A light at the end of the (long) tunnel

The issuing of infraction notices against 34 current and former Essendon players relating to the alleged administration of a banned supplement indicates that this saga, for the players at least, has entered its final formal stages. Essendon members and fans should be relieved that events have proceeded to this point. There is a light at the end of the tunnel— and it's not a speeding train!

It's likely that, in the event that the infraction is proven to the "comfortable satisfaction" of the AFL Tribunal, any penalties will be relatively slight, as they were for the NRL Cronulla Sharks players. This will be based on a no-fault finding — that is, the players were not aware they were being administered a banned substance and in fact had good reason to be convinced they were not.

AussieRulesBlog fears that a significant number of people in the football world will see such a result as a failure of the system.

For some, fans with a hatred of the Bombers (for whatever reason, logical or not), only a decimation of the club will satisfy. Most assuredly, were the shoe on their foot, they'd sing a different tune. Jobe Watson will be booed for the remainder of his career for the simple crime of having been adjudged the best player in the competition in a year in which his club was administering these supplements, regardless of them being non–performance-enhancing. It was, and will be, ever thus. Most football fans aren't fielding recruiting calls from Mensa.

Some, media pundits who've conducted a vitriolic campaign against coach James Hird and the club's administration, we suspect won't be satisfied while Hird remains officially associated with the club and the current Board remain substantially in place. Irrespective of evidence, or of logical reasoning, they'll continue to howl. May their throats become raw with the strain of maintaining their prejudiced and irrational rage.

For the rest, a further layer of the already microscopically-thin layer of gloss on our game has been worn away.

Don't rush to pillory James Hird, or the club. They didn't intend for any (allegedly) banned substances to be (allegedly) administered and wouldn't have condoned that action had they known of it, and they almost certainly weren't the only club engaged in a potentially-compromised supplements program. It's the nature of a competitive professional sport with substantial investment, and even more substantial rewards to the successful, that envelopes will be stretched and boundaries tested.