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UPDATE 1.58PM: Stephen Dank has cancelled his appearance in Bendigo.
South Bendigo Football Netball Club president Rick Townsend said there had been a last-minute change in plans.
“Something has happened today in Melbourne that he has to focus on so he has decided he is better off staying at home with family and friends,” he said.
“He was definitely on his way, and then something had happened and we definitely respect his decision not to come after what’s happened last night.
“He was very apologetic.”
Mr Townsend said the club had received little criticism for booking the controversial speaker.
“We understand it’s a polarising thing and we as a club just wanted to give him the opportunity to tell his side of the story,” he said.
“People have been asking, ‘When is he going to speak out?’
“Well he was going to speak out today, and I think it was a coup for the South Bendigo Football Netball Club to have him come and speak.
“As a football netball club we don’t condone what’s happened at Essendon, we are just here to put on a sportsman’s and sponsor’s lunch and some interest for the local people to come and listen to what he’s had to say.”
Mr Townsend said the club was advised not topic was to be off limits during the speech.
“So I’m sure he would have spoken about it [the Essendon drugs scandal],” he said.
Mr Townsend said attendees were enjoying the luncheon regardless, which featured Hawthorn champion Robert Dipierdomenico.
“We’ll still have a great day – we’re not too disappointed, there are a lot of people up there and everyone understands,” he said.
It is not yet known whether Mr Dank’s speech will be rescheduled.
“It is probably unlikely this year,” Mr Townsend said.
South Bendigo Football Netball Club secretary Rob Robertson said there was a late surge in interest in the club luncheon this morning after news of the shooting was made public.
Melbourne's criminal world was abuzz on Saturday with rumours Dank owed money to dangerous people.
Sources told Fairfax Media Mr Dank had been under substantial financial pressure since the failure of a string of lawsuits he brought against media organisations for defamation.
"He borrowed a lot of money to fund those lawsuits and you wouldn't say it was from a regular big four bank," one source said.
Dank effectively lost the lawsuits and was ordered to pay costs.
Dank told FOX Sports News that he has a black eye and a badly cut nose, after a bullet grazed the bridge of his nose in the early-Saturday shooting.
UPDATE: Stephen Dank will speak at a function in Bendigo despite having been injured in a shooting at his Ascot Vale home.
South Bendigo Football Netball Club president Rick Townsend said Mr Dank had just confirmed his attendance at the luncheon at the QEO.
He said Mr Dank had requested that media not be present at his speech.
Former Adelaide Crows coach and media personality Graham Cornes told Fairfax Media he had spoken to Mr Dank after the shooting.
"I've spoken to Stephen Dank he feels it was an attempt to silence him from a speaking engagement..he's angry," he said.
"Dank feels it was an attempt to prevent him saying what he was going to say at a football lunch."
Hawthorn champion Robert Dipierdomenico will also speak at the Bloods pre-game function.
Police will investigate Mr Dank's relationship with criminals as a result of the shooting at his Ascot Vale home in Melbourne's north-west.
Fairfax Media understands Mr Dank was in a downstairs lounge room at the time of the shooting and was injured by a bullet fragment.
"I'm OK, I'm fine," a shaken Dank told Fairfax Media.
The shots appear to have come from a single firearm and a bullet hole can be seen in the wall of the upstairs ensuite.
Mr Dank was at the centre of the Essendon drugs scandal and one underworld source told Fairfax Media he had angered a lot of people.
"The bloke has done more (media) doorstops at his house that anyone else in Melbourne. He's not hard to find," the source said.
"Dank has a serious image problem. He's decimated two sporting codes, he's caught up in all kind of financial disputes and he's pissed off some (underworld figures) for other reasons."
Mr Dank owns an anti-ageing clinic in Sydney where police believe he has established relationships with both legitimate businessmen in search of anti-ageing substances but also with prominent sports identities.
More worryingly, though, the elixirs of youth offered by Mr Dank have attracted members of outlaw motorcycle gangs. It is believed those links will be a first port of call for detectives probing the overnight shooting.
Police are also checking claims that Mr Dank has substantial debts over several business ventures in Victoria.
"There is a long list of people who hate him," a senior detective told Fairfax Media.
The high profile and notorious self-dubbed sports scientist lives a relatively quiet life in suburban Melbourne but his Sydney-based clinic remains a lucrative business and may have brought him into contact with associates who are dangerous to know .
"I have no idea what he does with all his money," a business associate said.
An upstairs window of Mr Dank's house was shot out in the incident. The property faces on to a local reserve where police are searching for clues and it appears the shooter or shooters would have fled on foot.
At least six shots have been fired at the property - two into a security door, one into a glass panel next to the door, one into a sliding screen door, one into an upstairs ensuite window and one at a balcony.
EARLIER: Controversial sports scientist Stephen Dank, due to talk at a function in Bendigo today, has reportedly been shot in his Ascot Vale home in Melbourne's north-west.
Serious Crime Response Team detectives are investigating after a 52-year-old man's forehead was grazed when several shots were fired at the front of the Gillespie Avenue home at 2.20am on Saturday.
Another person in the house at the time of the incident escaped without injury.
Channel Nine and ABC have reported the victim as Stephen Dank, the man at the centre of the Essendon drugs saga.
Mr Dank was to speak at a South Bendigo Football Netball Club pre-game luncheon at the QEO in Bendigo today.
Club president Rick Townsend said the function would go ahead.
“We are still trying to work out what is happening,” he said.
Dank was to join Hawthorn champion Robert Dipierdomenico as the special guests at the Bloods pre-game luncheon on Saturday, July 23 at the QEO.
An upstairs window of the Ascot Vale house was shot at.
The property faces on to a local reserve where police were this morning searching for clues.
Neighbour Dean said he was surprised by the shooting in the quiet street and that he had been asleep at the time.
"We've got dogs that would bark at the slightest noise and they didn't go off last night so whatever happened was pretty quiet," he said.
Dean said he knew Dank lived there but didn't know him well.
"He just keeps to himself, we see him a bit on the park, making some phone calls, but that's about it," he said.
Victoria Police spokeswoman Creina O'Grady said the man was taken to hospital for treatment and a crime scene has been established.
Anyone with information about the shooting incident is urged to contact Crime Stoppers on 1800 333 000 or make a confidential report at www.crimestoppersvic.com.au