Following the Justice for the 34 proposal 'Appoint a member of the Board who is responsible for the rights of athletes' , Mr Tanner, CEO, Essendon Football Club sent the following response:
Fri, Feb 21,
Dear Mr Nelson,
Thankyou for your proposals. I will make them available to all board members as you request. Without pre-empting any formal position the board may want to take on any of these matters, I provide the following thoughts in response:
1. I don’t believe it would be appropriate for the club to organise a conference - such an event is well outside our normal business activities, and we would undoubtedly be seen as having an axe to grind, which would undermine the success of the event. Having said that, in my view should another party - for example an academic institution - organise such a conference it would be entirely appropriate for us to support and participate in the conference.
2. Since 2013 the club has put a number of initiatives in place to strengthen the ability of players to pursue grievances including an externally administered anonymous hotline and scheduled player representative meetings with the board. I don’t agree with the idea of a board member acting as a player representative as this would create a clear conflict of interest: he or she would be representing both the employer and the employees. However, it goes without saying that I accept the spirit of your point. Notwithstanding that such arrangements are unusual - employee representatives usually engage with management, not the board - I intend to recommend to the board that we also invite our AFL Players Association representatives to meet with the board (or the Board Audit Risk and Integrity Committee which has more detailed responsibility in this area).
3. My legal advice tells me that the Pardons legislation does not in fact apply to the CAS penalties imposed on the players. Even if this is incorrect, it would not be appropriate for the club to apply for pardons, and may not even be possible. The penalties were imposed on the players as individuals, and as such any application for a pardon would be a matter for each player as an individual. The club does not represent the players in these matters, and as you would be aware most of the players are no longer at Essendon and some are playing for other AFL clubs. Should our legal advice prove incorrect and one or more players seek a pardon, I would expect the club would support them in that process.
Yours sincerely
Lindsay Tanner
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Grrrr.....
Serenity now.
Serenity now.
Justice for the 34 renews its call for an Independent inquiry into anti-doping with wide ranging terms of reference which allow all sporting bodies, all athletes, and all interested parties to make representations.
This is in the national interest, and it will help all athletes, not just the Essendon 34.
Please support our petition and an independent inquiry to sort this mess out.
More info at: https://www.facebook.com/justiceforthe34/