Hird, Evans at odds over drugs scandal

Hello, you either have JavaScript turned off or an old version of Adobe's Flash Player.

Fall out ... James Hird and Mark Evans are under extreme pressure. Source: Michael Klein / News Limited

ESSENDON coach James Hird and chairman David Evans have fallen out as footy's drugs scandal deepens.

Hird and Evans - friends for almost 20 years - have starkly contrasting accounts of an emergency meeting held at Evans' Hawthorn home on February 4.

Hello, you either have JavaScript turned off or an old version of Adobe's Flash Player.

In a day of drama the pair came face to face at a board meeting, as the team prepared for the blockbuster clash with Hawthorn at Etihad Stadium.

Hello, you either have JavaScript turned off or an old version of Adobe's Flash Player.

Hird and Evans are at odds over what was said in telephone call between Evans and AFL boss Andrew Demetriou the night before the club self-reported to the drug watchdog.

Thursday's Herald Sun revealed conflicting versions of the meeting had been given to the Australian Sports Anti-Doping Authority.

Hird declared "the truth will come out" over what transpired.

"We've all given our version of what happened, or the truth, to ASADA," Hird said.

"I know I've told the truth to ASADA and I know other people have as well, so the truth will come out over time," the coach said.

Hird said the content of Demetriou's call was discussed by those present on the night: himself, Evans, former chief executive Ian Robson, club doctor Bruce Reid, and football boss Danny Corcoran.

When asked whether Demetriou had done anything wrong, Hird replied: "I'm not sure.

"I wouldn't have thought he has, but I'm not the ACC (Australian Crime Commission), I'm not ASADA. I'm a football coach trying to coach a game (tonight)."

In a statement to the Herald Sun, ACC chief executive John Lawler said he did not have evidence any of its information had been used inappropriately.

"The ACC does not have any information to support the assertion that representatives of the Australian Football League failed to honour their written undertakings, given to the ACC in accordance with the Australian Crime Commission Act 2002, to protect the content of the confidential briefing they received," he said.

Evans has categorically defended Demetriou's version of events at the February 4 meeting.

He said after a club board meeting he would not be standing down as club chairman.

"I want to make this really clear: tonight was a regular and scheduled monthly board meeting," he said.

"In relation to media reports, I am not standing down as chairman and the board did not ask me to explain my version of events.

"This was a routine board meeting.

"Yes, we've got some big issues ahead of us, but we are all awaiting the ASADA investigation to be completed."

Demetriou confirmed speaking to Evans, but firmly denied the league had tipped off the club.

"There absolutely was a discussion that I had with David, because I'd spoken to him throughout the day, and I did ring him that night because I was returning his phone call,'' Demetriou told 3AW.

"But it wasn't tipping off David Evans that Essendon was the club, because we didn't know who the club was."

Demetriou said Evans had been receiving calls from the media at the time about the use of supplements - calls the AFL had also received - before making his own inquiries at his club and becoming "quite disturbed", leading to the meeting being called.

"As David found out more and more things, he rang me to tell if I knew any more,'' Demetriou said.

"I kept saying, 'I don't know any more, David. I don't know who the club is'.

"He rang me and I returned his phone call at nine o'clock that night."

Asked if he had mentioned the ACC briefing of January 31 to Evans, Demetriou said he had not, because it was confidential.

"(I was asked) whether I tipped off David Evans before they came forward ... and I stated yesterday categorically, as I did on previous occasions, that I did not," Demetriou said.

"And I did not for one simple reason: I didn't know who the club in question was," he said.

"The AFL wasn't aware of who the club was in question because the ACC, who briefed us a few days earlier on the Thursday, wouldn't disclose to us who the clubs involved were."

Anda sedang membaca artikel tentang

Hird, Evans at odds over drugs scandal

Dengan url

http://sportmingguan.blogspot.com/2013/07/hird-evans-at-odds-over-drugs-scandal.html

Anda boleh menyebar luaskannya atau mengcopy paste-nya

Hird, Evans at odds over drugs scandal

namun jangan lupa untuk meletakkan link

Hird, Evans at odds over drugs scandal

sebagai sumbernya