A Central Coast Mariner publicity stunt has backfired, with Facebook fans of the club reacting angrily to the presentation of a No 1 Mariners jersey to the prime minister, Tony Abbott.
The photo of central coast MP Lucy Wicks presenting Abbott with a personalised jersey attracted more than 400 comments within hours of being posted, most of which were strongly negative.
Many fans threatened not to renew their membership, with some even suggesting they might start barracking for fierce rivals the Newcastle Jets.
“What has Abbott got to do with the Mariners? Lucy Wicks leave the political point scoring out of our club thanks,” one said.
“Mariners, please keep the pollies out of our club!”
“How’s Mike Jedinak going?” another said, referring to Abbott’s World Cup YouTube video in which he got wrong the name of the Socceroos skipper and former Mariners player, Mile Jedinak.
It wasn’t the only time Abbott has made a high-profile gaffe relating to football, nor was it the first time a Central Coast Mariners publicity stunt has backfired.
In January an advertisement taken in the Central Coast Express Advocate, and promoted by the club on social media, depicted former coach Graham Arnold as “cashed-up” and was used to promote the Sydney FC boss’s competitive return to Bluetongue stadium.
The advertisement was slammed as “disrespectful” by the Sydney FC boss, prompting the threat of legal action and a public apology being issued by the club. The Mariners lost the game 5-1, with a still-incensed Arnold referring to the advertising campaign in his post-game media conference.
Not all comments on Friday’s Facebook post were negative: “I’m no Abbott supporter but I do respect the position of prime minister of Australia so number one is correct as far as I’m concerned,” one said.
