James Hird rushed to hospital

[Dry Rot]

See http://www.smh.com.au/afl/afl-news/james-hird-rushed-to-hospital-20170105-gtm8u8.html

Apparently reports on Channel 7 say it is a drug overdose

EDIT: from another forum: "7 just reported an intentional poisonous overdose. Did not say what the substance was."

[ledge]

Didn't I read somewhere he had marriage problems.. If so its a sad thing to do if it's intentional .. The kids are the most important thing in life. Hope he realises that quickly

[ledge]

I was just thinking the other day how quiet things were about him and what's he been up to since all the stuff finished.

[bulldogtragic]

Call me skepitcal, but if the footy world doesn't invite him him back into the fold now with forgiveness and sympathy then the footy world appears heartless.

[ledge]

Call me skepitcal, but if the footy world doesn't invite him him back into the fold now with forgiveness and sympathy then the footy world appears heartless.

In what way ?

[MrMahatma]

Call me skepitcal, but if the footy world doesn't invite him him back into the fold now with forgiveness and sympathy then the footy world appears heartless.

Footy world is pretty forgiving of the superstars. Look at Carey.

Hird would get back into media but it'll take 3+ years.

Hope he's ok and can get his life back on track.

[bulldogtragic]

It happened yesterday. He was discharged by the original hospital. But Ch9 report it as 'breaking'.

[Twodogs]

It happened yesterday. He was discharged by the original hospital. But Ch9 report it as 'breaking'.


The hospital?

[GVGjr]

I hope he gets healthy and well very quickly. His children have been through enough and don't need to be worried about their dad.

[GVGjr]

The hospital?


The report says Cabrini hospital but he has since been moved.

[Sedat]

Call me skepitcal, but if the footy world doesn't invite him him back into the fold now with forgiveness and sympathy then the footy world appears heartless.
Agreed, this smells of last resort PR to try and get Hird back into the football family.

I know it sounds callous but I'm just being honest - Hird has been completely left alone for almost a year now to the point where he is an irrelevency. This is a hell of a way to get back into the spotlight and to regenerate a lost career. Considering he has been proven to be a compulsive liar throughout this episode and has constantly placed himself above the welfare of the club, players and the game itself, I remain very skeptical about this latest turn of events.

[bulldogtragic]

This smells of last resort PR to try and get Hird back into the football family.

I know it sounds callous but I'm just being honest - Hird has been completely left alone for almost a year now to the point where he is an irrelevency. This is a hell of a way to get back into the spotlight and to regenerate a lost career. I remain very skeptical about this latest turn of events.

True or not, skepitcal or not, (like Dusty Martin, Carey and many more) he's now set up to be the Cinderella story of overcoming adversity and rising back to the top of the industry if the AFEL media run with it. I will spew for a few reasons if that happens.

[jeemak]

It does sound callous, given scant information on the matter is at hand.

I don't like James Hird, but the coded language around this suggests it's a little more than a low key cry for help episode. Whilst I agree he's been found to be a liar and charlatan, if what is purported to be happening in his private life on top of the drugs saga then the possibility of this episode being more than a PR grab is a very real, and probably more likely one.

[Twodogs]

It says in The Hard Way that due to pain in his face from that collision against Freo when his head was caved in that Hird uses a lot of sleeping pills to combat the pain keeping him awake. It could be an accident not misadventure.

[bornadog]

It does sound callous, given scant information on the matter is at hand.

I don't like James Hird, but the coded language around this suggests it's a little more than a low key cry for help episode. Whilst I agree he's been found to be a liar and charlatan, if what is purported to be happening in his private life on top of the drugs saga then the possibility of this episode being more than a PR grab is a very real, and probably more likely one.

Sounds like he has had some sort of mental break down and has tied to commit suicide. Reports say he has been moved from Cabrini, I would say he is in care at a mental health facility.

Don't wish anything like this on anyone and hope he gets things back on track for his and his families sake.

[Sedat]

Sounds like he has had some sort of mental break down and has tied to commit suicide. Reports say he has been moved from Cabrini, I would say he is in care at a mental health facility.

Don't wish anything like this on anyone and hope he gets things back on track for his and his families sake.
It's possible, but I'm keeping an open mind to all possibilities considering we are talking about a pathological liar who has placed nothing or nobody ahead of his own personal reputation throughout this saga.

[boydogs]

Reports say he has been moved from Cabrini, I would say he is in care at a mental health facility

http://www.heraldsun.com.au/news/james-hird-taken-to-hospital-with-major-health-scare/news-story/d3510ef3cd113de4b1928e08aaaee9b4


Hird’s condition is still unknown, however the Herald Sun understands he was transferred from Cabrini’s on Wednesday afternoon to a specialist mental health centre where he is still receiving care.

[1eyedog]

Didn't I read somewhere he had marriage problems.. If so its a sad thing to do if it's intentional .. The kids are the most important thing in life. Hope he realises that quickly

I posted up from a Geelong Football club source that he had gotten a French girlfriend pregnant, which didn't turn out to be much of a scoop as others on here had heard the same.

[merantau]

James Hird's credibility stocks are so low they make the theory that this is some kind of stunt seem plausible. However, the reports I've read say close friends have been worried about him for some time but he rejected offers of assistance. That could be taken any way. It's just an awful mess that keeps coming back to haunt the EFC.
Whenever someone gets around to writing the book I have the title: "Where did it all go wrong?"

[josie]

It's like the penultimate act in a Shakespearean tragedy where the audience speculates about how the play will end. I hope for his children, his parents' and his friends' sakes he is able to recover and lead a fulfilled life. Preferably well away from the media.

[jeemak]

I agree Josie, though I fear that due to his burning of Evans and his clear selfishness throughout the whole saga the usual element of cronyism that allows people like Hird to secure cushy jobs in the businesses of friends, acquaintances or associates is unlikely to transpire - and there's no football club that would be willing to have him on the books.

What does that mean in the long run? It means that Ch7 awaits, with the likes of Bruce fawning over him like he does over the Duck, the domestic abuser and adulterer made good. Hird will be on our TV screens within two years.

[Bulldog Joe]

Well the papers and Social Media are now all about how poor James has been bullied unmercifully and the current state of affairs is because of this and the pariah like treatment handed down by McLachlan and others.


Message for James

If you truly want to get on with a happy life, accept responsibility for your actions including a full, open and honest disclosure of everything that occurred. An apology to everyone that has been thrown under a bus by you would also not go astray.

Stop trying to play the blame game and seek victim status.

Furthermore if you can find a time travel machine, you could perhaps travel back to that day in February 2013 and admit everything at the outset of the investigation.

If I had done anything in my industry, as damaging as James has in his, I would be banished forever from being involved further on any level.

[aker39]

The bloke tried to kill himself and leave his wife and 4 kids without a husband and father. Please stop calling him an attention seeker. What attention is he going to get when he's dead.

[comrade]

Has there been a bigger fall from grace in Australian sport? From an absolute legend of his chosen sport, hugely respected and one of the giants of Essendon to a disgraced former coach recovering from an alleged suicide attempt.

[Bulldog4life]

The bloke tried to kill himself and leave his wife and 4 kids without a husband and father. Please stop calling him an attention seeker. What attention is he going to get when he's dead.

None. Although plenty of attention if his suicide attempt fails.

[1eyedog]

Has there been a bigger fall from grace in Australian sport? From an absolute legend of his chosen sport, hugely respected and one of the giants of Essendon to a disgraced former coach recovering from an alleged suicide attempt.

Yes, Nathan Brown when he left for Richmond to play in premierships. Shaun Higgins a close second who left to play in premierships.

Both of course really landed on their knees with those decisions.

[Twodogs]

Yes, Nathan Brown when he left for Richmond to play in premierships. Shaun Higgins a close second who left to play in premierships.

Both of course really landed on their knees with those decisions.


Don't forget the other fellow. I forget his name.

[ledge]

Don't forget the other fellow. I forget his name.

I won't mention the names but there is two at GWS and one went to the bombers and I don't think he was exactly happy there either.

[Ghost Dog]

I just checked and I used up my forum allocation for posting about James Hird. I don't think I will top up my account.

[Twodogs]

I won't mention the names but there is two at GWS and one went to the bombers and I don't think he was exactly happy there either.


He did enjoy the soft floor at Essendon though. It was spongey

[Greystache]

None. Although plenty of attention if his suicide attempt fails.

Indeed. You have to wonder what sort of POS would leave his 4 kids in Australia, and an alleged 5th in France, without a father because he couldn't cope with his loss of adulation from the Victorian public? He still has money, he still has his kids, he still has employment opportunities through Essendon nuffies, and most of the Kool Aid drinkers still worship him, but apparently that's not enough for James he needs total and utter god like status from all and sundry.

Or this was a pathetic attempt at becoming portrayed as the victim of unjustified bullying.

I'm not sure under which scenario I'd hold more disdain for him.

[Twodogs]

Indeed. You have to wonder what sort of POS would leave his 4 kids in Australia, and an alleged 5th in France, without a father because he couldn't cope with his loss of adulation from the Victorian public? He still has money, he still has his kids, he still has employment opportunities through Essendon nuffies, and most of the Kool Aid drinkers still worship him, but apparently that's not enough for James he needs total and utter god like status from all and sundry.

Or this was a pathetic attempt at becoming portrayed as the victim of unjustified bullying.

I'm not sure under which scenario I'd hold more disdain for him.

Number two I reckon. "They'll be sorry when I'm gone"

[Sedat]

The bloke tried to kill himself and leave his wife and 4 kids without a husband and father. Please stop calling him an attention seeker. What attention is he going to get when he's dead.
I don't think there has been any confirmation of the bolded bit having occurred - certain news broadcasters (and former lawyers) have alluded to this to suit their narrative about an innocent man hounded into this course of action. I am as sympathetic about depression and other awful illnesses as the next person but I am reserving judgement on this particular case - there has simply been too many lies made by Hird and his camp in the last 4 years for this latest turn of events to be taken with a grain of salt. He has destroyed many friendships and lives in his relentless pursuit of placing himself above all and sundry, including his club and the game itself.

The assertion that the AFEL has caused this is brazen in its hypocrisy. I hate the AFEL and their duplicitous ways as much as the next person, but to pin this incident on them is laughable. They did everything they could to bury the story and cushion the blow for Essendon - FFS they are letting a proven doper keep a Brownlow medal despite stripping the award from him. Hubris and arrogance have placed Hird in this situation - I honestly wish him well in his recovery, not the least for his children and immediate family, but I don't care a jot if I never hear about him again in the media. Frankly the last 10 months of not hearing a peep about Hird in the media has been blissful - I much prefer to hear positive footy stories about Bontempelli, Picken, Tom Boyd, Morris, etc.. ruling the airwaves instead of having the last 4 years hijacked by a club that was caught cheating and did all they could to deny, deflect and derail. Unfortunately this incident will now get him front and centre attention in the media - I mean Rohan Connolly got his obviously pre-written puff piece out so quickly, Hird was still on the drip in hospital.

[aker39]

I don't think there has been any confirmation of the bolded bit having occurred


So why is he in a mental hospital. Do you seriously think his team would allow these facts to go unquestioned just for people to feel sorry for him, if they weren't true.
I don't care why he attempted to take his own life, the fact is he got to the stage that he did. That in itself should be enough for some of the comments in this thread not be posted.

[Sedat]

So why is he in a mental hospital. Do you seriously think his team would allow these facts to go unquestioned just for people to feel sorry for him, if they weren't true.
Camp Hird has constantly lied and deflected for the last 4 years, so as cynical and as much of an arsehole as it makes me look I think it is plausible that the Hird faction has used this to angle a change to the narrative.

The fact is that he and his family have been left completely alone since Feb last year - everything in the media in last 2 days talks to a man who has been hounded by the media when it is simply not true (or wasn't true until yesterday). He was irrelevant, forgotten, fish and chip paper - why did this incident then even get into the media, how did it happen and who did it? It wasn't a Ben Cousins-esque public incident so either the hospital or the Hird camp has leaked the information. Then noted Hird sympathiser Connolly has a story ready to print barely 5 seconds after the incident and Hird's former lawyers are offering tidbits in the media about bullying and harassment from AFEL House. The timing is convenient to say the least.

Maybe I'm just becoming a crusty old cynic in my older age. If it's any consolation to Hird, I am just as cynical about Garry Lyon's depression after being caught rooting his best mate's wife for several months.

[aker39]

The fact is that he and his family have been left completely alone since Feb last year - everything in the media in last 2 days talks to a man who has been hounded by the media when it is simply not true (or wasn't true until yesterday). He was irrelevant, forgotten, fish and chip paper - why did this incident then even get into the media, how did it happen and who did it? It wasn't a Ben Cousins-esque public incident so either the hospital or the Hird camp has leaked the information. Then noted Hird sympathiser Connolly has a story ready to print.

It made the press because hospitals have a lot of people in them and someone would have leaked the information.

Also, I heard some journos say they had heard about it on the Wednesday but did not report it because they had to make sure it was correct.

[ledge]

Camp Hird has constantly lied and deflected for the last 4 years, so as cynical and as much of an arsehole as it makes me look I think it is plausible that the Hird faction has used this to angle a change to the narrative.

The fact is that he and his family have been left completely alone since Feb last year - everything in the media in last 2 days talks to a man who has been hounded by the media when it is simply not true (or wasn't true until yesterday). He was irrelevant, forgotten, fish and chip paper - why did this incident then even get into the media, how did it happen and who did it? It wasn't a Ben Cousins-esque public incident so either the hospital or the Hird camp has leaked the information. Then noted Hird sympathiser Connolly has a story ready to print barely 5 seconds after the incident and Hird's former lawyers are offering tidbits in the media about bullying and harassment from AFEL House. The timing is convenient to say the least.

Maybe I'm just becoming a crusty old cynic in my older age. If it's any consolation to Hird, I am just as cynical about Garry Lyon's depression after being caught rooting his best mate's wife for several months.

I see your reasoning .. Nowadays if people do something stupid or get caught doing illegal stuff they say it's depression or a mental illness. Problem is its used so much it becomes a cry wolf situation.
of people I know that committed suicide they never talked about it , they actually were the happiest people I knew .. Right out of the blue stuff .. Thing with it is you have no idea they had problems.

Is this a sympathy exercise ?
Is it real ?
I have no idea but we all know he has had a lot go wrong in his life lately whether he was to blame or not.
I don't have any time for him but could any of us survive the shit he has gone through ?
My opinion is he is arrogant egotistical and has no feeling for others but himself.
He blames everyone but himself and even now it's the press fault. Which I doubt very much, funny how when your on top
Of the world the press is your best friend and you make a mint out of your name being in articles but the minute you stuff up you blame the media ?
His employment since he was 18 has been in the public eye .he was paid big money for it . Now he doesn't like it ??
Or is it a way of getting his ego back ?
He went into oblivion Maybe he couldn't handle being a has been and his life revolved around footy now it's gone.
Sadly a lot of footballers fall into depression due to them only knowing the football life since 18 . Could be compared to the forces . So many soldiers can't handle civilian life when they get out because it's all
They know.

[Twodogs]

I don't think there has been any confirmation of the bolded bit having occurred - certain news broadcasters (and former lawyers) have alluded to this to suit their narrative about an innocent man hounded into this course of action. I am as sympathetic about depression and other awful illnesses as the next person but I am reserving judgement on this particular case - there has simply been too many lies made by Hird and his camp in the last 4 years for this latest turn of events to be taken with a grain of salt. He has destroyed many friendships and lives in his relentless pursuit of placing himself above all and sundry, including his club and the game itself.

The assertion that the AFEL has caused this is brazen in its hypocrisy. I hate the AFEL and their duplicitous ways as much as the next person, but to pin this incident on them is laughable. They did everything they could to bury the story and cushion the blow for Essendon - FFS they are letting a proven doper keep a Brownlow medal despite stripping the award from him. Hubris and arrogance have placed Hird in this situation - I honestly wish him well in his recovery, not the least for his children and immediate family, but I don't care a jot if I never hear about him again in the media. Frankly the last 10 months of not hearing a peep about Hird in the media has been blissful - I much prefer to hear positive footy stories about Bontempelli, Picken, Tom Boyd, Morris, etc.. ruling the airwaves instead of having the last 4 years hijacked by a club that was caught cheating and did all they could to deny, deflect and derail. Unfortunately this incident will now get him front and centre attention in the media - I mean Rohan Connolly got his obviously pre-written puff piece out so quickly, Hird was still on the drip in hospital.


Could you imagine what it would have been like if we'd won the flag and the Essendon drug saga was still dragging on? We'd have had a couple of days coverage and then it would have been to the lurid details. As it was I think our pure unalloyed joy at winning the flag was the perfect antidote to all the doom and gloom of the last few years for the media.

Having a footy story that was all about heroes and gleeful supporters and no possible downside was almost cathartic for the footy meeja as an industry and they lapped it up filling the daily papers and TV news with feel good stories even before the Grand Final about Stan and Rose who've been members for 56 years and ACA/TT/Sunrise/HS/The Age came to the party and that went on for weeks after.

[Twodogs]

I don't think there has been any confirmation of the bolded bit having occurred - certain news broadcasters (and former lawyers) have alluded to this to suit their narrative about an innocent man hounded into this course of action. I am as sympathetic about depression and other awful illnesses as the next person but I am reserving judgement on this particular case - there has simply been too many lies made by Hird and his camp in the last 4 years for this latest turn of events to be taken with a grain of salt. He has destroyed many friendships and lives in his relentless pursuit of placing himself above all and sundry, including his club and the game itself.

The assertion that the AFEL has caused this is brazen in its hypocrisy. I hate the AFEL and their duplicitous ways as much as the next person, but to pin this incident on them is laughable. They did everything they could to bury the story and cushion the blow for Essendon - FFS they are letting a proven doper keep a Brownlow medal despite stripping the award from him. Hubris and arrogance have placed Hird in this situation - I honestly wish him well in his recovery, not the least for his children and immediate family, but I don't care a jot if I never hear about him again in the media. Frankly the last 10 months of not hearing a peep about Hird in the media has been blissful - I much prefer to hear positive footy stories about Bontempelli, Picken, Tom Boyd, Morris, etc.. ruling the airwaves instead of having the last 4 years hijacked by a club that was caught cheating and did all they could to deny, deflect and derail. Unfortunately this incident will now get him front and centre attention in the media - I mean Rohan Connolly got his obviously pre-written puff piece out so quickly, Hird was still on the drip in hospital.


Could you imagine what it would have been like if we'd won the flag and the Essendon drug saga was still dragging on? We'd have had a couple of days coverage and then it would have been to the lurid details. As it was I think our pure unalloyed joy at winning the flag was the perfect antidote to all the doom and gloom of the last few years for the media.

Having a footy story that was all about heroes and gleeful supporters and no possible downside was almost cathartic for the footy meeja as an industry and they lapped it up filling the daily papers and TV news with feel good stories even before the Grand Final about Stan and Rose who've been members for 56 years but couldn't get tickets but ACA/TT/Sunrise/HS/The Age came to the party for them and that story went on for weeks after.

[jeemak]

I'll never get tired of the ol' TD double up.

[GVGjr]

I'm a little uneasy with the speculation that led to Hirds hospitalisation.
An overdose, intentional or otherwise, is still a very serious outcome and is certainly a reflection of impaired judgement.
I've never been a fan of Hird even before the drugs scandal but I still just think about the impacts of this current issue is having on his family particularly his children and I'm just hoping he is getting the support that he needs

He been punished for his actions with the supplements program and even for all his faults I wouldn't wish this on him or anyone else. He's still a brother, son, husband, father and friend to many and I just hope he gets the assistance he needs.

[LostDoggy]

James Hird's credibility stocks are so low they make the theory that this is some kind of stunt seem plausible. However, the reports I've read say close friends have been worried about him for some time but he rejected offers of assistance. That could be taken any way. It's just an awful mess that keeps coming back to haunt the EFC.
Whenever someone gets around to writing the book I have the title: "Where did it all go wrong?"



James, The boy who cried Wolf.

[ledge]

If a book ever comes out called "James Hird the truth" you can guarantee it won't be an autobiography.

[bulldogtragic]

If a book ever comes out called "James Hird the truth" you can guarantee it won't be an autobiography.

And be classified as fantasy fiction.

[1eyedog]

More like mythology. He's a god remember.

[FrediKanoute]

Camp Hird has constantly lied and deflected for the last 4 years, so as cynical and as much of an arsehole as it makes me look I think it is plausible that the Hird faction has used this to angle a change to the narrative.

The fact is that he and his family have been left completely alone since Feb last year - everything in the media in last 2 days talks to a man who has been hounded by the media when it is simply not true (or wasn't true until yesterday). He was irrelevant, forgotten, fish and chip paper - why did this incident then even get into the media, how did it happen and who did it? It wasn't a Ben Cousins-esque public incident so either the hospital or the Hird camp has leaked the information. Then noted Hird sympathiser Connolly has a story ready to print barely 5 seconds after the incident and Hird's former lawyers are offering tidbits in the media about bullying and harassment from AFEL House. The timing is convenient to say the least.

Maybe I'm just becoming a crusty old cynic in my older age. If it's any consolation to Hird, I am just as cynical about Garry Lyon's depression after being caught rooting his best mate's wife for several months.

I think you're spot on. Undeniably what Hird went through was tough. That though doesn't excuse at all how he reacted to it or this apparent attempt to take his own life. It does though follow a pattern of selfish narcissistic behaviour. I come from a camp where almost nothing can justify suicide - having watched people suffer through illnesses and battle to make the most of every day, throwing it all away is misguided and selfish.

[Dry Rot]

I think you're spot on. Undeniably what Hird went through was tough. That though doesn't excuse at all how he reacted to it or this apparent attempt to take his own life. It does though follow a pattern of selfish narcissistic behaviour. I come from a camp where almost nothing can justify suicide - having watched people suffer through illnesses and battle to make the most of every day, throwing it all away is misguided and selfish.

Agreed - I have very little sympathy for Hird.

I invite you all to spend a few minutes reading about this poor bastard's life and it puts Hird's privileged troubles into perspective.

http://www.smh.com.au/nsw/sydneys-shoeshine-brian-rudd-dead--second-time-around-20170108-gtnt0f.html

[bornadog]

I think you're spot on. Undeniably what Hird went through was tough. That though doesn't excuse at all how he reacted to it or this apparent attempt to take his own life. It does though follow a pattern of selfish narcissistic behaviour. I come from a camp where almost nothing can justify suicide - having watched people suffer through illnesses and battle to make the most of every day, throwing it all away is misguided and selfish.

You are assuming depression and mental health issues don't have anything to do with suicide.

[josie]

I just checked and I used up my forum allocation for posting about James Hird. I don't think I will top up my account.
Could not have said it better GD. Over and out from me too.

[hujsh]

More like mythology. He's a god remember.
I think I found his personal anthem.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1CemPQ2V9QU

Even kind of fits with the French rumours

[KT31]

Bloke is such a narcissist, he will now be claiming he has risen from the dead.

[kruder]

It will be interesting to see who they will sue next...

[Twodogs]

It will be interesting to see who they will sue next...


Themselves is my guess.

[Greystache]

Themselves is my guess.

And they'd still lose.

[jeemak]

And they'd still lose.

Irrespective of the excellent advice to the contrary.

[Twodogs]

And they'd still lose.

And have costs awarded against them to themselves.

[Remi Moses]

So the Hirds have called for privacy, yet out trotts Dad :rolleyes:

[Twodogs]

So the Hirds have called for privacy, yet out trotts Dad :rolleyes:


Everyone else is to blame except James who is the only innocent and honest person involved in this scandal and yet he was punished far worse than the others. He carried the can for everyone.

Dad's so concerned about James that he's rushing down from Brisbane to see him sometime in the next week. Was it the week before last that James tried to OD? He could have walked from Brisbane since then.

[aker39]

Dad's so concerned about James that he's rushing down from Brisbane to see him sometime in the next week. Was it the week before last that James tried to OD? He could have walked from Brisbane since then.

I did find that rather odd that he hasn't travelled down from Brisbane yet. If it was me I'd be on the 1st plane.

Also, listening to the interview it's clear where James gets his stubborn side from. His dad basically said he didn't won't to talk about what's happened with James in the last week and then proceeded to slag off everyone. He only did the interview as a chance to blame everyone for the Essendon drug issue other than Jamea

[Sedat]

Family "requests privacy" and then a family member lights another Jiffy and puts it on the bonfire. My cynicism appears to be well-founded on this being a confected story.

[bulldogtragic]

Family "requests privacy" and then a family member lights another Jiffy and puts it on the bonfire. My cynicism appears to be well-founded on this being a confected story.

And now for part B... Footy world forced to invite him back him inside the tent and simultaneously make him the Cinderella boy.

[Twodogs]

Thinking about it I don't know that I'd really want my dad ringing up a radio station and explaining my POV or the finer details of something going on in my life. I love my dad and everything...

[FrediKanoute]

Two words.....publicity stunt.

All this does is denigrate mental health issues. It's an insult to those really suffering from mental health problems.

Three words....Get a Grip!

[bulldogtragic]

Two words.....publicity stunt.

All this does is denigrate mental health issues. It's an insult to those really suffering from mental health problems.

Three words....Get a Grip!

Yep.

Phone rings:

JHD: Hello, it's James Hird's dad here.
Caller: I'm sorry to inform you that your son, James Hird, has suffered a deliberate drug overdose and is in hospital in a bad way. Tanya's very upset and your grandkids don't know what to do, how to act or what to think.
JHD: That sounds awful. Are you sure it's actually my son who could've died and that James, my daughter in law and 5 grandkids needs their family right now? My son is Primership Hero and Brownlow medalist James Hird.
Caller: Yes, that's correct. It's James Hird.
JHD: Ok, let me check my diary. Ok, I think I have some time in a few weeks to be there for James, Tanya and the grandkids after their time of need. By the way, do you have some Melbourne talkback or journos phone numbers handy?

[Greystache]

James Hird and his Dad have barely spoken in 10 years. Alan Hird is getting his updates from his daughter. They are a very disturbed family desperate for fame.

[Twodogs]

James Hird and his Dad have barely spoken in 10 years. Alan Hird is getting his updates from his daughter. They are a very disturbed family desperate for fame.


Yeah. That's what I thought too.

[merantau]

I must say it is very strange for a father to still be in Brisbane days after his son's hospitalization. That's abnormal in my view. He's retired, got time on his hands.
Sure as hell cast a wide net when seeking to aportion blame for the mistakes made - Gill McLachlan, Mike Fitzpatrick, the Gilliard government, ASADA, WADA, the EFC, Uncle Tom Cobbley, Snowy on the Trams and the tuck shop lady at James' primary school. Looks like he's taken a leaf out of Heath Shaw's songbook.

[GVGjr]

I'm not going to link the fathers interview to the plight James Hird finds himself in. There were enough holes in the fathers story to say he hasn't got all of the facts and that he was likely acting on his own and perhaps he's not the best informed.

Most fathers, even ones with strained relationships, would have made their way in to see their son and check-up on the grand children but perhaps the relationship is too far gone. At the very least he should not have done an interview.

It's too much like a soap opera for me.

[kruder]

Did anyone read Graham Cornes article the other day? It must have been in the AA linked with the sun. It's early fav for worst article of the year.

[Twodogs]

I must say it is very strange for a father to still be in Brisbane days after his son's hospitalization. That's abnormal in my view. He's retired, got time on his hands.
Sure as hell cast a wide net when seeking to aportion blame for the mistakes made - Gill McLachlan, Mike Fitzpatrick, the Gilliard government, ASADA, WADA, the EFC, Uncle Tom Cobbley, Snowy on the Trams and the tuck shop lady at James' primary school. Looks like he's taken a leaf out of Heath Shaw's songbook.

The man outside Hoyts.

Seriously I parked my car in the shopping centre car park and he was blming everyone I went to three shops-one of them the chemist-got back to the car and was around the corner from home and he was still going, I'd mentally switched off (I was only driving after all) when he mentioned a name I knew and I realised he was still going.

[AndrewP6]

I found it amusing when he said "He won't play footy again, he's too old"!!! Dad must have been in a coma for a while.

[Throughandthrough]

Did anyone read Graham Cornes article the other day? It must have been in the AA linked with the sun. It's early fav for worst article of the year.


I didn't see it. Cornes articles are designed to be click bait and looks like he got you there. What was the gist of what he said?


* disclaimer. I know Graham quite well and one on one, or in a group of people, he's a terrific bloke. But yes, he loves attention and being noticed.

[Topdog]

I didn't see it. Cornes articles are designed to be click bait and looks like he got you there. What was the gist of what he said?


* disclaimer. I know Graham quite well and one on one, or in a group of people, he's a terrific bloke. But yes, he loves attention and being noticed.

He blamed the media for Hird self harming. This is despite him being part of said media and the media not talking about Hird for 8 months.

[ledge]

Funny isn't it the media getting in the media and saying it's the medias fault .
Oh and then camping back out the front of his house in more numbers saying we need to leave them alone !

[Throughandthrough]

My thoughts on the whole drug scandal. I hope like hell it doesn't happen but would the sympathy towards Essendon shift if one or more of the players gets cancer, or possibly even worse if one of them fathered a child and it was disabled

[ledge]

My thoughts on the whole drug scandal. I hope like hell it doesn't happen but would the sympathy towards Essendon shift if one or more of the players gets cancer, or possibly even worse if one of them fathered a child and it was disabled

It's taken a lot of victims already.

[hujsh]

My thoughts on the whole drug scandal. I hope like hell it doesn't happen but would the sympathy towards Essendon shift if one or more of the players gets cancer, or possibly even worse if one of them fathered a child and it was disabled

Exactly. Hird and everyone involved deserves no sympathy for exactly that reason. They've also expressed no remorse or taken ownership of their actions

[ledge]

Just read an article saying James is in ICU still, Thought his dad said he was ok now ..

It's been a long drop , seriously this is beyond a joke, as much as I have no time for him, the whole thing has just been a horrid mess.
And yes maybe he is to blame. But was anyone around to pull in the reigns at any stage?
Seems life has a lot of people who tell you how good you are when your up but aren't there when it's getting out of hand.
James ego became massive and all his life being told how good he was made him think he was invincible.
So many stars in any form end up this way. Seems prominent in child actors.

[Twodogs]

Just read an article saying James is in ICU still, Thought his dad said he was ok now ..

It's been a long drop , seriously this is beyond a joke, as much as I have no time for him, the whole thing has just been a horrid mess.
And yes maybe he is to blame. But was anyone around to pull in the reigns at any stage?
Seems life has a lot of people who tell you how good you are when your up but aren't there when it's getting out of hand.
James ego became massive and all his life being told how good he was made him think he was invincible.
So many stars in any form end up this way. Seems prominent in child actors.


Is ICU the ward where you have to glove and gown up before you can even visit? It's where they took the old man after his heart attack he was in there a few days then went on the usual ward. Man, that place is heavy. You're not supposed to touch things or sit down or stuff.

[SonofScray]

It's a massive, deserved fall from grace and something that he has to make sense of and deal with. I hope it haunts him and that Club for a long time. Everything has a price.

[Bulldog4life]

James Hird has plotted his own tragic course BY PATRICK SMITH

The best physicians and psychiatric boffins are putting James Hird back together again. That’s what is reported daily in the media. After an emergency dash in an ambulance to hospital he is now in rehabilitation. Drug overdose apparently.

Hird has been a sad story ever since he began to self-medicate with poor advice in February 2013. He started out well enough. That’s when he told a media conference, which reverberated around the world, that he took full responsibility for a secret and dangerous peptide regime that had been running uncontrolled at Essendon for a year.

No sooner had Hird said what should have been obvious to a rabid Shih tzu he moonwalked away from his admission. Apparently, he had been forced by the AFL to be so willing to take the blame.

From that moment Hird, the most perfect footballer and ambassador the AFL might have ever possessed, overdosed on hubris almost weekly. If he is a lost soul now then he must accept the consequences. He initiated all the wrongs he presumably perceives done to him.

He should, of course, have our sympathy and constant concern. He was everybody’s hero but now finds himself in a wretched place. So does his family, especially his children. But, from everything that has been made public over the past four years, it is Hird and a clique of advisers who have plotted this tragic course.

Since the news that he was in hospital after a serious “medical incident” the community has once more broken apart into two sides. One argues that Hird had let down the club and the players by his lack of methodical governance, the first duty of an AFL coach. Players he coached received drugs — some of which have not been identified — and others that have and which led to 34 players coached by Hird being suspended for 12 months. Hird, by his lack of watchful eye, forced Jobe Watson, the son of former champion Tim Watson, to hand back his 2012 Brownlow Medal.

Watson senior has been a most interesting commentator throughout this saga. He has been torn between protecting his son’s legacy, as well as his own small but important part in wooing Hird and Mark Thompson to Essendon as the dynamic coaching duo. For a person in the media ultimately he was too compromised to comment freely and without prejudice. Mostly, his best work was snide and unhelpful.

It has been said friends have rallied around Hird. That must be comforting to him and the family. Hird’s father, Allan Hird Jr, who also played for Essendon, said in The Weekend Australian on January 7 that the 43-year-old’s health was “paramount and our No 1 concern”.

Yet in the media, social and mainstream, the commentary is as confused, spiteful and misinformed as always. The root cause is the fundamental failure of observers to differentiate between the AFL case against Hird (lack of governance) and the ASADA case against 34 players (taking banned substances).

If you choose to meld and confuse both cases then you can stitch together a case that satisfies your biases but does not represent the facts.

For example: it is shouted and hardly reasoned that the AFL bullied Hird so much that he ultimately could not cope and in desperation gave up. He was made a scapegoat that ultimately drove him to his all but fateful decision.

It is peddled by the likes of former South Australian champion Graham Cornes who now holds a loud but uneducated role in the Adelaide media. He wrote recently: “Those of you who have vilified James Hird — the media, particularly the Fairfax Press, who hounded and ridiculed him; the keyboard cowards who act from their cover of anonymity and lack of any moral filter.

“The opposition fans whose prejudice and hysteria blinded them to the facts; the AFL, which lost control of what should have been an internal matter; the football world in general, which has ostracised him; and indeed those from within the Essendon Football Club who were desperate for a scapegoat — must all face the consequences of their comments and their actions.

“For it is you who have driven James Hird to what could have been his last, desperate act.”

There must have been great angst in the newsroom as to whether this drivel should have been printed. If Cornes means by scapegoat that someone had to be held responsible for an illegal and secret drug regime then, yes, Hird had to be held to account. He was, after all, the coach.

His suggestion that it should have been kept within AFL walls proves his frightening lack of understanding of sport, not just football.

The drug code under which the AFL competition — and all major sports perform — is run by the independent Australian Sports Anti-Doping Agency. Any attempt not to co-operate with ASADA brings heavy and crippling penalties.

On the weekend Danny Corcoran, who was at Essendon at the time the club sports medicine witch doctor Stephen Dank ran his program unfettered by club governance, spoke publicly. Corcoran, then the club football department boss among other things, served a short suspension for his part.

On the weekend he told News Corp: “I walked out of (Hird’s) ICU unit and just felt the total despair of how systemic bullying and harassment of a person had caused him to fall into such a dire state.

“I can’t believe it. He’s in an ICU in a secure ward. A great man — a great champion, reduced to this ... it’s just horrendous to think that it’s got to this point.”

Yes, it is horrendous. But it is not the making of the media, the AFL or ASADA. Hird had cobbled together a group of lawyers, barristers and public relations gurus who helped shape his future. Too late, he sought to protect the players that he had previously left so vulnerable to Dank, a man now banned for life from Australian sport.

Others, like Thompson, declare that Hird should have been brought back to the bosom of the game. That neatly ignores the salient fact that when Hird quit Essendon in August 2015 he had been returned as head coach and had taken the club to 14 losses out of 19 games, the last one he was in charge of saw Adelaide beat the Bombers by 122 points.

He walked away because he realised his tenure at the club was untenable.

President David Evans, running the club in 2013 when the story broke, sought a quick end to the mess when he attempted to strike a deal with ASADA and the AFL. It meant Evans and other officials including Hird would have had to admit to their lack of governance. Effectively, Evans was pushed aside and businessman Paul Little took over as president and the club and Hird began a long, expensive and fruitless crusade through the courts.

They lost at every turn.

This was not bullying by the AFL or ASADA, which was to offer a deal to the players similar to the one taken by Cronulla. The Sharks grabbed it and won last year’s NRL premiership.

Essendon and the AFL sent Hird off for a study course in Paris. He was paid $1 million for the 12 months of his disqualification. His contract was extended. Oh, please. Someone bully me, bully me.

Hird is ill and we should all pray that he makes a full recovery. But to suggest that his present condition is the fault of anyone else is folly and a falsehood.

Hird, sadly, drove himself to the intensive care unit, calling the directions all the way.

http://www.theaustralian.com.au/sport/opinion/patrick-smith/james-hird-has-plotted-his-own-tragic-course/news-story/52b8eee1cdb4885b25381990e78b7283

[aker39]

Patrick has been consistent with this line from day 1.

[FrediKanoute]

Well said Patrick Smith - cutting, honest and accurate. Lets move on now and give some sympathy to people who truly deserve it.

[The Doctor]

A brilliant journalist who always brings the story back to the facts and not swayed by the hysteria or popular opinion.

[Twodogs]

Patrick's world is a little too black and white for mine. i like agitaters though and he is a bloody good stirrer. Good journo but I don't often agree with his opinion. But that's OK. I'm sure he's not losing any sleep about it. I'm not.

I often enjoy his articles though and that one is particularly good. Problem is though every time he gets on his high horse and starts lecturing about so,e player indiscretion I remember that he's the only cricketer I've seen punch another cricketer during a match (I've seen a couple in the car park after stumps but not out on the ground) so it tends to sound a little hypocritical.

[Sedat]

Hird's hubris and arrogance gave this story an extra 3 years of oxygen - this story would have been as good as over if David Evans and Demetriou were able to negotiate a punishment with ASADA in 2013 along the lines of what the Cronulla Sharks players and officials copped (ie: bugger-all). But Hird could not swallow even a miniscule amout of pride to take any form of punishment as a result of his culpability and responsibility in the program. Hence why he spent the next 3 years in the courts and screwed up EFC's last 3 seasons in the process.

The PR spin from the pro-Hird camp since last week has been as sickening as it has been predictable.

[bornadog]

Hird's hubris and arrogance gave this story an extra 3 years of oxygen - this story would have been as good as over if David Evans and Demetriou were able to negotiate a punishment with ASADA in 2013 along the lines of what the Cronulla Sharks players and officials copped (ie: bugger-all). But Hird could not swallow even a miniscule amout of pride to take any form of punishment as a result of his culpability and responsibility in the program. Hence why he spent the next 3 years in the courts and screwed up EFC's last 3 seasons in the process.

The PR spin from the pro-Hird camp since last week has been as sickening as it has been predictable.

He has also had to foot millions himself in legal and what not fees. This has hurt his wife and children's future. So selfish.

[Topdog]

Brilliant article, just brilliant

[aker39]

A follow up article from Patrick

James Hird column did not trivialise mental health, but corrected mistruths

From the moment news broke that James Hird was ill, some Essendon supporters and other members of the community damned sections of the media and the AFL.

On Monday this column addressed the mistruths and mischievous reporting that desperately tried to explain and politicise the reasons why James Hird, a former champion footballer for Essendon and potentially a fine coach, was taken to hospital on January 4 and then a rehabilitation centre after a drug overdose.

From the moment the news broke that Hird was ill, some Essendon supporters and other members of the community immediately took to social platforms to damn sections of the media and the AFL for driving Hird to his desperate act.


The core of the comments was that Hird had been bullied. It was a tragic moment cynically seized by people who had earlier and unsuccessfully pushed for Hird not to be held to account for an amateurish lack of governance at the club.

The response to the column was vast, some parts supportive of the column, some parts understanding and content with its thrust and another part agitated. And angry. Mostly, though, the reaction was squalid stuff. Uneducated and driven by nothing more substantial than the colour of their club’s football club jumper.

One tweet was disgusted that the column described the psychiatric personnel helping Hird recover as boffins. The use of the word in the column was, apparently, written to demean mental health issues. The tweeter obviously had no idea that a boffin is an expert, or specialist. An authority in his or her field.

Hird’s illness was a trigger to all the men and women who supported and barracked for Hird to restart their war against the AFL and members of the media who were critical of the former coach’s role in the Essendon peptide regimen under disgraced sports medicine man Stephen Dank. If we are not prepared to face up to the truth about the Essendon saga then nothing is learnt. And Hird’s illness never fully understood.

Between Hird’s hospitalisation and Monday’s column, history was rewritten. Hird supporters wallowed in the opportunity to paint the AFL as mean and calculating and ASADA conniving in their pursuit of the Brownlow medallist. No one seemed to think this regurgitation of Hird’s fall from grace and good health was inappropriate or could be a hindrance to his recovery.

Nor the fact that the Court of Arbitration for Sport destroyed their arguments in January last year when 34 players who were at Essendon in 2012 under Dank and Hird were suspended for 12 months.

The column was written to explode the misrepresentation of the facts concerning Hird’s leaving Essendon as coach before the end of 2015 season. It did not trivialise mental illness but corrected an avalanche of untruths freely published and articulated after Hird’s hospitalisation.

Hird was not bullied but given poor advice and made misjudgments of his own. That is why he is under expert treatment, his life spiralling down a dark hole of his and others’ making. This column again expresses its great concern for Hird and his family. Just as it repeatedly did last Monday.

[aker39]

Duplicate post

[Sedat]

A follow up article from Patrick

James Hird column did not trivialise mental health, but corrected mistruths

From the moment news broke that James Hird was ill, some Essendon supporters and other members of the community damned sections of the media and the AFL.

On Monday this column addressed the mistruths and mischievous reporting that desperately tried to explain and politicise the reasons why James Hird, a former champion footballer for Essendon and potentially a fine coach, was taken to hospital on January 4 and then a rehabilitation centre after a drug overdose.

From the moment the news broke that Hird was ill, some Essendon supporters and other members of the community immediately took to social platforms to damn sections of the media and the AFL for driving Hird to his desperate act.


The core of the comments was that Hird had been bullied. It was a tragic moment cynically seized by people who had earlier and unsuccessfully pushed for Hird not to be held to account for an amateurish lack of governance at the club.

The response to the column was vast, some parts supportive of the column, some parts understanding and content with its thrust and another part agitated. And angry. Mostly, though, the reaction was squalid stuff. Uneducated and driven by nothing more substantial than the colour of their club’s football club jumper.

One tweet was disgusted that the column described the psychiatric personnel helping Hird recover as boffins. The use of the word in the column was, apparently, written to demean mental health issues. The tweeter obviously had no idea that a boffin is an expert, or specialist. An authority in his or her field.

Hird’s illness was a trigger to all the men and women who supported and barracked for Hird to restart their war against the AFL and members of the media who were critical of the former coach’s role in the Essendon peptide regimen under disgraced sports medicine man Stephen Dank. If we are not prepared to face up to the truth about the Essendon saga then nothing is learnt. And Hird’s illness never fully understood.

Between Hird’s hospitalisation and Monday’s column, history was rewritten. Hird supporters wallowed in the opportunity to paint the AFL as mean and calculating and ASADA conniving in their pursuit of the Brownlow medallist. No one seemed to think this regurgitation of Hird’s fall from grace and good health was inappropriate or could be a hindrance to his recovery.

Nor the fact that the Court of Arbitration for Sport destroyed their arguments in January last year when 34 players who were at Essendon in 2012 under Dank and Hird were suspended for 12 months.

The column was written to explode the misrepresentation of the facts concerning Hird’s leaving Essendon as coach before the end of 2015 season. It did not trivialise mental illness but corrected an avalanche of untruths freely published and articulated after Hird’s hospitalisation.

Hird was not bullied but given poor advice and made misjudgments of his own. That is why he is under expert treatment, his life spiralling down a dark hole of his and others’ making. This column again expresses its great concern for Hird and his family. Just as it repeatedly did last Monday.
Cannot like this post enough. It perfectly encapsulates the agenda of the pro-Hird brigade and exposes their grubby opportunism at attempting to rewrite history.

[jeemak]

Cannot like this post enough. It perfectly encapsulates the agenda of the pro-Hird brigade and exposes their grubby opportunism at attempting to rewrite history.

It does, but it also perfectly contrasts that with the human side of this issue that each side of the argument is seemingly losing site of.

I've read a lot of posts of sympathy about James's kids and family - and they've all been fair enough. But irrespective of what he's responsible for and what he's not owned up to, he's cooked and I have sympathy for him.

People are trained to be who they are over a long period of time. In Hird's particular case he's been trained to be a self loving person more than anyone of us could ever imagine to have been. Smith's first article above shows us what happens to self loving people when those they surround themselves with love them more than they do themselves.

To think that a new EFC regime could possibly look the proverbial gift horse in the mouth that was the original AFL deal offered to the EFC beggars belief. This is the precise point at which James Hird fell down.

I've needed to be careful with my posting on this issue because of who I work for over the course of these past few years. What I can say now, is that the coterie and commercial interests involved with the EFC in the first instance thought they could steam roll the AFL, ASADA and the public, using Hird's image as a pin up boy as public leverage. And then these dickheads realised the same thing the rest of us did (which they probably already knew, but were bluffing over), which is the evidence is water tight and only hail Mary movie type revisionist scenarios could save them. Whilst I appreciate the arrogance of of Hird is strong, I believe the arrogance of his backers is and was stronger.

James Hird has always been an extremely self centred, glorified, but fragile creature. He's nobody but himself to blame for his current predicament, but a huge part of the non-sympathetic public perception issue with his current position needs to take into account that he's a product of the people who glorify him.

[Topdog]

Well said jeemak. Hird could have been stopped at any point by a number of different people. EFC waited far too long to tell him to stop.

[merantau]

Patrick's world is a little too black and white for mine. i like agitaters though and he is a bloody good stirrer. Good journo but I don't often agree with his opinion. But that's OK. I'm sure he's not losing any sleep about it. I'm not.

I often enjoy his articles though and that one is particularly good. Problem is though every time he gets on his high horse and starts lecturing about so,e player indiscretion I remember that he's the only cricketer I've seen punch another cricketer during a match (I've seen a couple in the car park after stumps but not out on the ground) so it tends to sound a little hypocritical.

This is one incident (the on-ground punch) that passed me by. Can you elaborate?