‘Really?’: NRL botches trophy ceremony with hat fiasco
The NRL is under fire for an apparent “ambush” that has blown up in the league’s face following a premiership ring stunt with kids.
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C’mon NRL, you’re better than this.
League officials are under fire for a botched grand final trophy ceremony that appeared to show complete disregard for the kids involved during the premiership ring presentations.
Penrith stars are proudly wearing their 2022 premiership bling following their thrashing of Parramatta on Sunday night at Accor Stadium.
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It was a miserable night for the Eels and their fans with the club’s 37-year premiership drought dragging on.
It turned out to be a miserable night for some of the kids specially selected to present the Panthers players with their premierships rings.
As is modern Australian sporting tradition, the children selected were tasked with handing over the rings to players as they walked onto the podium sitting in the middle of Accor Stadium.
Just like in the AFL Grand Final the previous week, there were some awkward handshake misses and accidental high-five snubs, but the most excruciating part was seeing those local junior footballers walk off stage holding a pink hat, handed to them by the players receiving their rings.
While the children tasked with handing Geelong players their premiership medals last week received special AFL premiership caps — the children on Sunday night in Sydney appeared to walk away holding generic marketing merchandise from the NRL’s naming rights sponsor Telstra.
Fans and Aussie rugby league commentators were scathing of the tasteless move and took to social media to share their thoughts.
Sports journalist Todd Balym posted on Twitter: “Why are the Panthers giving the young kids Telstra hats & not Panthers hats? Kids would be thrilled. Ambush marketing fail.”
Sport TV commentator Russell Barwick wrote: “Honestly can we do better than a Telstra pink cap for the Panthers to give to the kids presenting rings? What about a Penrith hat or footy?”
The ABC’s Corbin Middlemas wrote: “If you’re an under 10s footballer, why on earth do you want a pink telecommunications hat?!”
So the kiddies get given a Telstra hat? Really? Just what every child wants! #NRLGF
— Charlotte Corday (@C_Corday) October 2, 2022
Total BS for the Penrith players handing out Telstra caps to the kids giving them their premiership rings. Surely the kids deserve a Penrith Grand Final cap as a keepsake rather than corporate marketing junk! #nrlgrandfinal#PenrithPanthers#nrl#FoxSports
— David Southall (@david_southall) October 2, 2022
Seriously how far out of touch are the @nrl. Changing kids footy rules, late grand finals so kids are asleep n then present the kids with a Telstra hat on stage fun me give them a panthers hat at least #nflgrandfinal
— Mike 🦅🦅🦅 (@Mike__Roach) October 2, 2022
The kids are being given Telstra hats… I’m sure they’ll treasure that! #NRLGF
— TAB (@tabcomau) October 2, 2022
These kids will look back so fondly on their pink Telstra hats that they received from the Panthers players 😂 #NRLGF
— PointsBet AU (@PointsBet_AU) October 2, 2022
The official podium ceremony provided plenty of other awkward moments.
One kid forgot to fork over the premiership ring box and was almost off the stage before realising he had forgotten to hand it to Panthers star Api Koroisau.
The Penrith hooker had a smile on his face as he took a couple steps to chase down the ring he could see getting away from him.
His funny moment came after Panthers star Liam Martin also appeared to drop his ring on the stage during the presentation as he hugged Panthers legend Greg Alexander.
The Panthers will be on their best behaviour with all their premiership silverware in the celebrations that follow in coming days after the club’s infamous 2021 grand final celebrations resulted in the official Provan-Summons premiership Trophy being broken.
Originally published as ‘Really?’: NRL botches trophy ceremony with hat fiasco
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