See the bit in bold Days, several reporters have gone with this story
Bombers ready to defy AFL and keep coach on thepayroll
CHIP LE GRAND
The Australian
December 07, 2013 12:00AM
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ESSENDON is prepared to defy an AFL directive to stop paying James Hird his full salary while he is suspended from coaching.
The stand by Essendon president Paul Little, supported yesterday by fellow club directors, is a humiliating rebuff to AFL chief executive Andrew Demetriou, who has staked his reputation and credibility on the dispute.
Mr Demetriou elevated Hird's pay status as a key point of contention between the league and the club this week when he emphatically declared that Hird, as part of his punishment for his role in the Essendon supplements scandal, was prohibited from receiving his club salary while serving a 12-month ban.
Mr Demetriou repeatedly stated that Hird was not being paid by the club.
"I can categorically tell you that part of the sanction from the AFL is he is suspended without pay from the Essendon Football Club," Mr Demetriou told Radio 3AW's Neil Mitchell.
"It is one thing I will go to my grave on. I know the AFL is not paying. And I know Essendon is not paying."
But The Weekend Australian has confirmed Hird is receiving his regular Essendon salary.
The AFL has since conceded there is no provision within the agreed sanctions against Essendon and Hird that prevents Hird from being paid by the club.
The league claims that two weeks after the settlement scandal was resolved and sanctions agreed to at AFL House, it reached verbal agreement with Essendon for Hird not to be paid. This is disputed by the club.
Any variation of Hird's contract with the club would require Hird's agreement.
It is understood that in a bid to resolve the impasse, the AFL suggested to Essendon that it should pay Hird off the books. Essendon and Hird rejected the idea.Hird has made it clear to the club and his legal advisers that he will oppose any alteration of his deed of settlement with the AFL or his contract with the club, which was provisionally extended by two years the night he accepted his 12-month suspension.
The Weekend Australianhas confirmed that during the two-day meeting held at AFL House on August 26 and 27 to resolve the supplements scandal, the AFL Commission was told by league lawyers that Hird's suspension would be without pay.
It is understood this condition was not agreed to by Hird, who had previously been offered suspension on full pay following negotiations between Mr Little and AFL chairman Mike Fitzpatrick, brokered by Australian Sports Commission chairman John Wylie.
The Weekend Australian and the Herald Sun have seen documents that show the offer was put to Hird on August 23.
Confronted with this week's revelations about secret inducements offered to Hird to end the supplements scandal, Mr Demetriou told Radio 3AW: "It is alleged that in some sort of offer or inducement, he was going to be stood down on full pay. That never eventuated."
An AFL source described the failure to clarify Hird's pay status in the sanctions documents as a drafting error. A source close to Hird said any attempt to include the provision would have been a deal-breaker.
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