Dear Mr Blunden

I have inserted my response inside your text.

Mr Francis,
You are an obnoxious bully who clearly has way too much on his hands,
M/s Ranahi and I are a match made in heaven. She has been extremely obnoxious in trying
to bully Essendon into pleading guilty to a crime the players believe they didnt commit.
She has also tried to bully Essendon into lying down and being screwed by the AFL.
I am answerable to myself. I should rather be an obnoxious bully than an incompetent
managing director or whatever you are. You have a responsibility to hundreds of thousands
of readers and you have failed them miserably. I have more respect for the Age than your
newspaper. They lied but at least they had an agenda. They wanted to bury Hird and
Essendon no matter what the evidence. Your paper did a Switzerland. Your sole purpose has
been not to upset the AFL. Everyone who bought your newspaper to follow the Essendon
should be entitled to a refund.
I sent your journalists scoops month after month, with concrete evidence, but they were
frightened to run with the story. On one occasion I suggested one of your journalists had
gone softly and he told me to fuck off, and then stupidly acknowledged I was correct and
told me that he had been instructed not to push the AFL. As a gesture, I told the journalist
never to reveal such information.
I do have a lot of time on my hands, most of which is spent in bed. I have basically been
housebound since 2002. I looked after very elderly parents 24/7 from 2002 until their deaths
in 2011. I postponed urgent operations until they died. I have had seven operations /
procedures since then and cant stand long enough to shave. I also cant keep food down
because I poisoned myself. I used to be very well off but not working for 12 years, together
with the cost of looking after my parents, has meant I am now a pensioner. I keep reading
how important the media is to our democracy so I thought I should do my little bit and point
out that the media coverage of the Essendon saga is the worst in our sporting history.
For months now we have bern bombarded by your intellectual supremacy, and filled our spam files
with your rantings.
I am pleased you recognise my intellectual supremacy. It is a shame you didnt give your
readers the benefit of that supremacy. Your paper has not printed one point that I have
made. For at least six months I was feeding information to your paper exclusively. On a
couple of occasions I was asked to substantiate my allegation that ASADA had fabricated the
evidence. I sent chunks of quotes from the Interim Report but your paper didnt have the
guts to print it. I even gave the paper an example where ASADA changed Ian Robsons
evidence.
On a different issue altogether, I had Susie OBrien tell me I knew nothing about cricket
because I opposed sledging. I responded with kind. She asked me not to send her emails
again and I complied as I have done with about six other journalists. If I were showing you
up with my intellectual supremacy you just had to ask me to stop emailing you. In all

modesty, I honestly think I have shown you up with my moral supremacy not intellectual
supremacy. I think I have also shown a little more sense than you. What possessed you to
copy everybody? I dont have a reputation. I dont care what you write. I have given the socalled cream of our journalists countless opportunities to destroy me but they havent done
so. Tim Lane is the only person who challenged me. The journos havent challenged me
because they are ashamed of the way they have abrogated their responsibilities.
We have endured this without complaint. You may even have some points worth noting.
There is no need to sweet talk me. Save your sycophantic chat for the AFL. If I had some
points worth noting Id have assumed you would have given your readers the benefit of
those points. But you didnt. not one point has been published. You havent even published
Essendons organisation chart, or Hirds job description. I have over 9000 pages in 36 arch
lever folders. I cant recall your paper discussing the AFLs OH&S responsibilities, nor the
Victorian OH&S Act. Id be happy to call a truce if your paper was prepared to canvass the
imminent smashing of the AFL by VWA. But you are all no doubt hoping for a cover-up.
But personal attacks on one of my staff members, especially at Christmas, won't be tolerated.
You have obviously started Christmas early and are not thinking clearly. I got stuck into M/s
Ranahi because she has been making unsubstantiated personal attacks on Essendon; on
Hird; on Little et al. ESPECIALLY AT CHRISTMAS. Or are you saying her attack on Monday 22
December wasnt Christmas but my reply on 24 December was Christmas. I have apparently
upset you and M/s Panahi. M/s Panahi upset a lot of Essendon players and supporters with
her vile uninformed attack this week and on previous occasions. To refresh your memory, I
have attached an earlier dissection of M/s Panahis work. I tried to help but she apparently
wont listen or is writing under instructions.
If you can't make your case without such rudeness, don't bother us again.
I made my case for 12 months without rudeness. But your paper is not prepared to upset
the AFL so I had no choice but to resort to rudeness to grab someones attention. I shant
email you again.
There's a line to be drawn on this, and you crossed it.
If that means we are now in the ring together, great.
Bruce Francis