{"id":389273,"date":"2024-04-30T01:35:43","date_gmt":"2024-04-30T01:35:43","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/?p=389273"},"modified":"2024-04-30T03:05:40","modified_gmt":"2024-04-30T03:05:40","slug":"dads-scapegoat-claim-as-afl-ripped-for-doing-nothing","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/?p=389273","title":{"rendered":"Dad's 'scapegoat' claim as AFL ripped for 'doing nothing'"},"content":{"rendered":"

Provisionally suspended Melbourne<\/a> player Joel Smith is being made a "scapegoat" by the AFL<\/a> to cover up drug use in the league, says his father Shaun.<\/p>\n

\ufeffSmith remains stood down, pending a resolution, after Sport Integrity Australia (SIA) found him guilty in a pre-Christmas hearing following a positive drug test for cocaine last August<\/a>.<\/p>\n

He was also served three additional Ant-Doping Rule Violations by SIA in February<\/a> for alleged "trafficking or attempted trafficking" of cocaine to third parties.<\/p>\n

\ufeffREAD MORE:<\/strong> Gould goes berserk over 'stupid' NRL rule changes<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

\ufeffREAD MORE:<\/strong> Awkward vision exposes lingering Swans tension<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n<\/p>\n

READ MORE:<\/strong> Tyson gives up sex, marijuana ahead of Paul fight\ufeff<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

\"Joel<\/p>\n

The allegations are not criminal in nature.\ufeff<\/p>\n

As a result of his suspension, Smith cannot engage in or discuss Melbourne's football program. He faces \ufeffthe prospect of a multi-year ban<\/a> from the game from SIA.<\/p>\n

The Demons have previously stated \ufeffthey had "some isolated incidents" that they were working through to "drive the club's culture forward".<\/p>\n

\ufeff"All the knowledge that has come out [has indicated that Joel's case] is an isolated incident. That was the message from the football club [but] if you think Joel's an isolated incident you need to open your eyes \u2014 it's right through society and the AFL obviously have a massive issue with this," Shaun Smith told Nine's Today<\/em>.<\/p>\n

"[The AFL] came out a month ago and admitted that they offered off-the-book testing to pretty much cover up [drug use outside of competition]."<\/p>\n

SIA is also looking into \ufeffthe lAFL'S after Federal MP Andrew Wilkie made explosive allegations as he addressed parliament<\/a> last month.<\/p>\n

Amongst Wilkie's claims, he alleged that players who returned a positive drug test result were ruled out of their club's subsequent match with a fictitious injury so as not to draw attention. \ufeff<\/p>\n

\"Malthouse<\/p>\n

The confidential testing outside of the AFL's illicit drugs policy\ufeff is based on what the governing body penned a medical model<\/a>, where if a player receives one strike for positive illicit drug use, they have the option of joining a medical group.<\/p>\n

Once a player is in this group it is almost impossible for them to face penalties for illicit substance use unless they are caught with illicit drugs in their system on game day.<\/p>\n

"\ufeffYou have to look at the workplace itself \u2014 if the AFL is doing off-the-book testing to avoid being caught on game day, that's enabling young men who have got a bit of money in their back pocket to take drugs and get away with," Shaun Smith said.<\/p>\n

"There've been pictures of AFL players with white powder \ufeffand there's obviously some known players with some struggles, [including] current players with drug issues.<\/p>\n

"\ufeffIt just seems like the AFL is doing nothing about it.<\/p>\n

"Obviously, what Joel did, I \ufeffdon't condone or agree with and he regrets it greatly, but he's not a lone wolf by any stretch of the imagination."<\/p>\n

\"Joel<\/p>\n

To fix the policy's shortcomings, Shaun suggested the league start testing players more frequently and on non-game days.<\/p>\n

"\ufeffThey need to scrap the illicit drugs policy and start again," he said.<\/p>\n

"I reckon regular testing twice a week. If you test players twice a week and players want to take drugs \u2014 they're not going to be playing football for long. So, you've got to toe the line."<\/p>\n

Smith is yet to respond publicly to the allegations against him, however his father has repeatedly criticised the AFL for allegedly harbouring a drug culture.<\/p>\n

"I'm making noise on behalf of a parent. This [situation] doesn't just affect the player, it affects everyone around them," Shaun Smith said.<\/p>\n

"No one wants to see \ufefftheir children be put into an unsafe environment and that's pretty much what the AFL is at the moment in that regard.<\/p>\n

\"AFL's<\/p>\n

"\ufeffThe AFL will do anything to cover this up, to protect their brand \u2014 and obviously Joel's done the wrong thing and, yes, he'll have to do his time \u2014 but he's not alone and they are making him out to be a scapegoat here."<\/p>\n

Shaun Smith's comments come after late Melbourne and Fremantle player Harley Balic's death<\/a> was reported to be included in SIA's investigation into the AFL's illicit drug policy<\/a> last week.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Provisionally suspended Melbourne player Joel Smith is being made a "scapegoat" by the AFL to cover up drug use in the league, says his father […]<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":370491,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/389273"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=389273"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/389273\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":389276,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/389273\/revisions\/389276"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/370491"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=389273"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=389273"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=389273"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}