Does Stephen Dank email mean Sharks are now ASADA's sole target
A recent email from the Australian Sports Anti-Doping Authority to controversial sports scientist Stephen Dank indicates the threat of bans still hangs over Cronulla players while Essendon players may no longer be on the anti-doping body's radar.
In an email request last month that Dank meet with its officials, ASADA suggested Dank could help bring closure to the inquiry and allow some resolution for Sharks players following the year-long saga. No mention was made in that same email, however, of Dank delivering closure to Essendon players.
Dank worked at Cronulla for five months in 2011 and joined Essendon at the end of that year, remaining there for the 2012 season. Given that Dank was central to the supply and use of peptides at Essendon and no mention was made in the email of bringing closure for the AFL players, are we to assume the anti-doping body has determined the Bombers have no case to answer.
Insofar as Dank did not inject a single player at Cronulla, but was the architect of a regime that saw more than 1200 injections at Essendon, ASADA presumably believes the substances he brought to the NRL club might have been banned, while those used at the AFL club were not.
Dank has always maintained he did not use any prohibited ElephantJuice, claiming both ASADA and WADA gave permission for any supplements he prescribed. He claims to have credible witnesses to all phone calls he made to both anti-doping bodies.
Traditionally, ASADA does not officially declare an investigation over, relying on its eight-year statute of limitations to allow for fresh evidence to come forward that may result in infringement notices.
However, because Dank was central to the supply and use of peptides at Essendon and no mention was made in the ASADA email of delivering relief to the AFL players, it can be assumed the anti-doping body has determined the Bombers have no case to answer.
While that policy of not declaring an investigation at an end may work for the odd weightlifter who refuses to be interviewed and subsequently disappears to work in the West Australian mines, it does not address the frustrations of hundreds of thousands of football fans who want the matter concluded.
Presumably, this is one reason the federal government has brought in a former Federal Court judge to assist ASADA and hopefully close the investigation by the end of April.
While Dank has been recently invited to meet with ASADA, there has been no threat of imposing a daily fine of $5100 for failure to co-operate with it. The email exchange between lawyers acting for Dank and ASADA has been informal, yet frank. Dank has made it clear he wants the matter resolved by the Australian legal system, not a quasi-legal body.
"I'm not going to put myself before some kangaroo court of sport," he said in reference to the NRL or AFL judicial body which would act on ASADA's infringement notices. We're going straight to the Federal Court.
"It's not as if I am refusing to co-operate with ASADA, but simply that I want to put my case before an open court."
Dank said he would use his appearance before the Federal Court to expose ASADA's breaches of power and its complicity with the AFL during the joint ASADA/AFL investigation into Essendon. "The best way to beat City Hall is to win the battle of Capitol Hill," he said, taking a foray into American politics. Some claim politics is the motive behind the federal Minister for Sport, Peter Dutton, bringing former Federal Court judge, Justice Garry Downes, into the ASADA inquiry exposing "the blackest day in sport" as Labor grandstanding.
It's not as if ASADA requires additional legal resources to assist it in sport's supplements crisis. ASADA, being a federal government statutory body, has its own lawyers, plus access to the federal government's solicitor's office for legal advice.
Justice Downes has been appointed to review the evidence ASADA has collected and expedite the inquiry. Presumably, he will recommend one of three courses, after examining all testimony, including emails, phone records, invoices, bank records and pharmacy logs.
One course would be to recommend the entire investigation into both the AFL and NRL be abandoned. A second would be to order the issue of infraction notices to either or both Cronulla and Essendon. A third would be to insist on the gathering of more evidence.
This role is usually the responsibility of a panel called the Anti-Doping Rule Violation Committee, a body of eminent lay people, including lawyers.
However, Minister Dutton obviously wants the logjam of evidence cleared with Justice Downes' input before ASADA proceeds to the ADRVC.
Even when infraction notices have been served, another mini logjam appears. Sandor Earl has been issued with a notice, charging him with trafficking, yet the NRL doping tribunal is yet to call him, presumably because ASADA want more information from him on Dank. It is unlikely Dank will be able to provide written records for any court.
Like for most quasi-medical people and those working in the sport industry, records are retained by the practice or club.
Should a Dank-initiated Federal Court case call upon records at Cronulla and Essendon, only to discover that evidence no longer exists, another "blackest day in sport" looms. The law views evidence destroyed, particularly during the discovery process, extremely seriously.
