News Analysis: Australia's landmark anti-doping ban sends clear message to athletes

The decision by anti-doping authorities on Tuesday to ban 34 Australian football players for 12 months sends an unambiguous message to the world's athletes: knowing what drug, peptide, protein or supplement is being put into your body -- or risk the consequences.

The Lausanne-based Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) ruled it was "comfortably satisfied" that the 34 Essendon Football Club players had been injected with the banned peptide thymosin beta-4 during the club's radical supplements program in 2012.

In its judgment, CAS said the Essendon players should have asked, and insisted on being told, exactly what the club's maverick sports scientist Stephen Dank was administering them, saying that "all players were significantly at fault."

By failing to do so, they had opened themselves up to investigation by the World Anti-Doping Authority (WADA) -- an investigation which culminated on Tuesday with the bombshell CAS ruling that they would be banned from playing sport in 2016.

According to CEO of the Australian Sports Anti-Doping Authority (ASADA), Ben McDevitt, the sanctions handed down mean the saga has evolved into the most "devastating self-inflicted injury by a sporting club in Australian history."

However, because the players did not question what was being injected into them, McDevitt agreed with CAS by saying they were ultimately to blame.

"There were very little grounds for the players to claim they were at no significant fault," McDevitt said in a statement on Tuesday.

"The players had received anti-doping education through the AFL and ASADA, and were well aware that they are personally responsible for all substances that entered their body.

"Unfortunately, despite their education, they agreed to be injected with a number of substances they had little knowledge of, made no inquiries about the substance and kept the injections from their team doctor and ASADA.

"At best, the players did not ask the questions, or the people, they should have. At worst, they were complicit in a culture of secrecy and concealment."

This statement, from the head of Australia's anti-doping body, has sent a clear and concrete message to athletes around the world: you must know what drug, peptide, protein or supplement is being put into your body -- or you risk the consequences.

Unfortunately for the 34, it would have been reasonable, pre-2012, to think that a club doctor, who has been at the club for 30 years, would be in the knowledge of any supplements program, and it would be even easier as a young player to put complete faith in the organization.

The scandal, in which players were taken "off campus" to receive injections from the club's then-sports scientist, Stephen Dank, alleged that players were provided with concoctions said to contain banned substance thymosin beta-4.

But AFL players will now, without a doubt, be questioning every single substance after the anti-doping body said the onus is 100 percent on the players.

And from Tuesday, the shockwave created from this unprecedented news story means there will not be any athlete on the planet that will reasonably and quietly accept a supplement concoction from a club doctor or sports scientist without consulting WADA first.

Never before has an entire club, and to a greater extent, an entire league, been hit with such a brutal and unforgiving doping ban, and it is sure to resonate with professional sporting club and players across the globe.

It's a powerful shot across the bow to many other sporting codes; however the implications for the Australian Football League and the Essendon Football Club could be disastrous.

Lawsuits are tipped to follow, which could cripple the club further, as the negligence on the part of the football club could leave the 34 players without careers, and with scars that could linger for the rest of their lives.

The club has already paid out millions of dollars in fines, recorded one million U.S. dollar loss last year, and have pleaded guilty to Australian occupational health and safety breaches -- something which could cost them another half a million dollars.

Despite the damaging saga, 40,000 fans have signed up as members and season ticket holders, but the season is -- in all likelihood -- over before it has even begun. The club's captain, vice-captain and a number of senior players are set to watch from the sidelines.

There is not yet any indication of what the verdict means for Essendon's 2016 on-field season, aside from a diminished pool of players to choose from -- namely those drafted after 2012 and those traded in - however performances are sure to wane.

The wider implications could see the club's revenue fall drastically, pushing the club further into debt after they recently moved into a multi-million dollar training facility north of Melbourne.

Crowd numbers and TV ratings for Essendon matches could plummet if the club is uncompetitive, which it likely will be.

Sponsors could abandon the club, as associating with a club that has systematically driven the careers of young players into the ground would be seen as irresponsible.

Essendon also take part in a number of marquee matches -- Anzac Day against Collingwood which is a tribute to those who fought in wars.

But, under the brewing cloud of uncertainty around Essendon, both of these fixtures are threatening to become non-events, which could force the AFL into taking action to save the marquee slots.

While some, including then-head coach James Hird have slammed the decision as a "miscarriage of justice for 34 young men," anti-doping authorities have set precedent which unequivocally says players are ultimately responsible for what goes into their bodies.

Without knowing it at the time, the edge they sought to get over the competition has ironically now left them at the back of the pack, with little hope of reaching the ultimate goal of a Premiership win in their career. Endit