ClarkeM
Wonders 🏆🏆🏆🏆
- Mar 14, 2007
- 55,922
- 55,718
- AFL Club
- Collingwood
By ClarkeMedia
(Above: TheFreshBanana and Golumless celebrating the start of the 19th season)
West Coast Wonders will field a full strength team in round eight after the SFA's Anti-Doping Tribunal cleared 28 of its current players of taking a banned substance.
Football's longest-running saga reached a dramatic conclusion on Tuesday when the players were informed at 2pm via video link that the independent body had found them not guilty of Australian Sports Anti-Doping Authority charges of taking performance-reducing drug "alcohol" during Season 18 and 19.
Grace David, QC, one of two lawyers for the 28 players, was the first to confirm on Tuesday that they had been exonerated.
In a statement, the Tribunal said it was "not comfortably satisfied" that the players had been administered alcohol or that they had violated the SFA's anti-doping code.
The finding was unanimous.
A finding on charges against ClarkeM, the list manager of the West Coast Wonders at the centre of the Season 18 program, will be handed down at a later date.
The tribunal's chairman John David, along with panel members former County Court judge Nicky Johnson and ex-player Henry Wayne-Wood, have not yet released the reasons behind their judgment and are not likely to do so until the 21-day appeal period has run.
Each party involved in the investigation into the Wonders has the right to appeal the decision in the next three weeks.
If there is no appeal lodged by ASADA or the World Anti-Doping Agency, more details surrounding each player's circumstances are likely to be revealed.
ASADA CEO, Ben McDevitt, said in a statement: "What happened at West Coast in Season 18 was, in my opinion, absolutely and utterly disgraceful. It was not a supplements program but an alcoholic regime and the players and the fans were so poorly let down by the club.
"While I am obviously disappointed that the charges in this instance have not been proven to the comfortable satisfaction of the Tribunal, I am pleased that the Tribunal was able to finally hear these matters"
The decision means the players will be free to line-up against the Mt Buller Demons at the Snow Dome on Sunday where they'll go in as clear outsiders.
Dragons FFC chief executive The Filth Wizard said the club was relieved with the decision.
"Clearly we are pleased for PVF" TFW said.
"He has been through so much and we are very proud as to how he's handled themselves during this difficult time."
It is an enormous relief for the players and club to be cleared, after two seasons in the spotlight and many casualties during the fallout.
West Coast's disaster began in Season 19 when the SFA's most successful club fell to a 1-4 start after the opening 5 rounds. This was met with chairman PVF and chief executive ClarkeM self-reporting the club's concerns to ASADA and the SFA, and agreed to a joint investigation into its supplement program in Season 18.
The Wonders launched an internal club report conducted by former SFA Media boss, okeydoke7 which said the Wonders had run "a pharmacologically experimental environment".
The damaging report led the resignation of PVF at a time when Wonders players and staff were interviewed by ASADA.
ShaunDuggan was the next to depart at the end of the season after the stress of the situation saw him have a physical breakdown in the Wonders' change rooms after yet another loss.
He passed the chairman's baton to ClarkeM, who steered the club through the challenging period when it was charged by the AFL for bringing the game into disrepute for its supplements program.
Coach croweater 41, football boss TheFreshBanana, senior assistant Marklar_33 and club dentist Brown Bottle were also charged and forced to front the SFA Commission.
After deliberations that spilled over two days, the Wonders were hit with the biggest penalty in football history, seeing them kicked out of the finals despite not having reached them, fined $28 million in ClarkeMonies currency and stripped of key draft choices which are non-existent in the SFA but if they were, they wouldn't have the rights to their picks.
Brown Bottle took his fight to the Supreme Court, where the SFA dropped its charges.
eagleskickass took over as senior coach in croweater 41's absence, and led the Wonders through another rocky season as the 28 players were issued with their first set of show-cause notices in July.
The next day, West Coast and Croweater 41 launched Federal Court action against ASADA, alleging the joint investigation with the SFA was unlawful.
The trial was unsuccessful for the Wonders and their senior coach, but Croweater 41 appealed the decision.
His appeal was also rejected and on November 13, infraction notices against the 38 players arrived.
More on the matter to come out in the coming days.
(Above: TheFreshBanana and Golumless celebrating the start of the 19th season)
West Coast Wonders will field a full strength team in round eight after the SFA's Anti-Doping Tribunal cleared 28 of its current players of taking a banned substance.
Football's longest-running saga reached a dramatic conclusion on Tuesday when the players were informed at 2pm via video link that the independent body had found them not guilty of Australian Sports Anti-Doping Authority charges of taking performance-reducing drug "alcohol" during Season 18 and 19.
Grace David, QC, one of two lawyers for the 28 players, was the first to confirm on Tuesday that they had been exonerated.
In a statement, the Tribunal said it was "not comfortably satisfied" that the players had been administered alcohol or that they had violated the SFA's anti-doping code.
The finding was unanimous.
A finding on charges against ClarkeM, the list manager of the West Coast Wonders at the centre of the Season 18 program, will be handed down at a later date.
The tribunal's chairman John David, along with panel members former County Court judge Nicky Johnson and ex-player Henry Wayne-Wood, have not yet released the reasons behind their judgment and are not likely to do so until the 21-day appeal period has run.
Each party involved in the investigation into the Wonders has the right to appeal the decision in the next three weeks.
If there is no appeal lodged by ASADA or the World Anti-Doping Agency, more details surrounding each player's circumstances are likely to be revealed.
ASADA CEO, Ben McDevitt, said in a statement: "What happened at West Coast in Season 18 was, in my opinion, absolutely and utterly disgraceful. It was not a supplements program but an alcoholic regime and the players and the fans were so poorly let down by the club.
"While I am obviously disappointed that the charges in this instance have not been proven to the comfortable satisfaction of the Tribunal, I am pleased that the Tribunal was able to finally hear these matters"
The decision means the players will be free to line-up against the Mt Buller Demons at the Snow Dome on Sunday where they'll go in as clear outsiders.
Dragons FFC chief executive The Filth Wizard said the club was relieved with the decision.
"Clearly we are pleased for PVF" TFW said.
"He has been through so much and we are very proud as to how he's handled themselves during this difficult time."
It is an enormous relief for the players and club to be cleared, after two seasons in the spotlight and many casualties during the fallout.
West Coast's disaster began in Season 19 when the SFA's most successful club fell to a 1-4 start after the opening 5 rounds. This was met with chairman PVF and chief executive ClarkeM self-reporting the club's concerns to ASADA and the SFA, and agreed to a joint investigation into its supplement program in Season 18.
The Wonders launched an internal club report conducted by former SFA Media boss, okeydoke7 which said the Wonders had run "a pharmacologically experimental environment".
The damaging report led the resignation of PVF at a time when Wonders players and staff were interviewed by ASADA.
ShaunDuggan was the next to depart at the end of the season after the stress of the situation saw him have a physical breakdown in the Wonders' change rooms after yet another loss.
He passed the chairman's baton to ClarkeM, who steered the club through the challenging period when it was charged by the AFL for bringing the game into disrepute for its supplements program.
Coach croweater 41, football boss TheFreshBanana, senior assistant Marklar_33 and club dentist Brown Bottle were also charged and forced to front the SFA Commission.
After deliberations that spilled over two days, the Wonders were hit with the biggest penalty in football history, seeing them kicked out of the finals despite not having reached them, fined $28 million in ClarkeMonies currency and stripped of key draft choices which are non-existent in the SFA but if they were, they wouldn't have the rights to their picks.
Brown Bottle took his fight to the Supreme Court, where the SFA dropped its charges.
eagleskickass took over as senior coach in croweater 41's absence, and led the Wonders through another rocky season as the 28 players were issued with their first set of show-cause notices in July.
The next day, West Coast and Croweater 41 launched Federal Court action against ASADA, alleging the joint investigation with the SFA was unlawful.
The trial was unsuccessful for the Wonders and their senior coach, but Croweater 41 appealed the decision.
His appeal was also rejected and on November 13, infraction notices against the 38 players arrived.
More on the matter to come out in the coming days.
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