Emirates and CGU voice concern over racism findings at Collingwood

Major Collingwood sponsors are engaged in dialogue with the football club amid findings of racism at the club in a report.

Major Collingwood sponsors air carrier Emirates and insurer CGU are seeking talks with the football club after a damning report painting a culture of racism was released. (Photo by Daniel Pockett/AFL Photos via Getty Images)

Major Collingwood sponsors air carrier Emirates and insurer CGU are seeking talks with the football club after a damning report painting a culture of racism was released this week.

The concerns come after evidence of systemic racism at the AFL club emerged in a high profile report released on Monday.

Major sponsors Emirates and CGU Insurance are both in dialogue with the club after findings of racism.

CGU Insurance, which will walk away from the club at the end of the 2021 season, said it was “deeply concerned and disappointed” by the findings of racism at the club.

“We are a significant supporter of reconciliation in Australia and as a business we are focused on promoting diversity, inclusion and belonging in all our communities,” a CGU spokeswoman said.

“We’ll continue to engage with the Club to further understand the findings from the report and their plans for implementing the recommendations.”

CGU had decided to end its years long relationship with the football club in mid 2020, but the break with the insurer will mark a major loss for the sporting club.

Emirates also told The Australian it condemned racism and discrimination.

“We are pleased that Collingwood Football Club are proactively adopting changes as per the recommendations identified in their report,” an Emirates spokesman said.

Collingwood president Eddie McGuire is holding off bringing forward his resignation from the club, which was announced in December last year.

Mr McGuire is credited for turning around the financially troubled club when he took the helm at Collingwood in 1998.

Mr McGuire has built a strong stable of club sponsors in recent years, including Nike and La Trobe Financial as premier partners.

Australian supermarket giant Coles signed on as “community partner” for the club, while Subway and Coca Cola are among several more partners and sponsors of the club.

Club sponsor Subway commended Collingwood for commissioned the review and its commitment to structural change through the report’s recommendations.

“As a business that celebrates diversity in its franchise model, Subway condemns racism in all its forms,” a spokeswoman said.

“Business, sport and community all have important roles to play in eliminating racism from Australian society.”

Eddie McGuire. Picture: Jake Nowakowski

The report, prepared by professors Larissa Behrendt and Lindon Coombes, found that “while claims of racism have been made across the AFL, there is something distinct and egregious about Collingwood’s history”.

The club, whose ancestral home-ground overlooks the train line and Melbourne’s eastern freeway has long been a fixture of Melbourne’s cultural landscape but the shock findings of racism at the club have rocked the membership.

The release of the report, on Monday, came only one day before the club’s annual general meeting on Tuesday.

The Behrend and Coombes report makes 18 recommendations for the club to grapple with the difference between what it “says its stands for and what it does”.

It calls on Collingwood to take a close look at its board, to “ensure its membership, through their behaviour and beliefs, reflects its goals of diversity and individually embrace the values of the club, including the principles of anti-racism and inclusion”.