has removed himself from any hearing because of his close ties to former Essendon chairman David Evans and friendship with coach James Hird.
But it is understood Demetriou is unmoved by a call from Hird's legal team to have Demetriou recuse himself.
Demetriou has made it clear league general counsel Andrew Dillon would be solely responsible for deciding if Essendon and any of its officials should face charges.
Anda sedang membaca artikel tentang
Don't make Dons a scapegoat: Matthews
Dengan url
http://sportyhealty.blogspot.com/2013/08/dont-make-dons-scapegoat-matthews.html
Anda boleh menyebar luaskannya atau mengcopy paste-nya
Don't make Dons a scapegoat: Matthews
namun jangan lupa untuk meletakkan link
Don't make Dons a scapegoat: Matthews
sebagai sumbernya
0 komentar:
Posting Komentar