CLANCY OVERELL | Editor | CONTACT
The Wests Tigers have apologised for the botched release of a jersey design intended to mark this weekend’s Indigenous Round, and have since announced that the jersey will be re-designed in the next 24 hours.
The club has been hammered for using a stock image of a Native American on the front of the jersey – a fact that was overlooked before this week’s high-octane social media highlights that emphasised close up shots of Aboriginal players.
After relentless online backlash, Wests Tigers have apologised for the gaffe – admitting that they kind of understand the outrage.
In a statement from the club’s exhausted PR damage control spokesperson, the club vowed to get off their arses and find an Indigenous artist willing to incorporate South-East Asian felines into a new design.
“We, as a club, are very regretful about the turn of events that have resulted in us celebrating Indigenous people from a completely different continent” read the statement.
“What’s happened is, we have like three different headquarters between Leichhardt, Concord and Campbelltown. That means a lot of chefs in the kitchen”
“We have a board made up of old guard loyalists who hate each other and wish they were supporting clubs that don’t exist anymore”
“And on top of that, we’ve got a revolving door on the coaches office”
“So yeah. If one of our media interns, who also doubles as a cheerleader, has accidentally plastered Native American imagery – that she came across after entering ‘Indigenous Culture’ into google – onto a jersey… I guess you can kind of understand how this happens right?”
“The communication channels are shot. This merger club has never been ironed out properly. As much as we hate to say it, that Maori magic that won us a Premiership in 2005 was the worst thing that ever happened to this club. Because it fooled everyone into thinking this model works. It doesn’t. We have no base, we have no home. And the only good news we’ve had this year is that Paul Kent has torched his professional career behaving far worse than any of our players ever would after a skinful on Norton Street”
“We apologise to the Indigenous Australians. Everyone else can go and get fucked”
