if someone could post the article it would be great. On my phone and cant be f**ked f**karsing around
http://m.foxsports.com.au/afl/afl-p...essendon-players/story-e6frf36u-1227351211580
Source: News Corp Australia
*WADA to lodge appeal with Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS)
*Essendon shocked by appeal, Little says everyone had just ?got their lives back?
*WADA?s move means players accused of taking Thymosin beta-4 again face suspensions
*Former ASADA boss Richard Ings says result known ?by Christmas if all goes fast?
*Players free to continue playing while appeals process takes place
LATEST: ASADA has welcomed the World Anti-Doping Agency?s decision to lodge an appeal regarding 34 former and current Essendon players, as the club expresses its shock.
WADA?s move against the AFL Anti-Doping Tribunal?s decision means the 34 players accused of using the banned peptide Thymosin beta-4 during the 2012 season again face suspensions of up to two years.
?It has really taken us all by surprise,? Essendon chairman Paul Little told Triple M Hot Breakfast.
?(It?s) early days but I would have thought it probably could be heard reasonably quickly.
?Everyone involved has pretty much got their lives back ... but now it looks like we have to jump back on the horse.?
MORE: WADA APPEAL HANGS CLOUD OVER AFL SEASON
WADA Director General David Howman said this morning: ?After a thorough examination of the evidence contained within the file, WADA has decided to lodge its independent right of appeal to the decision to the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS).? SCROLL DOWN FOR FULL STATEMENT
ASADA CEO Ben McDevitt said the authority would fully support WADA in its appeal to CAS.
?ASADA has handed over a comprehensive brief of evidence to assist WADA in its preparation for the CAS hearing,? Mr McDevitt said.
The Herald Sun revealed last week that Mr McDevitt had flown to WADA headquarters in Montreal to fight for an appeal outside the AFL?s jurisdiction.
Former ASADA boss Richard Ings said the result of the appeal would be known ?by Christmas if all goes fast?.
A source close to the investigation told the Herald Sun this morning: ?I don?t think there will be a different outcome since they still don?t have a witness.
?What is their case. It is more politics. They (ASADA) are a disgrace.?
The AFL Anti-Doping Tribunal ruled last month that it was not ?comfortably satisfied? 34 past and present Bombers players had been administered the banned peptide Thymosin beta-4 during the 2012 season.
The decision by WADA to press ahead in the case against Essendon means all evidence will be heard by CAS at a hearing in the coming months.
The hearing will likely be held in Melbourne.
Players are free to continue playing in the AFL while the appeal process takes place.
Melbourne sports Lawyer Paul Horvath said the CAS panel would be made up of three people - two arbitrators, one chosen by each party, and a chairman appointed by the court.
Mr Horvath told 3AW the court ?probably? didn?t have the power to subpoena compounding chemist Nima Alavi or importer Shane Charter, both key witnesses who pulled out of appearing before the AFL anti-doping tribunal at the eleventh hour.
?The key question is around whether there?ll be any new evidence, which I suspect there won?t be - but there may be - and the hearing starts from scratch,? Mr Horvath said.
?You don?t have to show there was an error made by the earlier court.?
Mr Horvath said the court would revisit the question of whether it was ?comfortably satisfied? that any of the Essendon players committed anti-doping rule violations.
?In my opinion it?s a very high test because of the consequences and there needs to be a fair degree of proof before you?re going to find if someone has been a drug cheat,? he said.
He said a final decision was normally reached within 4-6 weeks.
?I reckon round about by the end of the season is when you might expect that decision,? he said.
AFL boss Gillon McLachlan had expressed hope last month that ASADA would accept the AFL anti-doping tribunal decision and let the investigation rest.
But ASADA is convinced doping violations took place at Essendon and suspensions should be served.
McDevitt said last month the problems at Essendon in 2012 were ?far more serious than poor governance?.
?Hundreds, maybe thousands, of injections, unsupervised and undocumented, were given to Essendon players during the 2012 season,? McDevitt said.
?An absolutely deplorable and disgraceful lack of records of these injections means we still have young men not knowing what was injected into them.
?They?ve been used as pincushions.?
When asked about McLachlan?s comments that he hoped ASADA would accept the tribunal?s decision and forego an appeal, McDevitt said: ?This is not a decision for Gill McLachlan.?
When asked about McLachlan?s comments that he hoped ASADA would accept the tribunal?s decision and forego an appeal, McDevitt said: ?This is not a decision for Gill McLachlan.?
WADA STATEMENT
WADA Director General, David Howman: ?We have now completed our independent review of the full case file on the AFL Anti-Doping Appeals Tribunal decision regarding 34 current and former Essendon players.
?After a thorough examination of the evidence contained within the file, WADA has decided to lodge its independent right of appeal to the decision to the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS).
?As with all pending cases, and adhering to the proper and normal respect for the integrity of the legal process, WADA will refrain from commenting further on the subject until a decision has been made by CAS.?
More to come ...
