Car manufacturer Holden "is refusing to rule out" dumping Australian Football League side Collingwood as a major sponsor, "with the two parties yet to meet face to face" to discuss club President Eddie McGuire's "controversial comments directed at senior football journalist Caroline Wilson," according to Sam McClure of the SYDNEY MORNING HERALD. It comes "less than 24 hours after the Collingwood board met and later announced its unequivocal support of McGuire as president." Holden Dir of Communications Sean Poppitt said that "no decision had been made about the company's ongoing financial commitment to the club." Poppitt: "We're not putting a timeline on anything." Meanwhile, "an unlikely ally has taken to breakfast radio to remind people just how much McGuire's profile has done for football," and that person "may come as a surprise." Mick Malthouse, the man who McGuire pushed out of Collingwood to make way for Nathan Buckley, said that "you have to take the good and the bad when it comes to Eddie" (SMH, 6/22).
STILL COMMITTED: In Melbourne, Rebecca Williams reported Netball Australia CEO Kate Palmer said that McGuire’s "infamous" radio jibe "doesn't change" her sport’s relationship with its new expansion team Collingwood. But Palmer hoped netball could play a role in "supporting and changing society’s attitudes towards women" in its new relationship with the AFL club. Collingwood is one of Netball Australia’s "preferred bidders for three new teams in an expanded and revamped eight-team national league, starting next year" (HERALD SUN, 6/22).
