Tape-gate: Even Canberra Can’t Resist Fremantle’s Big Week

Righto, so while the rest of the footy world is talking about whether Fremantle can actually go all the way this weekend, half of Canberra’s gone and got themselves a texta and a roll of red tape. Only in this competition does a federal minister end up as part of the finals conversation, but here we are, and honestly, over here in the west we’re finding the whole thing pretty entertaining.

The backstory for anyone who’s been under a rock

For those tuning in late, Woodside Energy’s logo has been sitting on the front of the Fremantle guernsey for a while now, and it’s copped plenty of stick from fans and now, apparently, from within Labor’s own ranks. Josh Wilson, the assistant minister for climate change and energy no less, has become the latest bloke to slap some tape over the logo on his own Dockers jumper and pose for a photo about it. He’s not the first punter to do it and he won’t be the last, but when it’s a sitting federal minister doing it in the week of a grand final, it’s a different kettle of fish altogether.

I’ll say this much – you’ve got to admire the timing. Or maybe it’s terrible timing, depending which way you look at it. Either way, it’s dragged a genuine sponsorship stoush right into the middle of what should be a week all about the footy.

A club stuck in the middle

Spare a thought for the Freo footy department this week, because this is the last headache they need. You’re one week out from your first ever premiership tilt, the whole state’s buzzing, and instead of talking about Fyfe’s body or the forward structure, everyone’s asking the coach about a sponsorship deal and whether a government minister reckons it’s dodgy. That’s a shocking bit of scheduling from the football gods.

To be fair to the Dockers, this isn’t a new fight. Plenty of members have made their feelings known about the Woodside partnership for a couple of years now, and the club’s had to wear it every single time it comes up. It’s not really Freo’s fault that a sitting minister decided grand final week was the moment to make his point, but it’s their week that’s copped the distraction all the same.

Fair play or a bit rich, depending who you ask

Now look, I reckon you can argue this one both ways and still be a reasonable person about it. On one hand, plenty of fans genuinely don’t love seeing a gas company front and centre on the jumper, and they’re entitled to say so — that’s just supporters having a crack, which happens at every club in the competition one way or another. On the other hand, there’s something a touch rich about a government minister rocking up with tape and a photo opportunity when it’s his own government’s policies that arguably keep companies like Woodside humming along nicely in the first place. You could say he’s having a bob each way, and I reckon plenty of people did say exactly that once the photo did the rounds.

It raised eyebrows, put it that way. Some reckon it’s a bloke standing up for what he believes in on his own time, jumper and all. Others reckon it’s a touch cute for a minister to be lecturing a footy club about its sponsors when the checkbook’s sitting right there in his own portfolio. I’m not going to tell you which side’s right, because genuinely both arguments have got legs, but it’s certainly given the talkback callers something to chew on this week instead of the actual footy.

The bigger picture for clubs chasing the dollar

This is where it gets interesting for the rest of us out west, actually. WA clubs cop it tougher than most when it comes to funding footy operations — we’re a long way from headquarters, the travel schedule’s brutal every single season, and every dollar from a major partner matters more here than it maybe does for some cashed-up Victorian outfit that’s been printing money for a hundred and twenty years. Fremantle’s relationship with Woodside isn’t some greedy cash grab, it’s the reality of running an AFL club a few thousand kays from the rest of the competition.

So while I get why fans and now politicians want to make a stand, I also reckon it’s easy to have a go from the outside when you’re not the one signing off on the training facility upgrades or the travel budget. Sponsorship’s a grubby business full stop, and every single club in this league, mine included, has taken money from somewhere that someone somewhere doesn’t love. It’s just that Freo’s copped the spotlight this week because of the timing.

What it means heading into Saturday

The frustrating bit, if you’re a Dockers fan, is that none of this actually matters for what happens out on the ground. Woodside logo or no Woodside logo, tape or no tape, Fremantle still have to go out there and win a game of football against a genuinely good opponent, and that’s hard enough without a side story eating up the press conferences. If I were in the rooms down at Cockburn this week I’d be wanting every single question to be about the game plan, not about corporate sponsorship ethics.

From an Eagles fan’s perspective, look, I’m not going to pretend I’m not enjoying the sideshow a little bit. Any week Freo isn’t talking purely about football is a week that probably doesn’t help them. But credit where it’s due — reaching a grand final is a genuinely big achievement for that club and its members, sponsorship rows and all, and I don’t reckon anyone over here in the west wants to see the occasion swallowed up by a stoush that’s got more to do with Canberra than Cockburn.

The verdict

At the end of the day this is a story about a bloke with a roll of tape, and it’s told us more about the ongoing tension between footy clubs and their sponsors than anything else. Fair enough if fans want to keep pushing the issue, that’s their right as members and supporters. But grand final week should belong to the players and the fans lining up outside Optus Stadium, not to a photo op from Parliament House. Here’s hoping by Saturday everyone’s talking about handballs and set shots instead of company logos, because Lord knows the WA clubs have had enough headlines stolen from us over the years without adding this one to the pile.