This must be a joke.
AFL suspends payments to Essendon over Hird 'pay'
THE AFL has suspended its regular payments to Essendon until the club clarifies whether it is paying banned coach James Hird.
The League will withhold the monthly payments after writing to the Bombers last week and again on Monday concerning the pay situation around Hird.
It said in a statement on Thursday that there was "a clear intention" when Hird was penalised in August over Essendon's supplements program that he could not be paid by the Bombers or work in any way for the club.
"Since September, the AFL has been in consultation with the Essendon FC concerning the terms of James Hird's suspension, including the fact he cannot be paid by the club for a period of 12 months," chief executive Andrew Demetriou said in the statement.
The club has also been notified if it "continues not to comply" with the terms of the suspension then it will have to appear before the AFL Commission in Melbourne next week.
The club is yet to reply to the AFL's letter and until it does will not receive money from head office.
Demetriou recently strongly denied Hird was being paid by the Bombers or AFL, but since then Tania Hird has claimed her husband is still being paid as part of the accepted sanction.
On Wednesday, she told News Corp that her husband agreed to a sanction with pay in lieu of taking the AFL to court.
"Of course he's being paid, that was the deal," Mrs Hird said.
"Andrew Demetriou knew it, the AFL knew it."
Mrs Hird also accused the AFL of "threatening" her husband and the Bombers and wanted the governing body to "stop distorting the truth".
Demetriou said he thought the pay situation had been resolved when he said recently that Hird was not being remunerated.
"The public statements from the AFL, from myself as CEO over the last week, were in the belief that Essendon had concluded its payment arrangements and begun the suspension period. The AFL has since sought confirmation and is yet to receive it," he said.
Hird's punishment was part of the club's penalties, which included a $2 million fine and being banned from this year's finals, for its controversial 2012 supplements program.
The AFL's total distribution of funds to Essendon in 2012 was $11.98 million.
http://www.afl.com.au/news/2013-12-12/bombers-money-on-hold
AFL suspends payments to Essendon over Hird 'pay'
THE AFL has suspended its regular payments to Essendon until the club clarifies whether it is paying banned coach James Hird.
The League will withhold the monthly payments after writing to the Bombers last week and again on Monday concerning the pay situation around Hird.
It said in a statement on Thursday that there was "a clear intention" when Hird was penalised in August over Essendon's supplements program that he could not be paid by the Bombers or work in any way for the club.
"Since September, the AFL has been in consultation with the Essendon FC concerning the terms of James Hird's suspension, including the fact he cannot be paid by the club for a period of 12 months," chief executive Andrew Demetriou said in the statement.
The club has also been notified if it "continues not to comply" with the terms of the suspension then it will have to appear before the AFL Commission in Melbourne next week.
The club is yet to reply to the AFL's letter and until it does will not receive money from head office.
Demetriou recently strongly denied Hird was being paid by the Bombers or AFL, but since then Tania Hird has claimed her husband is still being paid as part of the accepted sanction.
On Wednesday, she told News Corp that her husband agreed to a sanction with pay in lieu of taking the AFL to court.
"Of course he's being paid, that was the deal," Mrs Hird said.
"Andrew Demetriou knew it, the AFL knew it."
Mrs Hird also accused the AFL of "threatening" her husband and the Bombers and wanted the governing body to "stop distorting the truth".
Demetriou said he thought the pay situation had been resolved when he said recently that Hird was not being remunerated.
"The public statements from the AFL, from myself as CEO over the last week, were in the belief that Essendon had concluded its payment arrangements and begun the suspension period. The AFL has since sought confirmation and is yet to receive it," he said.
Hird's punishment was part of the club's penalties, which included a $2 million fine and being banned from this year's finals, for its controversial 2012 supplements program.
The AFL's total distribution of funds to Essendon in 2012 was $11.98 million.
http://www.afl.com.au/news/2013-12-12/bombers-money-on-hold
