This weekend many Australians will be readying themselves to watch the AFL grand final - a central moment on the nation's sporting calendar.

This year it's Geelong taking on the Brisbane Lions and it should be a great contest at the MCG, if that's your thing (and more of that later). 

And to coincide with all the fanfare and the crowning of this year's new champions some new research has been released on the extent of ‘sportswashing' linking some of the country's leading football teams with some of the country's biggest polluters

While the AFL prides itself on fair play, as revealed by the environmental advocacy group Market Forces, a large proportion of AFL clubs are funded by the oil and gas industry.

The report into sportswashing – when companies align themselves with popular sports brands – has found the 10 AFL clubs, as well as the league itself, are sponsored by the likes of Woodside, Santos, AGL and Origin.

Fremantle Dockers' association with Woodside has existed since 2010 despite a campaign in 2022 from high-profile supporters, including former player Dale Kickett, author Tim Winton, and ex-WA Premier Carmen Lawrence, calling for the club to cut ties with the gas company.

Despite this, Fremantle announced in 2024 an extension of its long-standing partnership for an additional two years, securing the collaboration until the end of 2027.

"Clubs will only face more heat from sports fans bearing the brunt of climate-fuelled heatwaves, floods and bushfires," said Market Forces' Brett Morgan, adding the reputational risk is "major" for clubs.

Dr Lucy Richardson, a climate and communications expert at Monash University, said: "We've seen shifts away from tobacco sponsorships of sports, and fossil fuel company sponsorships are likely to eventually go that way as well if they don't shift to clean energy."

Now, to be fair, it's not only AFL which is 'guilty by association' and, let's be honest, sportswashing has been around for a long time. F1 used to be peppered with alcohol and cigarette branding.

And to declare an interest (or more precisely, a lack of interest), I'm not a massive fan of AFL. As a Brit, I can't get my head around the sport and my one and only sporting love will always be rugby union.

And - again - always keen to be fair and balanced, rugby has been hit with allegations of sportswashing in recent days with Santos' sponsorship of the Koori Knockout cup sparking division within the Gomeroi community which is campaigning against the gas giant's Narrabri gas project.

Respected elder Auntie Polly Cutmore, a long-time campaigner against Santos' planned project, says the sponsorship undermines the community's opposition to more than 800 proposed gas wells on Gomeroi Country.

"I'm not only angry at Santos. I'm angry at the so-called Gomeroi men who are allowing this to happen," she said.

"We're currently in court to stop Santos from mining 850 wells across Gomeroi Country … Meanwhile, these men are welcoming Santos into our communities for a three-day football carnival. That's a betrayal."

So what does this link between fossil fuels and mainstream sport show? Is it that all fossil fuels companies are dirty and devious, aligning themselves with our sporting heroes? Or does it show that our sports clubs are just in it for the cash?

I'd say neither is the case. What it makes me realise - again - is that the likes of Santos and Woodside are as integral to the Australian way of life as a barbie on the beach with a cold beer.

"Up the Cats/Up the Lions"* - as they say round here.

Yours, 

Russell Yeo