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The Guardian - AU
The Guardian - AU
Sport
Amanda Meade

News Corp’s Australian chair claims ‘activist’ athletes hurt grassroots sport

Ramez Sheikh, managing director of NBA Asia, Michael Miller, executive chair of News Corp Australasia, and Kate Roffey, president of Melbourne FC and CEO of State Sport Centres Trust, on stage.
Ramez Sheikh, managing director of NBA Asia, Michael Miller, executive chair of News Corp Australasia, and Kate Roffey, president of Melbourne FC, on stage. Miller told the Shaping the Future of Sport conference athletes ‘feel they have permission’ to make statements about sponsors. Photograph: George Sal

Rupert Murdoch’s Australian chief executive has accused athletes of hurting sport when they become “activists” and reject sponsorships from mining or energy companies.

The executive chair Australasia of News Corp Australia, Michael Miller, told a sporting leadership conference that athletes who reject sponsors don’t lose any pay but the “grassroots” sporting organisations suffer as a result of their activism.

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