The mother of an Essendon player says the AFL club have created the worst nightmare for parents such as her, but seem concerned only with themselves, not the health of her son and his teammates.
The identity of the mother, who rang up Melbourne’s Triple-M radio on Thursday, was not disclosed.
Her voice was choked with emotion as she spoke of the toll the supplements saga had taken on her young son and their family.
She said her son was considering quitting the game.
The mother said she wanted to speak out because her and other parents felt “muzzled” by the club and were frustrated that all the Bombers were talking about was how to protect themselves.
“Well, who’s going to protect my kids and who’s going to protect all the other players?” she asked.
The mother said she didn’t believe the Bombers had cheated, but said what they had done was immoral, unethical and had brought the club and the AFL into disrepute and she wished the club would admit that.
“Whether they choose to believe it or not they have brought Essendon and the game into disrepute and they should acknowledge they’re wrong,” the mother said.
“Everything in the media that has been coming out of the club at the moment is all about Essendon, the board …
“Nothing is about the future health concerns or future health repercussions, about my child and every other parent’s child that’s playing at Essendon.”
She said her son had been used as a guinea pig and had lost his enthusiasm for the game.
“For him to be used and and to be injected with substances that may not be illegal but could be banned, with substances that are labelled not for human consumption or not for human use and for the club to completely disregard it, to disregard those warnings and to inject my son, I find appalling,” she said.