Play Nice James Hird rushed to hospital - suspected overdose

[Toump Ass]

He should be sacked for his part in driving a man to the edge of death.

 

[Lavender Bushranger]

Not justifying the media's approach but allow me to spend 500 words justifying it. No body's complaining that the media shouldn't have reported the story, the entirety of the complaint is about the media's approach.

I justified their reporting, but didn't excuse the camping on the lawn bit. It was made pretty clear.

 

[Red Black and Blue]

I justified their reporting, but didn't excuse the camping on the lawn bit. It was made pretty clear.

They are intrinsically tied. You think that if the media reported when genuine information was made available every few months, that the Hird's need to run a counter campaign would be necessary. The media kept the story at boiling point, because an angry population likes to consume. The non-stop reporting drove the narrative.

 

[JackOutback]

I harbour no ill will towards Hird and hope he gets better, but this situation is entirely of his own making and entirely within his control to resolve. That puts him in a lot better position than most people in this world.

 

[kirky]

Lol
1. I bet you wouldn't. There's a reason you're chest puffing online anonymously
2. So verbal busy doesn't exist to you
3. Your grasp on the law is non existent


None of that responds to any of my comments to you

I'll give you a hint, I have been verbally abused when I was in my teens (and I'm now over 50). So yeh, I know what it can be liked.

Why don't we go back to the root cause and stop treating the symptoms?

And no, vans parked out the front of his house aren't appropriate but don't use the innocent angel in any of this - Hird and his lawyer team are just as culpable in this all occurring - it takes two to tango!

 

[jerry springer]

dont care if it was my water day or not, if i had journalists camped out on my front lawn the grass would never be greener

 

[DemonTim]

I'll give you a hint, I have been verbally abused when I was in my teens (and I'm now over 50). So yeh, I know what it can be liked.

Why don't we go back to the root cause and stop treating the symptoms?

And no, vans parked out the front of his house aren't appropriate but don't use the innocent angel in any of this - Hird and his lawyer team are just as culpable in this all occurring - it takes two to tango!

Can you please read what's written and respond in kind. It's far too hot to have to decipher random posts

Treat the root cause, you mean tell people to "harden da heck up m8"?

It doesn't take two to tango at all, if they weren't journalists the police would've moved them on or charged them by now

 

[Benny78]

Haha I love humans.

 

[Run and carry]

Not justifying the media's approach in terms of camping out the front of his family home - but a reality check is needed for many including yourself and Graham Cornes.

Very little, if any, of the media coverage regarding Hird was actually personal.

It was all focused on his role in the doping program, and his subsequent course of action in the aftermath.

His wife went to the media to throw Demetriou under the bus.

His dad used the media on a daily basis to plead his case.

Hird himself had an open mike interview which he instigated himself.

So not all the media coverage was a case of the media hounding him.

Let's be clear about that and not rewrite history.



Regarding the nature of the media coverage of Hird - as far as I recall, it was all pretty much focused on whether or not he, professionally, held some responsibility for the doping program, and what professional consequences should be faced as a result.

It wasn't personal.


Hird told us, many times, via the media, he was innocent and did nothing wrong. He told us that when the truth came out, it'd all be cool.

He had many, many opportunities to tell this truth. He even, via the media, set up an interview to do just that.

But we got nuthin'.


Rightly, the media pushed back.


That's not harassment or vilification. It's the media engaging with a high profile person in s high profile scenario when he says he'll clear his name - then over a 2-3 year period comes up with zilch.

It's the media, and the public, calling bullshit. And rightly so.

The media had an obligation to get something from Hird.

Harrassing his family is not on. But unfortunately, once your wife does her own 'tell all' via the media - she's kind of checked into the game.


The AFL and Essendon paying him whilst suspended, was a sham we weren't meant to know about. But Hird, via the media, tried to embarrass the AFL by leaking it out.

It made his junket in France of public interest. The Essendon members were paying for it after all.



I've said this before, and I'll say it again - this saga will never be over until those involved come clean and stop bullshitting.

And as long as Dank, Hird, Essendon, the players and the AFL keep trying to hope it goes away by lying, weaseling and deflecting - the main players are always going to be under the pump. Rightly or wrongly.


People don't like being bullshitted to - and Hird has bullshitted from day 1.

It was personal. There doesn't have to be a direct accusation or a verbal assault to be personal. Lack of balanced reporting and extreme inconsistency can result in being singled out, and that's personal.

When Tania Hird came out and spoke up late in the piece ( which she rarely did) all and sundry told her to shut up whilst media across the country had been talking non stop for years and the AFL were (allegedly)leaking all over the place.

There's no doubt that Hird had a target on his head whilst others snuck into the shadows. He was singled out.

 

[Jimthegreat]

Hird brought all these issues on himself we he refused to take his share of responsibility for what occurred at Essendon. His ego got the better of him and he fought to the bitter end costing him alot when he knew he was wrong. His respect level went from hero to complete zero. Don't blame the AFL or anyone else, blame himself. No justifying the media parasites though camping outside his house making his situation worse. I would've been like another poster and drowned them with the hose.

With that out of the way, it's sad to see a person go through what he is now to take the drastic steps he did to send him to hospital. Obviously doing it tough. Would be very hard on his family. Hopefully he gets well soon. No-one wants to see that. We wish him the best.

 

[dog in a manger]

It is a sorry situation that Hird and everybody connected with him finds themselves in, that is regrettable.

do l know every fact of the matter around Hird, of course 'NO'.
can anybody else claim to know all the facts, of course 'NO'.

Hird was involved in some way and always should have taken responsibility, but that never seems to have been the case.

Maybe when he recovers from this episode he should go and visit Lance Armstrong and see a man that after a long period of self denial embraced the truth for the good of himself, family and friends.

About 29,000 children under the age of five – 21 each minute – die every day, mainly from preventable causes.
one death is a tragedy, but a thousand deaths is a statistic.

 

[Randomizor]

I note this afternoon Steph Hird...the eldest of the children, has felt the need to make a public statement. Steph is 16 going on 17.

For me, I hope that once Hird has been successfully treated, he should be welcomed back, with open arms, into the football community and n ot just Essendon. Sure Essendon could see fit to have him on the club board. No-one would oppose that.

The lack of comment from the AFL so far has been to be brutally honest, pathetic. Just another slap down for Gillon, Fitzpatrick et al. (Who were so quick with Franklin, Cousins and etc)

No he should earn his way back in ala Carey etc

 

[Randomizor]

Absolutely no chance. Hird has way too much stink on him. He'll never be involved in the football industry ever again and rightly so

I have Essendon mates who would be furious if Hird ended up back at the club.

As harsh as it is, he is done in the industry

Yeah a decade or so would need to pass before he'd even have the slimmest chance of returning.

 

[Bomberblitzer]

No he should earn his way back in ala Carey etc

Carey should never have been welcomed back. Its a joke that he is allowed to feature on channel 7.

 

[Randomizor]

Carey should never have been welcomed back. Its a joke that he is allowed to feature on channel 7.

That's how most people will feel if Hird is ever brought back in.

 

[DemonTim]

That's how most people will feel if Hird is ever brought back in.

If that's the case most people are very stupid. Organising a "doping program" at a sporting club to get an unfair advantage, would cause the same feeling as someone glassing a woman

 

[Fastback]

How do we know for sure this anything to do with footy?

A very good question.

 

[jenny61_99]

Not justifying the media's approach but allow me to spend 500 words justifying it. No body's complaining that the media shouldn't have reported the story, the entirety of the complaint is about the media's approach.

I'm not sure there is anyone in here saying any different, is there? Most if not all, have said they think the media should leave the family alone, and certainly shouldn't be camped out his front gate like vultures.

 

[DrEvil_]

Gee, we can't all be perfect like you, Westicle.

I hope, one day, you do stuff up and hurt someone, and they refuse to forgive you, no matter how often you say "sorry". Then you will see what unforgiveness looks like.

To err is human.

Wait. Spike McVeigh said sorry? To Reimers? I must have missed that. When did that happen?

 

[Doss]

A very good question.

Ultimately I question whether it even matters. In the end, if someone is in a dark place and so down that they would contemplate self-harm, make an attempt on their life or even just send out a call for help by ODing without going all the way, that should be the overwhelming concern. Their welfare.

The causing factors don't ultimately change the fact someone needs help. And, looking at those people camped outside his house, that they need to be left alone and given the privacy they need.

 

[Run and carry]

Carey should never have been welcomed back. Its a joke that he is allowed to feature on channel 7.

Since when do you have to have high moral fibre to work in the media. They're still on Tania's lawn aren't they?

 

[Red Black and Blue]

I'm not sure there is anyone in here saying any different, is there? Most if not all, have said they think the media should leave the family alone, and certainly shouldn't be camped out his front gate like vultures.

Sure and they follow up with stuff like why didn't Hird just tell his story to them. Even though he repeatedly said he can't talk about confidential items under investigation, which is a perfectly reasonable position to take.

So much of his behavior that people constantly lambaste him for only exists because of the prism of constant coverage and the media pressuring him to step down. Agreeing with the position of media harassment should lead people to acknowledge the existence of and understand the ramifications of that prism.

 

[jenny61_99]

Ultimately I question whether it even matters. In the end, if someone is in a dark place and so down that they would contemplate self-harm, make an attempt on their life or even just send out a call for help by ODing without going all the way, that should be the overwhelming concern. Their welfare.

The causing factors don't ultimately change the fact someone needs help. And, looking at those people camped outside his house, that they need to be left alone and given the privacy they need.

I don't often agree with you Doss, but on this I agree 100%. Which is why I think his friends/family need to circle the wagons and give the press nothing. Publically pointing fingers about who is to blame is only going to get people off side. The why isn't so important at the moment. That can be addressed down the track. That is what I've been trying to say in previous posts, but I think it got lost in translation.

 

[Doss]

I don't often agree with you Doss, but on this I agree 100%. Which is why I think his friends/family need to circle the wagons and give the press nothing. Publically pointing fingers about who is to blame is only going to get people off side. The why isn't so important at the moment. That can be addressed down the track. That is what I've been trying to say in previous posts, but I think it got lost in translation.

Jenny, I don't really think Amendola coming out and saying what he did achieves much good either, but I think you know as well as I do that for many there will never be a 'down the track'. People don't want to hear it, ever.

Amendola could have said exactly the same thing in another three years time and the reaction would be largely the same.

The family and friends need to circle the wagons - and be allowed to do so quietly. Not with the glare of cameras planted on them tracking their every move.

 

[jenny61_99]

Sure and they follow up with stuff like why didn't Hird just tell his story to them. Even though he repeatedly said he can't talk about confidential items under investigation, which is a perfectly reasonable position to take.

So much of his behavior that people constantly lambaste him for only exists because of the prism of constant coverage and the media pressuring him to step down. Agreeing with the position of media harassment should lead people to acknowledge the existence of and understand the ramifications of that prism.

I'm not sure this is the right place for this conversation, but I just want to say this. For every article calling for Hird to stand down (which, honestly, was the correct call at the time), there was at least another that said he shouldn't. For every article that pointed out under the letter of the WADA code the players should be banned, there was at least one that said they were duped and had no case to answer. There were certainly some pretty nasty opinion pieces written, and unfortunately that is the era in which we live. Gone are the days when journalists researched and reported the facts. Hird did himself no favours though. But that has been written about in depth, and serves no purpose to discuss further here.