What’s The Buzz: Why sponsor is dirty on Canterbury Bulldogs

The Bulldogs’ horror season could get even worse, with the club in danger of losing their major sponsor.

The Bulldogs are in serious danger of losing a million-dollar sponsorship deal with hotel tycoon Arthur Laundy.

While Laundy is upset about the sacking of his close friend Trent Barrett, this has more to do with the Bulldogs ignoring his offer to mentor players and provide financial and career advice to help them transition into retirement.

Laundy’s two-year sponsorship deal is up for renegotiation.

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While the jersey exposure for his chain of hotels has always been important, Laundy’s real passion and motivation was to help the players.

Yet he feels unwanted.

Bulldogs major sponsor Arthur Laundy, left, is weighing up his involvement with the club. Picture: Brett Costello

“I made it clear when I first signed up that I wasn’t there just to put my money in,” Laundy said. “My expertise is not football but this was to be a partnership.

“I didn’t want a seat on the board and I didn’t want to get in the way of management.

“However, there were areas like talking to the players in a mentoring role.

“I’m 81, I’ve been around a bit and I wanted to help some of the young fellas.

“The average career span for an NRL player is only five years.

“I want to tell them to invest in bricks and mortar rather than flash cars.

“I’ve helped a lot of young fellas in the past and I can speak about success.

“Anyway, they’ve ignored my offer.”

You look at the behaviour of the likes of perennial ratbag Paul Vaughan.

How he walked out of training and spat abuse at the waiting media on Monday.

And how Laundy could have spoken to him around respect, decency and being a role model.

You think of the gambling issues in the game that have ruined so many players.

The billionaire hotelier makes no secret of his disappointment surrounding recent events at Belmore.

“At the moment, I’m not sure what I’ll do in the future,” Laundy said.

“We’re due to have talks now because the sponsorship is up at the end of the season.

“I’d be lying if I said I’m not disappointed.”

Laundy is actually a mad-keen Wests Tigers supporter.

He has become close to their general manager Tim Sheens, who invited him to the Wests Tigers chairman’s suite for the match against his Bulldogs on Friday night at Leichhardt Oval.