Calacus Weekly Hit & Miss – IIHF sponsors & Atletico Madrid
Every Monday we look at the best and worst communicators in the sports world from the previous week.
HIT – ICE HOCKEY SPONSORS TAKE A STAND
We’ve talked a lot about brands needing to stand for something these days.
Selling great products and paying ambassadors to appear with branding is not enough – today’s consumers require authenticity and if their values fall short, it costs them more than just their reputation.
The Ice Hockey World Championships are set to take place in May and June this year in Latvia and Belarus with sponsors threatening to depart if the latter retains its hosting status.
Belarus President Alyaksandr Lukashenka, who has run the country since 1994, has reportedly used violence to clamp down on protests about his repressive regime and the disputed presidential election held last summer.
Almost 30,000 people have been detained, with hundreds reportedly tortured in detention and beaten on the streets in the postelection crackdown by the government.
There have also been fears that Lukashenka's government has failed to control the coronavirus pandemic and is under-reporting cases and deaths.
More than 57,000 people have signed an online petition against holding the 2021 Ice Hockey World Championships in the Belarusian capital.
The situation was not helped by International Ice Hockey Federation (IIHF) President Rene Fasel meeting Lukashenka in Minsk earlier this month with images circulating of their friendly interaction.
Fasel admitted that the IIHF was “deeply concerned over the capability of the organiser in Minsk to deliver the tournament safely in a COVID-19 environment. It is not to the international standard we would expect for the World Championship, but we have received a pledge from the Government to follow all IIHF guidelines.”
Czech Foreign Minister Tomas Petricek said earlier he could not imagine the competition taking place in Belarus, saying that would "legitimize a repressive regime.”
That prompted Czech carmaker Skoda Auto to announce that it will not sponsor the World Championships if Belarus maintains host status.
“We've been a proud partner for 28 years. But we also respect & promote all human rights,” said Skoda Auto in a tweet.
“Therefore, SKODA will withdraw from sponsoring the 2021 IIHF Ice Hockey World Championship if Belarus is confirmed to be co-hosting the event.”
Nivea have also confirmed that they will not remain a sponsor if Belarus remain as hosts. They said “We have decided that Nivea Men will not sponsor the 2021 World Hockey Championship if it is confirmed that it will be held in Belarus.
“We have already informed the International Hockey Federation (IIHF) of our decision and will continue to follow the current negotiations closely.”
The IIHF has now said that they will make a decision on the hosting of the World Championships in the next few days.
If Belarus retains hosting status, sponsors may well continue to withdraw from the event.
Whether the IIHF will be able to attract new sponsors both for the World Championships or in general while this shadow surrounds them remains to be seen.
No company wants to see their branding as a backdrop to protests or controversy and the potential crisis this decision has provoked is only likely to get worse if the IIHF stand by their original decision.
UPDATE – Since we published this story, the IIHF has removed Belaurus as co-host of its World Championships, a decision which has been welcomed. Questions remain how much the impact of sponsor withdrawals prompted the decision but certainly underline the importance of brand power.
MISS – ATLETICO MADRID
When it comes to betting, footballers have to take extra care to ensure that they stick rigidly to the rules.
England defender Kieran Tripper was suspended for ten weeks in December by the Football Association (FA) after messages came to light that could have been interpreted as insider information from which his friends could have benefited.
Trippier told a friend to “lump on” over his 2019 move from Tottenham Hotspur to Atletico, according to the FA.
The FA statement said: “The suspension, which includes all football and football-related activity, is effective worldwide from today following an application to FIFA.”
Atletico coach Diego Simeone was unhappy with the suspension and said: “We think it’s unfair and we hope it can be revised because of the damage done to Atletico.
“Atletico obviously have absolutely nothing to do with this situation so we hope it can be re-assessed in some way, because while the FA benefits from this, Atletico is harmed by it and has nothing to do with it.”
That prompted the club to appeal to FIFA, the world governing body for football, claiming that the ban should only apply in England and not worldwide.
Rather than accepting the decision and setting an example as a message to others that any breaches of betting regulations were unacceptable, the Spanish club’s appeal undermined the seriousness of Trippier’s offence.
Clubs of any stature need to be guardians of the rules both in letter and spirit, rather than try to find their own loopholes for short-term benefit as Atletico did in this instance.
Unsurprisingly, FIFA denied the appeal and said in a statement: “The FIFA Appeal Committee has dismissed the appeal lodged by the club Atletico Madrid in a case concerning the player Kieran Trippier.
“As a consequence, the decision of the FIFA Disciplinary Committee passed on 23 December 2020 is confirmed, extending sanctions imposed on the player by the English FA to have worldwide effect.”
Trippier's ban, which started on 21 December, will now resume up to and including 28 February.