Are AFL players a protected species?
THE names of the three AFL players who have tested positive to recreational drug use are an open secret – and, in this most football-crazed of states, a particularly juicy one. Few things build a Victorian’s social credibility like an exclusive slice of footy news. The names floated liberally around the state’s sporting community before journalists discovered them – and were stopped from reporting them – in March this year. On website forums, ordinary punters have unashamedly named a player who “knows a lot about ice”, and another player who may have had a “nostril-related hamstring”. One person called the Fox Footy channel and identified an offender. Friendsof- friends pass on the names, in grandstands, neighbourhood pubs, backyards. All of this everyday conduct is illegal. In the Supreme Court yesterday, Justice Murray Kellam held that there should be permanent injunctions restraining Fairfax newspapers (including The Age and The Sydney Morning Herald) and Nationwide News (publishers
