BIG business continues to shun Australia’s Paralympians, donating just a fraction of what they give able-bodied athletes.
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The nation’s Paralympic movement has attracted just $6 million in sponsorship over the past four years, forcing athletes to train and compete on a shoestring budget. Some have even had requests for a free pair of running shoes rejected.
In contrast, corporate Australia backed the Olympic campaign to the tune of $36 million and showered dozens of prominent Olympians with lucrative endorsement deals.
In a frank concession, Australian Paralympic Committee (APC) commercial general manager Ian Laing said the organisation shared some blame because it had traditionally been too slow chasing the corporate dollar.
“Australia is a tough market… it’s a sports-mad country, which is fantastic, but the downside is there is an insane amount of competition for sponsorship and it’s up to us to really find our place in that landscape,” said Mr Laing, who joined the APC late last year.
“The fact is we just didn’t start discussions early enough and it’s clear we really need to be engaged early. We can’t just pop up a year or two before the next Games and say ‘Hi, remember us? Please jump on board’.
“Our message to the corporate world of Australia is ‘we can work with you’ but we’ve historically not been great at approaching them and that’s something we’re working really hard to do.”
Of the 41 companies that donated money or products to the 2012 Australian Olympic Committee, just four have gone on to support the Paralympic team.
Those that did not include giants of Australia’s corporate sector such as McDonalds, Coca Cola, Coles and the Commonwealth Bank.
The 161 members of the nation’s Paralympic team will compete in London with the formal backing of just 14 companies.
The disparity has so riled three members of the Australian Paralympic running team - Evan O’Hanlon, Scott Reardon and Brad Scott - that they have pledged to cover up the logos of non-supportive sporting apparel firms on their running gear.
Mr Laing would not say whether the APC supported the protest.
“But having tried to help some of the athletes even get a free pair of running shoes, I do find it disappointing that defending champions couldn’t get some support from major brands,” he said.
Professor Pascale Quester, a marketing and sponsorship expert at the University of Adelaide, said business did not appreciate the commercial benefits that flow from an association with Paralympians.
“It is a very good opportunity for these multinational companies to demonstrate they care, they are not big bastard corporates and that they are there to help the more disadvantaged,” she said.
“Paralympians have struggled; their sense of victory is greater than Olympians and there is a real poignancy to that that could be leveraged beautifully by sponsors.”
Mr Laing said the APC would continue discussions with potential partners once the London Games we complete, with the intention of signing them up for the next four years.
To complicate matters, the APC is prohibited from signing sponsorship agreements with competitors of exclusive International Olympic Committee (IOC) partners.
Officials estimate the London Paralympic Games will reach a global audience of about 3.8 billion people and be broadcast live in 80 countries.
Commercial sponsors and suppliers of the Australian Paralympic Committee:
Telstra, Toyota, Qantas, Media Monitors, Calyton Utz, 2XU, Swisse, Allianz, Ernst and Young, Solitaire, Speedo, R.M. Williams, Scody, Goodman.
Commercial sponsors and suppliers of the Australian Olympic Committee:
Coca Cola, Acer, Atos, Dow, GE, McDonalds, Omega, Panasonic, P&G, Samsung, Visa, Adidas, AMP, Australia Post, Cadbury, Coles, Commonwealth Bank, CoSport, Fitness First, Kraft Foods, Mitsubishi Motors, Qantas, Rio Tinto, Speedo ,Swisse, Telstra, Accor, Adecco Group, ANL, Athlegen, Beiersdorf, Getty Images, Hamilton Laboratories, Karbon Sports, Media Monitors, RogenSi, Shop Supplies, Sportscraft, Valley, Westfield, XTM.