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Articles on Essendon

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WorkSafe Victoria has chosen not to investigate events at the Essendon Football Club. AAP Image/Joe Castro

Time for OHS regulators to get off the bench and into the game

Imagine a construction company asks its employees to take some health supplements to increase their stamina, thereby enabling them to work more productively. Imagine that the efficacy and legality of the…
Essendon champion Jobe Watson said this week he believes he was injected with a banned substance - but who is to blame for the saga surrounding him and his club? AAP/David Crosling

Doping in sport: who is to bless and who is to blame?

Essendon captain and reigning Brownlow medallist Jobe Watson has admitted that he believes he was injected with the banned substance AOD-9604. The anti-obesity drug is at the centre of the ASADA investigation…
Essendon captain Jobe Watson was at the centre of the latest drugs-in-sport scandal this week after admitting he took a banned substance. AAP

New anti-doping powers won’t fix culture of drugs in sport

It’s been more than four months since Australia’s “blackest day” in elite sport, with allegations of widespread misuse of drugs and other substances. After several years of high-profile cases of drugs-in-sport…
‘Deeply sorry’: Essendon chairman David Evans announced the findings of the Switkowski report into governance issues at the AFL club. AAP/David Crosling

Essendon drugs crisis: more questions than answers in Switkowski’s half-baked report

From the outset, Ziggy Switkowski defined his report on Essendon’s supplements program as “constrained” because two parallel investigations could not be compromised. What Swiztowski calls constrained could…
As the drugs scandal continues to plague Essendon, its ‘hardcore’ fans have stood by the club and embattled coach James Hird. AAP/David Crosling

Drugs in sport saga: do the fans really care?

When the drugs in Australian sport investigation was announced in early February, much was made of the importance of protecting fans from the actions of wrongdoers. But here we are, three months into this…
A dejected James Hird walks from the field after Essendon were beaten by Geelong in Rd17 2012. Hird faces media allegations that he has taken performance enhancing drugs. AAP/Castro

Explainer: coaches, ASADA and drugs in sport

With a media firestorm engulfing James Hird, coach of AFL club Essendon, over allegations that he may have taken substances banned by sports doping agencies, where do coaching staff stand in relation to…
James Hird suffers an injury as a player. Could yet worse hurt be to come? AAP Image

ASADA can throw the AFL into chaos - and here’s how

AFL club Essendon has so far avoided the imposition of any sanctions by the Australian Sports Anti-Doping Authority (ASADA). Yet the investigation into the activities of the club, especially the supplements…
Stephen Dank, former sports scientist for Essendon, is launching a $10m defamation claim against various media organisations. ABC/7.30 Report

The media and the madness: sport, drugs and Dank’s defamation

When sport and drugs are involved, often hyperbole is not far away. “This is not a black day in Australian sport, this is the blackest day,” opined the former head of the Australian Sports Anti-Doping…
Part of Team GB’s success at the 2012 Olympics can be attributed to rigorous sports science. Sum_of_Marc/Flickr

Sports science: time for proper accreditation

Stephen Dank, the man at the centre of Essendon drug scandal has been widely quoted in the media as a sport scientist or performance scientist. He has a PhD but is not accredited with Exercise Sport Science…
In light of the Australian Crime Commission report into doping, we need to look at how sport scientists are taught. Drugs in sport image from www.shutterstock.com

Doping shock: pointing the finger at sports scientists

The report recently released by the Australian Crime Commission sent shock waves through the sporting world, implicating sport scientists and other support personnel in unethical doping practices. The…
Coach of Essendon James Hird talks with assistant coach Mark Thompson in 2011. AAP/Martin Philbey

Essendon scandal a symptom of Australia’s sporting woes

The Australian Crime Commission report released last week, Organised Crime and Drugs in Sport, claims Australian sport, especially at the professional level, has a serious drug use problem. According to…
An ASADA investigation has been launched into the alleged use of supplements by Essendon players last year. AAP/Ben Macmahon

Essendon faces a doping investigation … but what are peptides?

By now you’ll have heard the Australian Sports Anti-Doping Authority (ASADA) is investigating Essendon Football Club. At this stage, there has been speculation about the injection of “peptides” by players…

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