Australian Rules club Essendon rocked by doping scandal

The Court of Arbitration has upheld the World Anti-Doping Agency’s appeal against the 34 Essendon players involved in the club’s controversial 2012 supplements program.

The two-year ban imposed by the CAS has been backdated on a case by case basis, with respect to time already served by the players who accepted provisional suspensions in 2013, and delays to the case outside of the players’ control.

“Lessons learnt throughout this process will continue to influence sports policies and governance for many years to come”.

Nearly three-dozen of their players suspended across the league- and a third of them are still playing for Essendon heading into this season… and that’s a big loss.

Out of the 34 players found guilty, 17 are either retired or have been delisted.

In March 2015, the AFL anti-doping tribunal announced players were not guilty of taking a banned substance.

The verdict overturned the AFL anti-doping tribunal’s ruling which was later appealed by WADA.

ASADA has blasted the Essendon supplements scandal as the worst self-inflicted wound by a club in Australian sports history.

Australian Sports Anti-Doping Agency chief executive Ben McDevitt said the players had received anti-doping education and should have been aware they were responsible for all substances that entered their body.

“Unfortunately, despite their education, they agreed to be injected with a number of substances they had little knowledge of, made no inquiries about the substance and kept the injections from their team doctor and ASADA”.

The Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) is due to hand down its decision on the WADA appeal this morning.

Ms Ley said as the minister has no role in individual anti-doping cases, she will not be making any further comment on the specifics of the ruling against Essendon.

There are now 12 of the original 34 players still on the books at Essendon, including captain Jobe Watson and vice-captain Dyson Heppell.

Port Adelaide, St Kilda, Western Bulldogs and Melbourne have been permitted to upgrade a rookie-listed players in place of their suspended assets.

“Regrettably we can confirm the Court of Arbitration for Sport has found 34 past and present players guilty of committing an anti-doping rule violation”, club chairman Lindsay Tanner said in a statement.

James Hird, who was Essendon coach when the investigation into the team began in 2012, described the penalties handed down to the players by CAS as “a miscarriage of justice”.

‘I firmly believe the players do not deserve this finding. The report reveals Australian athletes were exposed to criminals who were dealing in performance-enhancing and image-enhancing drugs.

The probe that followed also found wrongdoing in Australia’s top-flight rugby league competition.

Existing payments for suspended players would be included in the total player payments allocation, while extra payments to supplementary players would also be included in the salary cap, while an allowance would be given to cover payments over the cap limit.