AFL chief executive Andrew Demetriou says the league is seeking permission from the Australian Crime Commission to inform the club which has one suspected performance-enhancing drug user within their ranks.
It’s already been made public that Essendon is being investigated by the AFL and Australian Sports Anti-Doping Agency (ASADA) to determine whether several Bombers players took performance-enhancing drugs, possibly without knowledge they were doing so.
Demetriou confirmed on Monday that the AFL had been told by the Australian Crime Commission (ACC) the identity of another club which had one player suspected of using a performance-enhancing substance.
But he said they had not been given permission to tell the club and did not know the identity of the player or whether he was still playing.
The AFL want to be able to tell the club.
“Yes and we’ll be seeking that clarification from the Australian Crime Commission,” Demetriou told reporters.
He said they had been given permission to tell clubs that had been identified as vulnerable to prohibited drugs – whether that included illicit or performance-enhancing drugs – but not to specifically inform the club that had a player suspected of performance-enhancing drug use.
“I’ve had it clarified this morning with the Australian Crime Commission that we are not able at this point to notify the particular club where there is a case involving the possibility of WADA-prohibited performance-enhancing drug use for this one player,” Demetriou said.
“In addition, I want to make it clear that we have not been told the identity of the player in question so we don’t know whether this player is a current player or not a current player.”
He said the club involved and/or the player might already have been told by the ACC.
If so, he said it was up to them whether they wanted to come forward publicly.
But he urged fans to keep faith in their teams and continue to support them.
“This is not a widespread problem in our code,” he said.
“Have faith in the game and come along and watch your football team play.
“Because the AFL has been at the forefront of (fighting) performance-enhancing drugs, and if there is one player out there being investigated by ASADA, then that investigation will take place.”