Gil and Fitzpatrick Named in Writ -- the saga

Remove this Banner Ad

Jan 3, 2005
13,516
19,045
At Home
AFL Club
Richmond
Other Teams
L.A. Kings, Oakland Raiders
Wow, looking through all those claims, this is going to take years, that lawyer guy is mad.
If these were all upheld then every problem ever encountered by anyone in this country could be blamed on some sort of organisation.
It being someone elses fault seems to be the upcoming trend of modern Society.....
 
Sep 22, 2011
40,582
87,832
Your girlfriend's dreams
AFL Club
Essendon
We can only hope and pray.

How much longer will one's mans ego be tolerated at the expense of an entire club?

I highly doubt Hird is involved in this.

Again, the plaintiff is a lawyer, and if you look at his series of claims, it basically covers off anybody who could possibly be disadvantaged by the claimed misleading / deceptive conduct - ie, creating the largest possible group of potential clients for him should it be successful.

There’s a whole series on the AFL prejudging the investigation / leaking stuff to the media - there you have Hird, Corcoran, Thompson

There’s a whole series on the AFL deciding well ahead of time that Essendon was to be booted in 2013 - there you have the class action by ‘deceived supporters’

There’s a whole series on player welfare - there you have the players

There’s a whole series on Hird’s medical issues and how the AFL should have fully known they were coming - there you have Hird again.

If he gets this up he’ll be in a position to bring all manner of cases and probably set himself up for life.

The alleged deceptive behaviour is designed to capture as many potential litigants as possible - Hird is obviously one of them.
 

Log in to remove this ad.

Apr 24, 2013
81,024
153,170
Arden Street Hill
AFL Club
North Melbourne
Other Teams
Essendon Lawn Bowls Club
Okay, let's go back to the 5th of February 2013:

Essendon “self reports’’ to ASADA and the AFL, asking the league to investigate concerns about the potential inappropriate use of supplements during the 2012 season.

Coach James Hird tells a press conference: “I’m very disappointed, shocked is probably the best word. As a coach I take full responsibility for what happens in our footy department. If there have been goings on within our football department that are not right we want to know.”

Now let's look at the points outlined in the OP.

(a) officially attributing the management oversight failures for one of the largest scandals in the history of Australian sport to only three individuals, including Mr Hird, by:

Essendon self reported to the AFL and Hird personally took "full responsibility"

(b) deciding that Mr Hird was to be the ‘public face’ of that scandal, as was communicated to Mr Hird by AFL Legal Counsel Andrew Dillon at a meeting attended by Mr Dillon and Gillon McLachlan with Mr Hird and Mr Hird’s lawyer held at Mr McLachlan’s home on 25 August 2015 (the 25 August Meeting);

Essendon self reported to the AFL, Hird personally took "full responsibility" in a press conference organised by Essendon and with Hird's participation.

(4) The conduct of the AFL exposing Mr Hird to public ridicule included releasing to the public the Notice of Charge in the Disciplinary Proceedings against Mr Hird, which included un-redacted allegations that Mr Hird had suffered side effects from administering a named substance. By reason of the AFL not redacting the name of that substance, and not redacting the reference to Mr Hird suffering side effects from its use, Mr Hird became an object of public ridicule, because the side effects of the named substance were easily discoverable from public sources and included side effects of a personally intimate and embarrassing nature.

Hird held a freaking press conference stating he took "full responsibility", that ended with the intervention of a statutory federal body upholding player doping charges, and now he is crying about being a victim of orchestrated public ridicule?

I mean, seriously? Is there some punchline I am missing here?
 
Last edited:
Jan 19, 2008
30,748
36,269
Melbourne
AFL Club
Geelong
Further claims: Part C

1 On 7 January 2017 it was publicly reported in numerous media outlets that James Hird had been hospitalised following what was reported to have been an attempted suicide. Subsequent media reports indicated that Mr Hird had been transferred from hospital to a mental health facility.

2 The media reporting around Mr Hird’s reported attempted suicide generated significant concern in the community.

3 Subsequent media reporting covered allegations that Mr Hird had been the victim of bullying and victimisation by the AFL.

4 A significant body of empirical evidence supports a causal link between bullying and suicide, suicidal thoughts and suicide attempts, among other serious adverse mental health effects.

5 Bullying is a serious problem in Australia, and a matter of serious concern to the community.

My sympathy for the claim just evaporated. Another linament sniffer.
 
Sep 22, 2011
40,582
87,832
Your girlfriend's dreams
AFL Club
Essendon
Okay, let's go back to the 5th of February 2013:



Now let's look at the points outlined in the OP.



Essendon self reported to the AFL and Hird personally took "full responsibility"



Essendon self reported to the AFL, Hird personally took "full responsibility" in a press conference organised by Essendon and with Hird's participation.



Hird held a freaking press conference stating he took "full responsibility", that ended with the intervention of a statutory federal body upholding player doping charges, and now he is crying about being a victim of orchestrated public ridicule?

I mean, seriously? Is there some punchline I am missing here?

“Lawyer looks to create several lucrative cases” is all you seem to be missing.
 
Apr 24, 2013
81,024
153,170
Arden Street Hill
AFL Club
North Melbourne
Other Teams
Essendon Lawn Bowls Club
Sep 11, 2008
11,199
14,065
Melbourne
AFL Club
Hawthorn
IMO very little of this will get up. There are too many people involved in the saga, too many failings by people other than the AFL, too many grey areas, too much scope for taking comments out of context and too many frivolous claims.

How do costs work?
If say 10% of the claims are upheld and 90% thrown out?
 
Apr 24, 2013
81,024
153,170
Arden Street Hill
AFL Club
North Melbourne
Other Teams
Essendon Lawn Bowls Club
IMO very little of this will get up. There are too many people involved in the saga, too many failings by people other than the AFL, too many grey areas, too much scope for taking comments out of context and too many frivolous claims.

How do costs work?
If say 10% of the claims are upheld and 90% thrown out?


yeah? Which 10%?

All I can see is a brick house built on a swamp. The bottom bricks falls in and the rest go with it.
 

(Log in to remove this ad.)

Sep 22, 2011
40,582
87,832
Your girlfriend's dreams
AFL Club
Essendon
He is mentioned 23 times in the OP.

What does that prove? It’s all public, widely known information. There’s nothing remarkable or even interesting in it, except for those who have a conniption when they read something about this topic.

It’s an attempt by a lawyer to create some big, high profile cases for himself. It’s not strange.
 
Apr 24, 2013
81,024
153,170
Arden Street Hill
AFL Club
North Melbourne
Other Teams
Essendon Lawn Bowls Club
What does that prove? It’s all public, widely known information. There’s nothing remarkable or even interesting in it, except for those who have a conniption when they read something about this topic.

It’s an attempt by a lawyer to create some big, high profile cases for himself. It’s not strange.

Can I interest you in a bridge?
 
Sep 22, 2011
40,582
87,832
Your girlfriend's dreams
AFL Club
Essendon
Can I interest you in a bridge?

Ok - so I got this straight - you think James Hird and/or others (someone who has never been in the slightest bit shy about taking people to court) is the one who is really behind this, and has covertly got somebody else to launch a writ, name himself as the plaintiff instead, then go on and fight the case because... why?

Ok
 
Apr 24, 2013
81,024
153,170
Arden Street Hill
AFL Club
North Melbourne
Other Teams
Essendon Lawn Bowls Club
Ok - so I got this straight - you think James Hird and/or others (someone who has never been in the slightest bit shy about taking people to court) is the one who is really behind this, and has covertly got somebody else to launch a writ, name himself as the plaintiff instead, then go on and fight the case because... why?

I have a simple question for you that also encompasses my answer to your question.

Why isn't James Hird a party to this episode?

Why isn't he taking the stand?
 

Ron The Bear

Up yer arse, AFL
30k Posts 10k Posts
Jul 4, 2006
35,845
36,723
Melbourne
AFL Club
Richmond
Nice melt.

Essendon is to football what the Brisbane poo jogger is to footpaths.

e8c9d8c4a391f81d15a9809039b380ed


"I'm shocked to be shitting here."
 
Last edited:
What a colossal waste of time and money.

AFL should have just imposed the penalty they did on Essendon for failing to have adequate medical records which exactly recorded what was given to which player in what quantity, they should have left the whole drug scandal thing to ASADA/WADA. imo they can't be an impartial third party and they actively showed it by trying to warn essendon in advance and try and damage control throughout it. It compromised their position and it is the basis for why there is this legal action.

Win, lose or draw in this case, it won't alter that Essendon failed their players and should have been punished regardless. Best case scenario is that the failure of the administration to be independent will be exposed.
 

Magpie Monopoly

A Good Bloke
Jul 11, 2014
2,443
3,742
Syria
AFL Club
Collingwood
Other Teams
Oklahoma City Thunder
They absolutely tried to control the narrative, That's why the saga lasted as long as it did, They should've let ASADA run it's investigation independently, And the outcome would've been whatever it was but nope they needed to control everything which turned it into a s**t fight, Ego's became involved on both sides and it became ugly.

Had they stepped back and let us open it's doors to a full investigation whereby we cooperated fully like we agreed to do this whole saga would've ended in 2013.
Such typical denial/warped view from Essendon supporters.

Essendon got into the situation off your own bat. Essendon's punishment was for running a dodgy supplements program. Essendon tried to bend the rules and push the envelop and went to far.

Putting the blame on the AFL for "controlling the narrative" when all they were really trying to do is save their brand that your club was dragging through the dirt is such a typical Essendon supporter way of looking at things.

"Had they stepped back and let us open it's doors to a full investigation whereby we cooperated fully like we agreed to do this whole saga would've ended in 2013", yeah maybe, and you'd still be having a sook that the AFL left you with ASADA on your own. You were screwed with or without the AFL.
 
Apr 24, 2013
81,024
153,170
Arden Street Hill
AFL Club
North Melbourne
Other Teams
Essendon Lawn Bowls Club
Well he’s not the plaintiff.

Why not?

And he’s not a defendant because lawyers go after the biggest target in litigation, which in this case is the AFL.

So you reckon Burnside is bypassing Hird and going after the AFL, whilst claiming that Hird was a victim?

How exactly does that work?
 

Remove this Banner Ad

Back