AFL players refusing to support a team sponsor - any examples?

[Geoff Dickson]

You may recall Usman Khawaja (Australian cricketer) gaining an exemption from wearing the VB logo in his cricket uniforms. Similarly, Sonny Bill Williams distanced himself from the Bank of New Zealand, the sponsor the Auckland Blue Super Rugby team. Whilst both of these examples are underpinned by the athlete's Islamic faith, I am not just interested in Muslim players.

Based on examples from elsewhere in the world, the sponsors most likely to make players "uncomfortable" are unhealthy foods, gambling, alcohol and money lending institutions (i.e. banks).

Do you know of any examples of an AFL player (publicly) dissociating themselves from a team (or league) sponsor for religious or values-based reasons?

Thanks.

 

[TimmeT]

Find it quite funny that apparently Israel Folau's religious views on homosexuality are bad for the brand, sponsor relations, the game at the loca level etc and gets condemned by the Social Justice Warriors etc yet nothing is said by the same SJWs or others about the negative implications for the brand and the game the refusal of a player who follows Islam to endorse the sponsors has even though it ultimately has the same negative influences.

 

[Bunk Moreland]

Find it quite funny that apparently Israel Folau's religious views on homosexuality are bad for the brand, sponsor relations, the game at the loca level etc and gets condemned by the Social Justice Warriors etc yet nothing is said by the same SJWs or others about the negative implications for the brand and the game the refusal of a player who follows Islam to endorse the sponsors has even though it ultimately has the same negative influences.

That’s one long sentence

 

[Hamingja]

Chris Judd spoke of his dislike of gambling sponsors, now he does ads for the TAB.

 

[Isaac Cumming No 1]

Find it quite funny that apparently Israel Folau's religious views on homosexuality are bad for the brand, sponsor relations, the game at the loca level etc and gets condemned by the Social Justice Warriors etc yet nothing is said by the same SJWs or others about the negative implications for the brand and the game the refusal of a player who follows Islam to endorse the sponsors has even though it ultimately has the same negative influences.

Not at all.

Refusing to promote alcohol and the banks usury practices is probably very good for the wider community. Condemning a minority group, morally and legally protected from doscrimination almost certainly isn't.

 

[Senor Ed]

Geelong & Collingwood players refusing to support the TAC sponsorships at the time by drink driving.

 

[Juggs Magnetic]

Not the same thing, but wasn't there a Melbourne player in the 90's who wasn't allowed to display the team's sponsor? I think it was a beer, may have been Tooheys, and he was under 18.

 

[Geoff Dickson]

Geelong & Collingwood players refusing to support the TAC sponsorships at the time by drink driving.

The drink-driving examples are not quite the same as a "values-based" effort by the athlete to dissociate themselves from the sponsor

But I agree 100% there are some similarities....as this research demonstrates:

https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/24704067.2018.1441738?journalCode=rgsm20

 

[Scotland]

Sharrod Wellingham wasn't keen on the TAC sponsorship Collingwood had going.

 

[Geoff Dickson]

Chris Judd spoke of his dislike of gambling sponsors, now he does ads for the TAB.

I can't find any Judd statements that are critical of gambling.

But what I can find is evidence that Judd once tried to "keep secret" his indirect interest (via his company Three Zebras) in the Crawfords Leisure Group, and in turn the CLG investment in the Sovereign Hotel Group (SHG) (and their poker machines).

 

[Geoff Dickson]

Not the same thing, but wasn't there a Melbourne player in the 90's who wasn't allowed to display the team's sponsor? I think it was a beer, may have been Tooheys, and he was under 18.

It is different, but thanks for sharing.

I remember playing U17s footy in Queensland...and the XXXX logo on the jerseys disappeared halfway through the season.

 

[RUNVS]

Collingwood players regularly refused to support TAC who are from what I can gather against drink driving.

 

[Blackas87]

Not exactly refusing to support the team sponsor, but going back a few years, Matty Richardson on the Footy Show panel, got a phone call from a friend, answered his Nokia to tell the friend call them back. Problem was Richmond was sponsored by Motorola. The following week Richo was back on the Footy Show, his phone rings again but this time he pulls out a Motorola, Richo then goes on about how amazing his new Motorola is.

 

[astro1212]

Chris Judd spoke of his dislike of gambling sponsors, now he does ads for the TAB.

I wonder if it were TAB paying him and not VISY back then would he have still voiced that opinion.

 

[Franc de Borges]

The 1997 'Kouta boots scandal' was a major one:

- Club was sponsored by adidas but was moving to Nike
- Kouta had a personal sponsorship with adidas (at the time all players had to wear the boots of the official club apparel supplier*, hence the move to Nike being an issue for him)
- Nearly resulted in him missing games
- He won, and since then players can wear whatever boots they want

*Many players got around this by blacking out a rival brand and painting on stripes or whatever was required by their club

 

[captain cotch 9]

Chris Judd spoke of his dislike of gambling sponsors, now he does ads for the TAB.

 

[Scotland]

Sounds like Johan Cruyff. Netherlands were sponsored by Adidas and he had his own shirt made up with only two stripes on the sleeves instead of 3.

 

[Collins-Langford-Ayres]

David Zaharakis didn't like something from memory down Tulla way, that resulted in him playing and half his teammates taking a year off. Does that count?

 

[Geoff Dickson]

The 1997 'Kouta boots scandal' was a major one:

- Club was sponsored by adidas but was moving to Nike
- Kouta had a personal sponsorship with adidas (at the time all players had to wear the boots of the official club apparel supplier*, hence the move to Nike being an issue for him)
- Nearly resulted in him missing games
- He won, and since then players can wear whatever boots they want

*Many players got around this by blacking out a rival brand and painting on stripes or whatever was required by their club

I remember those days well. You could recognise the real brand by looking at the bottom of the boots. Adidas Copa Mundials were easily recognisable because of the black tags on the white plastic outer sole.., despite the hand-painted Puma stripe on these boots.

I agree that Kouta-Nike-adidas was a watershed moment. But it is slightly different from what I am interested in understanding.

Kouta was not "philosophically opposed" to Nike, he just wanted a personal deal with Adidas. Same goes for Cruyff-Puma-Adidas, and Jordan-Nike-Reebok at the 92 Olympics.

 

[Geoff Dickson]

David Zaharakis didn't like something from memory down Tulla way, that resulted in him playing and half his teammates taking a year off. Does that count?

I assume you are talking about his dislike for needles?

Yes, that is different.

 

[Supercoach Bargain]

Didn't the Richmond goal post padding have to be taken down, back in the day? The league was sponsored by CUB and Alan Bond was president (?) at Richmond and put XXXX pads on the posts?

 

[master bate]

The telstra logos on the 50m arcs at Optus stadium are a great example of sponsors all just getting along!

Joe Gutnik got all the Dees games on Sunday, not sure if that counts.

Sydney playing in a Pride game despite sponsorship from Qatar airlines has to be one of the more questionable decisions of recent time. If/when the Swans get an AFLW team you'd think that sponsorship would have to end.

 

[donkeypunchd]

Find it quite funny that apparently Israel Folau's religious views on homosexuality are bad for the brand, sponsor relations, the game at the loca level etc and gets condemned by the Social Justice Warriors etc yet nothing is said by the same SJWs or others about the negative implications for the brand and the game the refusal of a player who follows Islam to endorse the sponsors has even though it ultimately has the same negative influences.

If you can’t tell the difference between one sports player requesting an exemption from displaying a sponsor versus another actively attacking sections of society for their sexuality, then I doubt any ‘SJW’ explanation will of the qualitative difference between these two examples.

 

[the harry]

The 1997 'Kouta boots scandal' was a major one:

- Club was sponsored by adidas but was moving to Nike
- Kouta had a personal sponsorship with adidas (at the time all players had to wear the boots of the official club apparel supplier*, hence the move to Nike being an issue for him)
- Nearly resulted in him missing games
- He won, and since then players can wear whatever boots they want

*Many players got around this by blacking out a rival brand and painting on stripes or whatever was required by their club

Didn't Hird have a similar situation as he was needing particular boots to help with his injuries?

 

[TimmeT]

If you can’t tell the difference between one sports player requesting an exemption from displaying a sponsor versus another actively attacking sections of society for their sexuality, then I doubt any ‘SJW’ explanation will of the qualitative difference between these two examples.

Lol both come back to the same principal of don't bite the hand that feeds you.