Several former AFL players have slammed the league for its approach to concussion and dismissed the code’s apology to those who were “let down” by a former AFL advisor on the matter.
The league this week released a 260-page report relating to an independent review into the “work, research and advice” provided to the AFL by Associate Professor Paul McCrory, who faced allegations including plagiarism and the treatment of at least five ex-players for head knocks during an agreed ban.
Findings included that seven editorials informed by McCrory contained plagiarised text, which the report said “constituted an embarrassing blemish” on McCrory’s “professional/academic” reputation.
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The league said it apologised “to the past players who gave up their time in the hope of better understanding their own conditions and to assist with the research for the benefit of current and future players and were let down by the manner in which some of the research and clinical programs were at times conducted.”
Former Geelong and Essendon player John Barnes was one of several ex-players to criticise the AFL for not responding fast enough and hard enough to the impacts of concussion.
“An apology is pissing in the wind. The horse has bolted. This has been a farce from the start,” Barnes told the Herald Sun.
“I want the AFL to come out and talk to the people affected. How is your life, how are you impacted? I am going home where my wife has to watch me shower or cook. It is BS what is going on.
“It’s time for the AFL to have some balls and admit we have an issue. How would the families of Shane Tuck and Danny Frawley be feeling now? This is all meaningless. It’s all words, it doesn’t mean anything.”
Former Melbourne and North Melbourne player Shaun Smith has spoken at length post-retirement about fears for his long-term health in the aftermath of several concussions during his career.
Following the apology, Smith told channel seven: “It’s three years probably too late.”
“They shouldn’t have to apologise anyway, the study should’ve been done properly from the start … They (ex-players) would feel cheated, big time.
“I know some guys who are very well-known players that were told nothing was wrong with them.”
AFL player agent and concussion campaigner Peter Jess told The West Australian the findings “a complete embarrassment” for the league.
As part of the league’s inquiry, which was headed by lawyer Bernard Quinn KC, former Western Bulldogs and Essendon player Alan Stoneham was interviewed.
Stoneham had been part of the trial in question and was left without adequate answers.
“They rang me up and I said it was a disgrace,” the 67-year-old told the Herald Sun.
“We have just been pushed into the background. This study was supposed to be a done deal. That they would get to the bottom of this, they would find out how we would be affected in the future.
“I have since been diagnosed with hydrocephalus and if you are not born with it there is only one way you get it – a blow to the frontal lobe.
“My doctor said (the AFL) are messing you around. She was angry and appalled so she sent me to an (independent) expert and I went in and had the MRI. I am waiting to have a stent put in my brain where they drill through the top of your head.
“For all this bull*** where is the AFL’s duty of care?”
