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Former Essendon Coach James Hird Has Been Hospitalised, Reports Say

The Bombers' favourite son was a key player in Essendon's supplements scandal.
Hird this time last year, after speaking out for the first time about the Essendon doping scandal.
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Hird this time last year, after speaking out for the first time about the Essendon doping scandal.

Reports are emerging Thursday evening that former Essendon coach James Hird was admitted to hospital in Melbourne late on Wednesday night.

There is no official comment yet from the Essendon Football Club or Hird's family, but Fairfax Media reports that an ambulance was called to Hird's Toorak home just after 10pm on Wednesday.

Melbourne's Herald Sun reports that Hird had left the hospital by Thursday afternoon, but is receiving care elsewhere.

Hird played 253 games for Essendon from 1992 to 2007, winning the 1996 Brownlow Medal and two premierships -- the first as part of the "Baby Bombers" in 1993, the latter, in 2000, as captain.

He was appointed coach of Essendon in 2010, but was handed a 12 month ban by the AFL from August 2013, due to the fallout from the 2012 supplements program, which was put in place while he was coach.

Hird returned to the club after his forced leave, but eventually resigned his post in 2015 after a string of losses.

He has been criticised in the football community for never accepting responsibility for his role in the supplements saga.

In a televised one-on-one interview with Tracey Holmes at The Ethics Centre in January 2016, the 43-year-old said the saga had been "devastating" for the young men impacted, and admitted he had made "wrong decisions", but never fully accepted the blame.

More to come.

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