As a Fremantle Football Club member, I attended both the 2021 and 2022 member’s meetings, the 2021 meeting at the Esplanade Hotel in Fremantle and Optus Stadium in Perth in 2022 as the Esplanade Hotel was not available.

A question that was raised during the 2021 AGM was the issue of Woodside Limited as the major Fremantle Football Club sponsor. Now, respectfully I used the term raised, it was an emotional and poorly articulated rant that was met with gasps and moans by the members. I jumped up and wandered off to the toilet as I was in no mood for this stupid discussion, she could not even put a coherent argument forward – just emotional bullshit.

There have been some high profile activists from Carmen Lawrence whom I later found out was not a member, author Tim Winton [another non-member] and former player Dale Kickett. I have no issues with the right to protest, to be fair and balanced, these people are raising their concerns in a respectful manner, so in that regard, I am ok.

What we really need is some consistency here, these same people appear to have no issues with the AGL sponsorship of the West Coast Eagles, the highest polluting company in Australia. Nor are these very same people concerned about Mineral Resources the naming rights of the West Coast Eagles home ground, Mineral Resources Park. Part of the portfolio of Mineral Resources is energy, that includes oil and gas exploration – seriously.

But let’s not stop here, fast food giant Hungry Jacks [Burger King] adds to obesity, now the number one cause of death in Australia. Obesity has now overtaken smoking, alcohol abuse and illicit drugs as the leading cause of hospitisation and death in Australia. McDonald’s is an AFL sponsor and also sponsors the Fremantle Football Club in direct competition to the West Coast Eagles.

In what could only be viewed as an extraordinary case of double standards, the sponsorship of AGL Energy of cross town rivals has not been mentioned, yet AGL Energy is Australia’s largest polluter. As a duty of disclosure, I own shares in both Woodside and AGL and although my AGL shares have underperformed, I remained committed to this company. However, I fully expect both these business enterprises to transition to renewable energy gradually. I may consider Mineral Resources in the future if they meet my investment needs, currently I do not hold any shares in Mineral Resources.

As the formalities of the meeting ended we were able to discuss topics with high ranking members of the club. I spoke with CEO Simon Garlick how we knew this line of questioning was going to be raised and how the club can better respond. My suggestion was to highlight the $5 billion investment in clean energy and renewables by Woodside Limited, a significant investment. Notwithstanding, Woodside has invested heavily in the clubs indigenous program, Fremantle Football Club has the strongest indigenous links in the league.

Simon listened, he replied that Woodside Limited are not that good at promoting their clean energy credentials and I agreed. There is no reason why the board cannot highlight Woodside major clean energy initiatives at the meeting and press conferences. That does not mean that the club should do all the work for Woodside, what they need to do is help with the narrative and how Woodside is transitioning to clean energy.