The AFL Commission will now rule on Jobe Watsons Brownlow Medal after he and 33 other Essendon players failed to have their doping bans overturned.The Swiss Federal Tribunal has ruled against the current and past Bombers players.Their appeal to the tribunal was the last legal step available to them.They were challenging the Court of Arbitration for Sport ruling in January that went against the players.It meant 17 players, including 12 at Essendon, were banned from playing this season.With the appeal over, the AFL commission can now go ahead with its landmark hearing that decides whether Watson keeps his 2012 Brownlow Medal.The supplements regime at Essendon that led to the bans operated during the 2012 season.The AFL announced the hearing after the CAS verdict, but postponed it until the Swiss appeal verdict.The likelihood is that the commission will take the unprecedented step of stripping Watson of his Brownlow.Richmond captain Trent Cotchin and Hawthorn veteran Sam Mitchell finished joint runners-up behind Watson in the 2012 Brownlow voting.Watson was the last of the banned players to confirm he would return to playing and he is now back at Essendon.The banned players still at AFL clubs have now returned to training, with some restrictions.When he made his announcement on September 23, Watson said he was not thinking about the prospect of losing the Brownlow.If you spend your life living in that world of speculation, you miss the moment, and Ive removed myself from it and Ive just lived in moments, and that was liberating for me, he said.(The Brownlow) doesnt define me.The AFL Players Association, Essendon and the AFL were yet to comment publicly on Tuesday night about the Swiss appeal verdict.The verdict was handed down in German.Watson has been invited to speak to the commission but it wasnt immediately clear when the hearing would be held.In May, AFL chief executive Gillon McLachlan admitted there was a collective feeling of dread about having to make the call on Watsons Brownlow.I think the people charged with the responsibility of making that decision will not have made a more difficult decision - not just in their time in football, but almost in their lives, he said.I dont want to over-dramatise it, but that will be as hard a decision as anyone on the commission has had to make, Im sure of it.Apart from Watsons Brownlow, another issue yet to be resolved from the long-running supplements saga is the banned players negotiations with Essendon over financial compensation.The Essendon supplements saga is the biggest scandal in AFL history.Bombers coach James Hird was suspended for a season because of it.He returned to the job, but was sacked late last season.The AFL banned Essendon from playing in the 2013 finals at the same time it suspended Hird.The doping bans meant the Bombers makeshift team finished last this season.An AFL anti-doping tribunal initially cleared the 34 players after an ASADA investigation.But WADA took the case to CAS and won, leading to the Swiss appeal. 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The club announced the surgery following a 5-3 exhibition loss to the Columbus Blue Jackets. Wholesale Nike Shox .2 billion agreement with Rogers Communications for the leagues broadcast and multimedia rights. WASHINGTON -- Tommie Smith and John Carlos were proud to raise their gloved fists in a symbolic protest at the Olympics, and now theyre proud that Colin Kaepernick and other athletes are staging national anthem protests to raise awareness about racial inequality and police brutality.The American sprinters who were sent home from the 1968 Mexico City Olympics for what they called a human rights salute said the San Francisco 49ers quarterback and others are right to use their platform in an attempt to affect social change 48 years later.Dont hate the kid because he stood up for something to change, said Smith, who won the gold medal and set a world record in the 200 meters in 1968. He stood up for the right to exercise Amendment 1.Speaking Wednesday at the Team USA Awards, the first U.S. Olympic Committee event theyve been invited to since their protest, Smith said hes backing Kaepernick because the quarterbacks protest is proactive, and Carlos said theres no better platform than sports to stand up for something, even if it brings criticism.Protest is a good thing because youre trying to expose certain things through protest, said Carlos, who won the bronze in the 200 at the Mexico City Games. Then, when you sit back and say, Well, I dont know whether its the right place to make statement here or there. In any protest, I think you make a statement to try and reach the far ends of the earth. What better way to do it than if youre in a sport.Several athletes have followed Kaepernick, who first sat for the anthem then modified his protest to kneel during it. Some have raised their fists like Smith and Carlos.Most recently, Nebraska football players Michael Rose-Ivey, Mohamed Barry and DaiShon Neal kneeled during the anthem before a game at?Northwestern, drawing criticism from university officials.ddddddddddddIt is a sacrifice to deal with anything other than status quo, Smith said, as we know very well.While Smith said its important for athletes to study and understand why theyre protesting and what they want to come out of it, Carlos said backlash is part of the process.Any individual that makes a public statement or a public scene is saying we have issues that we need to deal with and we can no longer stick them under the rug or stick them behind the bus or what have you, Carlos said. By bringing attention to society, for them to be able to determine themselves why it was necessary that we take this thing called racism, violence and prejudice and bury it once and for all.It has taken almost half a century for the USOC to welcome Smith and Carlos back into the fold after being on the outside for breaking its rules. Carlos called their return a rebirth, and both men hope they can be ambassadors and a positive influence on young people who werent born when they protested at the 1968 Summer Games.We never denounced what we stood for, Carlos said. We stood for humanity. At the same time, they loved the fact that we had courage. Thats what you need in athletics. For them to come and lower the drawbridge, so to speak, and welcome us across with open arms, its a beautiful situation. I dont think it gets any better. ' ' '