News Corp’s Australian chair claims ‘activist’ athletes hurt grassroots sport

Rupert Murdoch’s Australian chief executive has accused athletes of hurting sport when they become “activists” and reject sponsorships from mining or energy companies.

The executive chair of News Corp Australasia, Michael Miller, told a sporting leadership conference that athletes who reject sponsors don’t lose any pay, but the “grassroots” sporting organisations suffer as a result of their activism.

News Corp is the largest publisher in Australian with mastheads including the Australian, the Daily Telegraph, the Herald Sun and news.com.au, and pay TV channel Sky News Australia.

Miller appeared to reference the withdrawal of Hancock Prospecting’s $15m sponsorship from Netball Australia last year after a player backlash.

The backlash was sparked by First Nations squad member Donnell Wallam who expressed an objection to wearing a uniform with the Hancock logo on it because the founder of Hancock Prospecting and father of Gina Rinehart, Lang Hancock, suggested Indigenous Australians should be sterilised.

Speaking on a panel at the SportNXT Shaping the Future of Sport conference in Melbourne, Miller said: “Stars are your biggest strength and your biggest liability.”

“When sporting stars become activists, it has a negative impact on the growth of the game, in terms of athletes choosing who their sponsors are and who they will and won’t work with.

A panel of globally recognised leaders chime in on the state of sport both in Australia and globally. Moderated by @TraceyLeeHolmes, the panel incl. ICC Chair Greg Barclay, NBA Asia MD Ramez Sheikh, News Corp Exec Chairman Michael Miller & Melbourne FC President Kate Roffey. pic.twitter.com/lT7cxwZflM

“You employ people, you come to work accepting that the team, the company you work