Part 2 ....
Former Essendon coach James Hird opens up on AFL spin and how trust was brokenJAMES HIRD
Herald Sun
January 16, 2016James Hird details his anger and regret but also the mixture of pride and sympathy he feels toward his players in the second instalment of his exclusive insight into Essendon’s drugs saga.DAVID Evans came to see me. He looked pale. He said: “The AFL believes our players have taken performance-enhancing drugs.”
I replied: “I don’t know what you are talking about.’’
I do not know why Evans said this or why he said the AFL held this view.
I asked him for more information and he just made reference to the AFL’s opinion.
About 8.30 that night I was having dinner with my kids for my birthday and I got a call from Evans, who said: “We’re in a lot of trouble.
“The AFL believes that we’ve taken performance-enhancing drugs. Get over here straight away.”
I went. Evans was there with chief executive Ian Robson, and Danny Corcoran. Dr Reid arrived later.
David said he’d been told by AFL chief executive Andrew Demetriou that we were taking performance-enhancing drugs, and I said: “I don’t believe him, David. What source does he have?”
He said: “There’s a report coming out.’’ And that he had been told Demetriou had seen it. The rest of this story is well known. It has been played out through the courts, on the national and international stage, a stage upon which Essendon’s relationship with the AFL soured.
We felt they were making a bad situation worse. Fairness demands I emphasise this was not a problem of their making.
But fairness also demands proper process be followed, free of ill-informed but ever-present attempts at media manipulation.
For us, it felt like spin first and procedural fairness last.
Why else were the club and I pressured to take responsibility well before the AFL’s own tribunal would clear the players? Pressure to which I naively bowed.
If the AFL had concerns in 2012 about what was allegedly going on at Essendon, why didn’t they talk to the club?
They were aware tests were sent for analysis in 2012, which would return negative, yet the club was never informed. Not even the club doctor.
Why was the AFL making decisions regarding potential sanctions 16 days before the first ASADA interview was conducted, as revealed by documents discovered in the Federal Court case?
Why, as revealed by the same documents, did the AFL need to tell ASADA the way the AFL wanted ASADA’s interim report to be written? To “take bits out that compromise what we need”. And why did ASADA agree?
These were the questions we kept asking, and still ask.
And while the Court of Arbitration for Sport decision in the eyes of many may render these questions as mere “complaints”, I ask them because they are important.
After all, the CAS decision was based on evidence presented from the AFL and ASADA investigations.
For the AFL’s future, it has to be procedural fairness first and spin a long last.
In respect of my relationship with the players during this period, all I can do is thank them.
They supported me and I supported them. We helped each other through. I tried to be the best coach I could be and they tried to be the best players possible.
There was sheer joy at the AFL Tribunal’s decision on March 31 last year and now desolation after the CAS decision on Tuesday.
The players can take pride in how they conducted themselves under such pressure. This is one of many reasons why they deserve an explanation.
Another is that if, as a player, I had been exposed to circumstances of this kind, I would have fairly demanded of the coach an explanation.
My explanation to the players is that my own trust was broken. As a consequence, the environment I had promised to create for the players was compromised.
My promise to the players was broken. I apologise to the players and their families.
And I hope this article explains how this came to pass, mindful that in the present circumstances it will only offer cold comfort at best.
As both a former coach and player, I have many conflicting and deep emotions.
I feel deeply, deeply sorry for the players. I believe the players are innocent.
I feel guilt, shame, anger and regret all at once. I also have some pride at what the players achieved in the most difficult of circumstances and admiration for the resilience and strength they have shown through these years.
I took people at their word. As the senior coach I trusted what I was told was correct.
I trusted that the protocol was followed, that when I and others issued further instructions, they were followed. That’s why if I were to do things differently, it would be to trust less, to ask more questions, and demand more answers.
And I would have resisted the pressure from the AFL, who were desperate to put a high-profile head on a spike.
As for this week’s CAS decision, I firmly believe the players do not deserve this finding. Lindsay Tanner’s description of it as “manifestly unfair” is absolutely right.
They do not deserve to face a 12-month suspension. It’s a miscarriage of justice.
To 34 young men, as well as this explanation and apology, I add that you have nothing to be ashamed about and much to be proud of. Essendon will endure and be successful again. I have no doubt.
As a lifelong fan of and believer in the Essendon Football Club, I wish it all the very best on the hard road ahead.
http://www.heraldsun.com.au/news/former-essendon-coach-james-hird-opens-up-on-afl-spin-and-how-trust-was-broken/news-story/1daa2b2ce74c41186dd9bd0f43e44e48
