Sporting Sponsorship
At its height, Firepower was one of Australia's biggest sporting sponsors. Under the company's mounting debts, commitments were reneged upon, leaving sporting teams struggling with financial pressures.
The former Sydney Kings, an Australian basketball franchise part-owned by Tim Johnston, ceased to exist because of the collapse of Firepower. Kings players were owed large sums in unpaid wages and superannuation.—a figure quoted at A$265,073.
The Perth-based rugby union team Western Force was promised millions of dollars in funding which failed to materialise, causing loss of contracted players, notably Matt Giteau.
In 2006, the rugby league team South Sydney Rabbitohs was bought by business partners Russell Crowe and Peter Holmes à Court. On 5 November that year, Russell Crowe appeared on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno and announced that Firepower was sponsoring South Sydney Rabbitohs for A$3 million over three years. Crowe showed viewers a Rabbitohs jersey with Firepower's name on it. In a press release, Peter Holmes à Court announced
"Russell and I have been particularly keen to take the club forward in a socially responsible fashion and Firepower certainly fulfils that criteria. Firepower is an Australian success story—operating in over 50 countries globally and currently expanding rapidly into new markets. Firepower is an emerging brand that is already a global leader in its category. "
Read more about this topic: Firepower International
Famous quotes containing the word sporting:
“I once heard of a murderer who propped his two victims up against a chess board in sporting attitudes and was able to get as far as Seattle before his crime was discovered.”
—Robert Benchley (1889–1945)