r/EssendonFC • u/el_teriyaki •Make Essendon Great Again• • 6d ago

AFL Make Essendon Great Again

Phase 1: Hire James Hird.

Phase 2: ???

Phase 3: Win Premiership.

6 Upvotes

54% Upvoted

61 comments sorted by

View all comments

49

u/420gramsofbutter 6d ago

I know I may be in the minority here, but I just don't understand how, in good faith, you can re-hire the person responsible for the darkest period in this club's 150-years.

I get that people love Hird; he's a club legend. But he was the person in charge during the supplement saga, and we're still dealing with the repercussions from that period.

It just feels dirty to me, like we're sweeping everything under the rug.

6

u/WingsBurstOut 6d ago

How did Carey continue to work in the media after numerous assault charges/convictions? Why is Carey allowed to redeem himself with nothing more said about his indiscretions and not Hird? By any rational measure, Carey’s actions were more egregious than Hird’s. And if you want to talk about rug sweeping, why no WorkSafe investigation into the allegations that twelve other clubs were running supplement programs themselves around the same time? We were not Robinson Crusoe in that regard.

4

u/willreview PESD - Perpetual Essington Stress Disorder 6d ago

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Whataboutism

2

u/WingsBurstOut 6d ago

Lol. Yeah, nah. Pretty sure that my basic points were a) No one should be considered to be beyond redemption or denied the chance to attain it, b) That there was a level of selective crucifixion applied by the AFL, Media, footy fans in general when it is apparent that “black ops” were endemic across the league. Agree or disagree. It makes not one iota of difference to my own personal convictions.

4

u/willreview PESD - Perpetual Essington Stress Disorder 6d ago

Hird has a nice cushy media job now. He's had enough redemption in that regard to be set for life. He can stay the fuck away from this football club though. We can accept that what's happened is now history, whilst keeping him at a stern arm's length and not inviting the chaos and circus that would ensue back in the door should he be re-appointed

2

u/WingsBurstOut 6d ago

Yeah, look. I think we all have some feelings of trepidation and misgiving around his potential appointment. No argument there. I suspect that one of the key factors to be considered is the possibility, and others have articulated this also, that the narrative of the disgraced favourite son returning to lead his people from the wilderness, right the wrongs of the past and achieve both personal and collective redemption is now or will eventually be, irresistible. And because of this momentum, perhaps the board will go with it. It’s a compelling fantasy, and I’m sure we can all see the flaws inherent in it, yet there is some allure to it also.