Essendon Football Club and the Hird family are deeply disappointed by the decision to publish a photo on the back page of The Age newspaper yesterday of one of the Hird’s young children outside his house on his way to school. 

Essendon chairman Paul Little said that it was totally unacceptable to publish the image.

“A photo published of a minor without the permission of a legal guardian is completely unjustified,” Little said

"It is an unnecessary intrusion on the privacy of the Hird family and gravely affects the safety of a minor and we will not condone such conduct by the media.”

“We all expect a level of professional standards to be represented in the Australian media – the publishing of this picture is completely irresponsible in the circumstances and has no relevance to the story.”