Howdy folks
I get no pleasure from what follows. In fact, there's a great deal of disappointment about what I feel I must do.
I am in receipt of a legal document from the AFL. The essence of it is that we are in breach of copyright by using official AFL or Hawthorn FC logos, or photographs that depict these logos or even AFL jumpers.
They are giving us seven days to remove all such detail from the site before they take it further.
I'm sure many other unofficial sites have had the same sorts of warnings slapped on them. But, be in no doubt, this is the thin edge of the wedge.
My crew and I have weathered any number of potential legal minefields down the years. In all instances, we've done everything in our power to right the wrongs, co-operated with various parties and in many instances worked together with them to keep the peace, as it were.
But it's a lot of responsibility, and potentially a lot of risk, and frankly, I'm not prepared to take it any more.
As a consequence, the message board will cease to operate in its current form within a week.
What happens with regard to a Hawthorn messageboard subsequent to that is subject to debate and discussion, but as I type, I'm loath to be hosting any generally accessable messageboard on this site in future, as it is the cause of all of our problems.
In the interim, I will be turning off avatars to assist the AFL in removing their copyrighted material. We will also replace the banners that have the offending material in them with clean HHQ banners as soon as we can.
It's my intention at this stage to continue the website itself in the existing form, but with no messageboard attached. I'm not certain of that course of action, but that's what I feel right now.
On a personal note, I've been touched by the words and support of my mates tonight - you guys know who you are, and as much as you want to thank me providing the forum for what this joint means to us all, I want to thank you back for contributing to it, building it and sharing it with me. Cheers.
To everyone that has contributed postively over the last eight years, my sincere thanks to you all. I know we have the best community in the unofficial AFL website world, and whatever comes of all of this, I know that this period of my life has been special because of what you all bring to the table.
Finally, keep the faith with our club and our boys. Remember that they are the thing that brings us all together, and for so many of us, they are the reason for so many happy memories. Whatever happens, stay proud, stay passionate and stay paid up.
