Thirty-four Essendon Australian Rules players found guilty of doping

Thirty-four Australian Football League (AFL) players were Tuesday slapped with lengthy bans over doping offences after the Court of Arbitration for Sport upheld a World Anti-Doping Agency appeal.

The CAS said it found that the code against using banned substances had been violated and that “all players were significantly at fault”, despite arguments that the players were simply doing what they were told by their coaches and trainers.

The players did not receive the major discount for “no significant fault, no significant negligence“, which can cut a sentence drastically.

The CAS verdict follows a not-guilty finding delivered by the AFL anti-doping tribunal a year ago.

Last August, 12 Cronulla Sharks players accepted one-year bans from ASADA, for taking banned supplements.

That decision was appealed by the World Anti Doping Authority in the Swiss-based Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) which this morning upheld the appeal.

With just 12 of the 34 players still at Essendon, the rest have either been delisted, retired or traded, with Jake Carlisle, Paddy Ryder, Jake Melksham, Stewart Crameri and Angus Monfries all at Essendon in 2012 but now at other clubs.

Australian Rules football club Essendon has announced 34 of their past and present players have been found guilty of committing an anti-doping rule violation.

It is Judgement Day for 34 past and present Bombers players – including 12 now on the club’s playing list and five players on rival teams’ 2016 squads – who were at the club during its 2012 season.

Inevitably taking its toll on the club’s players and staff, the decision leaves the door open for the saga to continue.

All in all, the team is pretty much wiped out for the 2016 season.

‘The players had received anti-doping education through the AFL and ASADA, and were well aware that they are personally responsible for all substances that entered their body, ‘ McDevitt said.

The AFL Commission is also facing an imminent decision on whether to strip Bombers skipper Jobe Watson of his 2012 Brownlow.

Asada chief executive Ben McDevitt said: “This unfortunate episode has chronicled the most devastating self-inflicted injury by a sporting club in Australian history”.