Front-line sportspeople who make a stand against their sponsors, and so bite the hand that feeds them? One of the more famous examples in Australian sporting history came in 1992 when the redoubtable Greg Matthews was fined 25 per cent of his match payments for the season because he appeared in an anti-smoking magazine advertisement, crushing a packet of cigarettes.
Justifying the “No Mo” crackdown, the ACB’s chairman, Alan Crompton, said: “Good sponsorship is hard to find and we are very grateful for the support of Benson and Hedges.”
At the time, Matthews looked like an unseemly and ungrateful rebel and was roundly criticised. After this passage of time and growth of wisdom, it’s clear he was a long way ahead of his time.
This week there has been an interesting confluence of our national netball team, the Diamonds, declining to wear Hancock Prospecting signage because of that company’s troubled history with people of the First Nations – even while men’s Test cricket captain Pat Cummins made it known he will do no more ads with the fossil fuel energy company Alinta.
Both stands have led to them being attacked, often from the same commentators who were the most vociferous supporters of the Manly Seven declining to wear the rainbow pride jersey.
See, if you take a stand against what’s on your jersey because your ancient religion has some precepts against things that the modern world has by now mostly got its head around – like homosexuality – then you’re untouchable.
But if you have modern ethical concerns over being seen to support things you actually strongly disagree with? To the dungeon with you!
Before the Diamonds are dragged away, can I just throw one bouquet their way?
For my colleague Georgina Robinson provided a fascinating account this week of how the whole thing transpired. She recounted how, in a team meeting a fortnight ago one of rookies in the team, Donnell Wallam, a Noongar woman, wasn’t happy about having Hancock Prospecting on her uniform, as the company’s founder, Lang Hancock had once talked of the problems caused by “half-castes”.
She knew how, 40 odd years ago, he had publicly advocated doping up water-holes “so that they were sterile and would breed themselves out in future, and that would solve the problem”.
So Wallam asked the others if they thought it would be alright for her to individually ask for a dispensation from Netball Australia “to wear an unmarked dress when she debuted against England at the end of the month.”
And this is where it gets magnificent, as recounted by Robinson. For, no, it would not be ok!
“Wallam was floored when her teammates in the room announced they would stand with her on the matter. For more than a decade the Diamonds had lived and played by their team motto, ‘sisters in arms’. There were tears around the room … as they told Wallam they would not let her look any different from them on her debut for Australia.”
So they would back her, stand with her, and join her in her refusal to wear the sponsors name on their uniforms.
This was not “one-in, all-in” in the team huddle, blithely mouthing off platitudes. This was a magnificent bunch of Australian women, actually living it, taking a stand and facing the consequences.
Australian players enjoy the win at John Cain Arena.Credit:Getty Images
Sisters in arms, indeed. Can you think of another team in the country that might display that kind of unified courage, when they must have known the fall-out coming their way? I cannot.
Impressive right now, in the future it might well be iconic.
Will they take a financial hit because of it? Probably, in the short term. Sponsors like Hancock Prospecting are not thick on the ground. But here’s the thing. The Diamonds have now marked their names in the sand: “We are more than human billboards. If we wear something, you can believe that we believe in it too.”
That has real value.
And yes, I accept Hancock Prospecting has moved on a long way from the bad old days of its founder, but evenutally the company will move on from netball. When it does, let us all look to who replaces them – the sponsor the netballers give the thumbs-up to. And if you’re as impressed as I am by these sisters of solidarity, let’s steer our purchases accordingly.
A-League doco doing a merry dance
I don’t say that the fly-on-the-wall documentary series on Michael Jordan, The Last Dance changed everything, but there is no doubt it definitively demonstrated that such inside footage of famous sportspeople and teams can make compelling viewing.
As it happens, producer Paul Waterhouse has been doing precisely that kind of doco with the A-League, called “All Access”, whereby they take their cameras inside all 12 A-League clubs, following a different player or coach each round, for a dozen episodes.
Round one followed Portuguese star Luis Nani, the former Manchester United player who has joined Melbourne Victory.
Luis Nani set up one of Melbourne Victory’s goals on his A-League debut.Credit:Getty
Round two, this weekend, follows Brisbane Roar recruit Charlie Austin and they were there when he had an almighty blow-up at half-time with teammate Connor Chapman after he felt the defender was responsible for conceding two goals.
Friends? He doesn’t miss him, and it is a fascinating insight into the previously unseen passions of the game. It’s on 10Play, and Channel Ten Bold – whatever that is – the sarvo at 2 pm.
Phar out, I was wrong
My mistook. In the print version of my Thursday column I mistakenly attributed the view that Phar Lap was poisoned, to my mate, the sporting historian Geoff Armstrong. In fact, he says, the great horse was killed by Duodenitis-Proximal jejunitis, a bacterial infection that was not discovered until the early 1980s. Glad we have that sorted!
Meantime, Geoff told me a great yarn about what happened to Graeme Langlands’ famous white boots from the 1975 grand final, where for the only time in his career – due to a pain-killing injection gone wrong – he played disastrously and the Dragons lost 38-0.
As Armstrong recounts in his just released Spirit of the Red V: A Century of Dragons Rugby League (Volume 2, 1968–2021, after the game, he took his white boots with him on the Kangaroos trip to England. “He wore them at training on a field at Garforth, the town in Yorkshire where the team was based. Of course, he was unmercifully ribbed by his teammates until he could stand it no longer, at which point he decided to tie the damn boots to the crossbar of one of the goal posts. They were still there the next morning. Nobody wanted them.”
What They Said
John Oliver: “There is already prime-time programming where people kill themselves for our entertainment. It’s called Monday Night Football. Happy concussion season, football fans. It sure feels like maybe this sport shouldn’t exist.”
Kelly Wolf, the agent of 15-year-old Anna Leigh Waters who is a professional pickleball player: “She’s in a unique place right now in terms of her dominance. If you’re a brand and you’re trying to reach a certain demographic or you want to put a foot in pickleball, she’s just a fantastic ambassador. It’s her age, her personality, her ability to communicate with people, her love for the sport.” Pickleball? Do what I did. Look it up!
Peter V’landys: “It’s a thing of the past, the 3pm grand-final kick-off. It will not go back to that timeslot. I find it ironic that people want us to change the kick-off time. If I consider the fans, we will keep the grand final exactly where it is because our figures show the current timeslot is when the majority of fans watch it.”
Samoa coach Matt Parish after losing 60-6 in the Rugby League World Cup to England: “We could play that game again tomorrow and it would be an entirely different result.”
Panther turned Tiger Api Koroisau on making jokes at his new team’s expense after winning the NRL grand final: “I understand everyone’s reaction, especially the fans of the Tigers. They can take it sort of in the way that it wasn’t meant to be interpreted, but at the end of the day, I hope they just chose me on my playing skills rather than my jokes.”
Andre Borovec, coach of the Prime Minister’s XI, due to play a four-day pink-ball game against the West Indies in November: “We’re looking forward to having [the PM] in and around the team. I think it’s going to be a great experience for the players to experience this fixture because of the history involved. Anthony is more than welcome to even throw some balls if he wants to.”
Namibia’s JJ Smit, centre, takes the wicket of Sri Lanka’s Chamika Karunaratne.Credit:AP
Sri Lankan cricketer Chamika Karunaratne after they lost their opening game to Namibia: “We are definitely going to put more than 100% in the next two matches.”
Adam Doueihi playing for Lebanon at the Rugby League World Cup against the Kiwis was sent for an early shower for unburdening himself of the view that the ref should – tell ’im again, Adam: “Give us some f—ing calls.”
Mitchell Moses, who is playing for Lebanon, on the possibility of taking on Australia in the knockout rounds: “We don’t want to look too far ahead but you are versing players that these boys have watched since they were young.” I know. To verse … Look it up.
South Australia Premier Peter Malinauskas thinks having all AFL matches for a round in Sydney is a waste: “I’ve been pretty blunt about this with Gil [McLachlan] and others (that) ‘if you guys host this in NSW, these guys can’t get half a stadium full for a run-of-the-mill NRL match, let alone an AFL match’. If this goes to Sydney, people are going to turn on their television sets and they’re going to see 600 people at the western Sydney ground watching Freo versus Brisbane, whereas here in Adelaide we’ll put on one hell of a show and we know people will show up to watch.”
Netball Australia chair Wendy Archer on why they ceded to the Diamonds declining to wear the sponsor’s name, Hancock Prospecting, on their uniforms: “Netball Australia believed that it was not in the best interests of the players, the sport or Hancock Prospecting to wear the dress at this time. Hancock Prospecting has been accommodating and supportive of ensuring that players are not unnecessarily distracted.”
Team of the Week
Wallaroos. Take on Wales on Saturday in the Rugby World Cup.
Australia. Take on New Zealand at the SCG in the T20 World Cup on Saturday in a rematch of last year’s World Cup final. (As if you don’t remember every minute detail, am I right? Score? Victor? Venue? With a gun to my head I couldn’t tell you anything at all. And isn’t that the nature of T20?)
Tazuni. The soccer-loving penguin based on the Eudyptula species is the mascot for next year’s Women’s World Cup in Australia and New Zealand.
Elnaz Rekabi competed without a hijab.Credit:AP
Elnaz Rekabi. Iranian climber made news when she competed in South Korea without her hijab. There was hell to pay, though after apologising and saying it happened inadvertently, she may stay out of prison. Meanwhile, in completely unrelated news, it is the third decade of the 21st century.
Nedd Brockmann. Ran from Cottesloe Beach in Perth to Bondi — a 3952km journey over 47 days for charity. He ran approximately 10 hours each day, starting at around 5am and has raised $1.85 million so far for the homeless charity, We Are Mobilise.
Matildas. Women’s World Cup draw will be done on Saturday in New Zealand for what should be one of the prime sporting events in these parts for 2023.
Australian Steelers. Defeated the United States in a thrilling final to be crowned world champions of wheelchair rugby.
Twitter: @Peter_Fitz
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