Essendon coach James Hird has been banned for 12 months, while the AFL club has been fined $2 million and thrown out of this year’s finals series as punishment for its 2012 supplements program.
The Bombers have also been stripped of draft picks for 2013 and 2014.
The Bombers will lose both their first and second round picks for 2013 and 2014, but will be given a pick in 2014 immediately after the first round.
The Bombers will be deemed to have finished ninth in 2013.
Football manager Danny Corcoran has been given a six-month suspension from AFL effective from October 1, but with two months of the ban suspended, while assistant coach Mark Thompson has been fined $30,000.
But club doctor Bruce Reid is fighting his charge, which will be heard at 10am (AEST) on Thursday.
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The unprecedented penalties for bringing the game into disrepute and conduct unbecoming follow two days of talks between Essendon, their four charged officials, their legal representatives, and the AFL trying to agree penalties.
It has been 204 days since Essendon announced they had concerns over their 2012 supplements program.
AFL Commission chairman Mike Fitzpatrick expressed his distress at a saga which has dragged on for nearly seven months and overshadowed the season, while chief executive Andrew Demetriou called it a “sorry saga”.
“The AFL Commission shares (AFL fans’) anger, and frustration that the 2013 season has too often been dominated by headlines we’d rather not see,” he said as he announced the penalties in Melbourne on Tuesday night.
“The issues involved in the Essendon Football Club’s supplements program are deeply disturbing.
“The investigation undertaken over the past six months, and the actions we have taken today reflects this gravity.”
Demetriou said Hird had apologised to the commission for his role in the supplements saga.
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And he said that former Bombers sports scientist Stephen Dank, who played a pivotal role in implementing the suspect supplements program, had “a lot to answer for”.
“This is the most significant sanction in AFL history,” Demetriou said of the unprecedented penalties.
In a statement after the penalties were announced, Essendon said Hird would be welcomed back as Bombers coach after his ban was served.
“We recognise that failings occurred at our club during this period,” chairman Paul Little said.
“We must and do accept accountability and apologise for them.
“We have learnt from our mistakes and made substantial reforms to our governance and people management practices to ensure the club will never be in this position again.”
Little said assistant coach Simon Goodwin will coach the Bombers in Hird’s absence for their last match of this season – a now-dead rubber against Richmond on Saturday night at the MCG.
Demetriou also confirmed Hird had dropped his Supreme Court action against the league, which had been launched last week after the AFL released its charge sheet against the club.
Hird did not appear at an Essendon media conference at AFL House held immediately after the AFL announced its penalties against the club.
Little said Hird had fallen on his sword to protect the club, shown significant remorse, and had requested not to be involved in the media conference.
But Little said Hird was not “ducking the media”, and that he was very keen to continue his coaching with Essendon once he had served his ban.
“James Hird told the commission tonight he had taken responsibility for the shortcomings in the 2012 supplements program,” Little said.
“There is no doubt in my mind James Hird agreed to accept these penalties tonight so that the club could move on … James has put the best interests of the players, the club and as a whole, the AFL (ahead of himself).”
