A group of high-profile Dockers fans as well as Fremantle legend Dale Kickett and the club’s inaugural football manager Gerard McNeill have called on the club to dump oil and gas giant Woodside as its major sponsor.
In an open letter to the Dockers board and president Dale Alcock, the signatories said it was no longer appropriate for a fossil fuel company to sponsor the club as the globe grappled with climate change.
The Dockers have been sponsored by Woodside since 2010. Captain Nat Fyfe is a signatory of The Cool Down, where sportspeople call for urgent action on climate change.Credit:Michael Wilson
“We should not allow our club’s good name to be used by a corporation to enhance its reputation when its core activities are so clearly threatening our planet,” they said.
As well as Kickett, his wife Kathy and McNeill, the letter is signed by a raft of high-profile fans including WA author Tim Winton and former WA premier Carmen Lawrence, who is also Conservation Council WA president.
Woodside has sponsored the Dockers since the 2010 season and last year extended the partnership until the end of the 2023 season. The club has not made a dollar figure public, but their first deal 12 years ago was reportedly worth nearly $1 million a year.
The letter said Woodside’s continued investment in fossil fuel projects such as Scarborough and its purchase of BHP’s oil and gas assets contradicted International Energy Agency warnings that no new fossil fuel projects should be built.
“Despite claims it is trying to decarbonise, Woodside has doubled down on fossil fuels in the last year; purchasing BHP’s oil and gas assets and becoming one of the top ten largest fossil fuel companies in the world,” it said.
“As members and supporters, we are speaking out because we don’t think it is fair for these young men and women to run out with a fossil fuel company’s logo plastered on their jumpers any longer.”
Activists hope the letter will also internally rally current players in Dockers’ ranks to the cause.
Several of the Dockers’ leadership group including captain Nat Fyfe, Alex Pearce and retiring legend David Mundy have publicly signed up to The Cool Down—a group of Australian sportspeople calling for more urgent action on climate change.
Lawrence said Woodside was trying to use sponsorships of popular organisations such as the Dockers to rescue their reputation.
McNeill likened the sponsorship to that of tobacco company sponsorship in sport in the 1980s.
“The time came when that was no longer appropriate, and it is the same today with fossil fuel companies like Woodside,” he said.
“This is important leadership the club can provide regarding growing concerns about climate change.”
Fremantle president Dale Alcock said the club recognised that its fan base of 800,000 people held strong views about “many issues” but pointed out that Woodside had been a significant supporter of the club since 2010.
“We understand and acknowledge climate change and sustainability are key social issues for our members, supporters, players, staff and the broader community,” he said.
“As always, we will ensure these different points of view and perspectives continue to be heard and considered by our board and management.”
A Woodside spokeswoman defended the sponsorship deal.
“Our sponsorship of the Dockers has extended beyond on-field sponsorship into areas where both organisations hold shared values and commitments to make a positive contribution, including through Woodside’s role as Indigenous program partner,” he said.
“In addition to our sponsorship of the Dockers, in 2021 our social contribution was $20.3 million globally through strategic partnerships, the Woodside development fund, our philanthropy program, and the value of time our employees spent volunteering.”
She also defended the company’s action on climate change and pointed to its climate strategy.
The strategy was voted down by 49 per cent of shareholders at its May annual general meeting but the spokeswoman said it had informed the company on how it would avoid, reduce or offset emissions while developing new energy products.
“Woodside’s climate strategy is to reduce our net equity greenhouse gas emissions while investing in the products and services that our customers need as they reduce their emissions,” she said.
“We have set near and medium-term targets to reduce net equity scope 1 and 2 greenhouse gas emissions, with an aspiration of net-zero by 2050 or sooner.
“We are a signatory to the methane guiding principles and are actively pursuing methane emissions reduction and measurement opportunities.”
Woodside’s sponsorships have been the target of sustained pressure from climate groups recently, including an ultimately successful campaign to have Fringe World organiser Artrage drop the company as a principal sponsor in 2021.
It also follows activism against coal, oil and gas company sponsorships more broadly.
Earlier this month it was announced that Perth Festival and Chevron were to split after a decades-long partnership.
On Wednesday it was revealed Australian Cricket test captain Pat Cummins raised ethical issues with Cricket Australia chief executive Nick Hockley over a sponsorship deal with Alinta Energy worth $40 million.
An original four-year deal with Alinta, which operates the Loy Yang B coal-fired power station in Victoria, was recently cut down to just one year.
Australian Senator David Pocock, who has previously railed against Australian oil and gas player Santos’ sponsorship of the Wallabies said sport was feeling the impact of climate change thanks to extreme heat, smoke and flooding.
“In my view fossil fuel companies are no different to tobacco. If they don’t have credible transition plans, if they’re continuing to push for new fossil fuel projects, they have no place sponsoring the teams and athletes we know and love,” he said.
“We should be having a serious conversation about who gets to use the teams we love to advertise and buy social license.”
The AFL counts Dutch energy group Shell as one of its official partners while several AFL clubs are sponsored by coal or oil and gas companies.
Santos is a platinum partner of both Port Adelaide’s women and men’s teams.
AGL, which operates coal-fired power stations, sponsor Port Adelaide, St Kilda and West Coast.
