REQUEST FOR PROSECUTION PURSUANT TO SECTION 131 OF THE

OCCUPATIONAL HEALTH AND SAFETY ACT 2004 (VIC) (THE ACT)

1 This notice is a request of the Victorian WorkCover Authority (the Authority) made under
section 131 of the Act to investigate and prosecute the employers referred to in this notice
in relation to the acts, matters and things specified below constituting offences against the
Act.
2 The Australian Football League (AFL) runs a competition (the League) involving 18 AFL
Clubs (AFL Clubs) licensed by the AFL to participate in the League.
3 On 15 October 2013 the AFL published a statement selectively disclosing results from a
survey of AFL Clubs conducted by the AFL in the wake of the Australian Crime Commissions
Drugs in Sport report (the AFL October Statement).
[1]

4 According to the AFL October Statement:
(a) at least 12 AFL clubs conducted sports supplements programs with medium or high
levels of supplement use;
(b) each of those twelve programs lacked a single point of accountability;
(c) documentation by AFL Clubs of player supplement use was inadequate;
(d) AFL Clubs employed an inappropriate definition of supplements;
(e) the selection processes of support personnel (in connection with the programs) was
flawed; and
(f) the AFL concluded that numerous changes were required to the manner in which
AFL Clubs implemented supplements programs, in order to attain the standards of
best medical practice and responsible club management.
5 The survey findings caused the AFL to introduce new procedures to regulate supplements
programs within AFL Clubs which were announced in April 2014 (the AFL April
Statement).
[2]

These measures included:
(a) a Prohibited List of supplements, which was intended to go "above and beyond
the WADA code,
[3]
and remove some of the grey areas for clubs in WADA's
prohibited list.
[4]
The list was brought into effect by the AFL in March 2014. It
widened the scope of the substances already banned by the World Anti-Doping

[1]
Players sourcing supplements outside of club: AFL survey, AFL, 15 October 2013 (source:
http://www.afl.com.au/news/2013-10-15/afl-no-needles-policy).
[2]
AFL ups ante in supplements fight, with new controls in place, AFL, 2 April 2014 (source:
http://www.afl.com.au/news/2014-04-02/afl-ups-supplements-fight) (AFL April Statement).
[3]
AFL October Statement.
[4]
AFL April Statement.
Agency (WADA) by including AOD 9604, specified peptides, a drug used to treat
Alzheimer's disease (Cerebrolysin), drugs that claim to stimulate testosterone and
androgen production (Tribulus and prohormones) and the anti-aging drug TA65;
[5]

(b) bans on players using compounding pharmacists, anti-aging clinics and practitioners,
and overseas providers;
(c) bans on any treatment involving use of a therapeutic good that is not listed or
registered on the Australian Register of Therapeutic Goods, unless approved by the
AFL.
[6]

6 Supplements such as those now (but not before March 2014) on the AFL Prohibited
Treatments List have raised widely publicised concerns about long term health effects,
particularly when the supplements have not been subject to approval for human therapeutic
use.
7 In the circumstances, the conduct of supplements programs under the AFL regulations as
they applied during the 2013 and prior seasons, potentially exposed players to risks to
health and safety. Those risks arose and/or were exacerbated by inadequate record-keeping,
sourcing, staffing, and central accountability and oversight.
8 The matters at paragraph 4 implicate potentially all of the AFL Clubs in the League. These
including all of the Victorian AFL Clubs, each of which is an employer subject to the Act.
9 Alternatively, even if all of the matters at paragraph 4 were confined to the 12 AFL Clubs
conducting supplements programs with medium or high levels of supplement use, by
elimination, at least four of those Clubs were Victorian AFL Clubs subject to the Act.
10 In addition, it is known that:
(a) the Melbourne Football Club employed the services of sport scientist Stephen Dank;
and
(b) the Geelong Football Club employed the services of fitness consultant Ian
Robinson,
both of whom subsequently became principal actors in the supplements program
established at the Essendon Football Club (EFC).
11 The EFC is already the subject of investigation by the Authority. No investigation or
prosecution of any of the other AFL Clubs has been announced.
12 In the circumstances, potentially all and no fewer than three of the other Victorian AFL
Clubs (the Relevant Clubs listed in Schedule A) have, on the premises set out above,
committed breaches of the Act.

[5]
AFL April Statement.
[6]
AFL Prohibited Treatments List (source:
http://www.afl.com.au/staticfile/AFL%20Tenant/AFL/Files/Prohibited%20Treatment%20List%20-
%207%20March%202014.pdf)
13 In particular, in the conduct of their supplements programs during the 2013 and/or previous
League seasons, the breaches include (without limitation):
(a) failure adequately to monitor the health of employees of the employer, in breach of
section 22(1)(a);
(b) failure adequately to keep information and records relating to the health and safety
of employees of the employer, in breach of section 22(2)(a); and
(c) failure adequately to provide and maintain for employees a working environment
that is safe and without risks to health, in breach of section 21(1).
14 The names of the Victorian AFL Clubs among the 12 participating in programs with medium
or high levels of supplement use are ascertainable from records held by the AFL or from
records held at the workplaces of the Relevant Clubs.
15 Records relating to the survey conducted by the AFL into supplements use, and in
possession of the AFL and each of the Applicable Clubs, may hold additional material
relevant to an investigation and/or prosecution by the Authority.
16 Although the AFL has chosen not to take any further action against any of the Relevant
Clubs, the AFL is neither charged with nor competent to pursue matters under the Act, and
in any event faces commercial conflicts of interest that make it an unreliable entity to do so.
14 In addition to the public interest of upholding the provisions of the Act, a proper
investigation and prosecution presents the opportunity to identify the need for and to
implement measures to monitor and secure the future health and safety of affected
employees at the Relevant Clubs.

17 June 2014




Schedule A
RELEVANT CLUBS
The Carlton Football Club
The Collingwood Football Club
The Geelong Football Club
The Hawthorn Football Club
The Melbourne Football Club
The North Melbourne Football Club
The Richmond Football Club
The St Kilda Football Club
The Western Bulldogs Football Club