Carlton & United Breweries has pulled up stumps on its 20-year sponsorship of the Australian cricket team.
CUB has been a sponsor of Cricket in Australia since the 1996-97 cricket season. Its VB brand had naming rights to the domestic Australian one-day international team and domestic one-day series, as part of a deal estimated to be worth $65 million over the past five years.
The deal has come under increasing pressure from doctors, lobby groups and politicians in recent years, who have questioned the impact of sponsorship deals between alcohol companies and sporting bodies, given levels of violence and harm in society linked to alcohol abuse.
Company insiders say the brewer is not walking away from sports sponsorship. Instead, the company will focus on other brands, and is not considering ending its deals with the AFL and NRL.
Last year, then NSW premier Mike Baird publicly criticised the sponsorship deal between Cricket Australia and VB at a dinner for the Thomas Kelly Youth Foundation, a charity named in honour of an 18-year-old who died after being king hit in an unprovoked attack at Sydney's Kings Cross in 2012.
"I find it quite an incredible position where the captain of our cricket team sits there with a big VB on the middle," Mr Baird said. "We all love the captain of our cricket team, but I find that an incredible position."
"I also acknowledge we need to do more in sport advertising," Mr Baird said. "I think we can do much more, and we will do much more."
The former NSW Premier said Cricket Australia had given him assurances they had taken action, and pointed out that the domestic Big Bash League did not feature alcohol-related advertising.
"I have spoken to [Cricket Australia] specifically about this and they have already taken moves," Mr Baird said at the dinner.
News of CUB's decision to disassociate from the national cricket team comes as Australia takes on India in the crucial deciding Test match of the Border-Gavaskar series. "I guess they will have to drink something else if they win," said a CUB insider.
Cricket Australia is believed to have found a new alcohol sponsor to replace CUB, with an announcement due early next month
Alcohol companies have faced increased pressure from medical groups to stop sponsoring sport.
Earlier this year the Royal Australasian College of Physicians (RACP) called for an end to alcohol sponsorship of sports teams and tournaments, and a ban on alcohol advertising during daytime live sport coverage, saying it was harming children.
A 2012 report from the Australian Medical Association also called for a ban on alcohol sponsorship of sport. That report stated there was "convincing evidence supporting the link between alcohol marketing and alcohol consumption by young people," asserting "there is an urgent need to tackle the problem of alcohol marketing in Australia with robust policy and stronger regulatory oversight".
Alcohol companies are estimated to spend in excess of $300 million a year on sports sponsorship in Australia.
The deal between VB and Cricket Australia has caused a number of controversies in recent years.
In 2013 Australian spin bowler Fawad Ahmed asked to have the VB logo removed from his shirt because, as a Muslim, he does not associate with alcohol on religious grounds. Ahmed was given leave to remove the VB logo from his uniform.
In 2015, after Australia won the Cricket World Cup, commentator Shane Warne created a controversy by repeatedly asking the Australian players if they were "thirsty" and how much they planned to drink during celebrations.
During the television interview Warne asked Steve Smith: "Are you going to have a bit of a drink tonight too, Smitty? Are you going to get thirsty as well? The boys are thirsty, they seem."
He then asked Shane Watson and Josh Hazlewood: "So what's the plan, besides lots of drink and that. How long is that going to last. Just one night, two nights? We saw [coach] Darren Lehmann say it might last a week. Do you reckon it will go a bit longer than that?"
Cricket Australia declined to comment on CUB's decision.
CUB confirmed the deal with Cricket Australia had ended "amicably", but made no further comment.
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