Nine.com.au<\/a> that it has also dropped its commercial partnership with Heeney.<\/p>\n\u201cWe are aware of the reports regarding an investigation by Victoria Police in East Melbourne. We take these matters very seriously and have suspended our partnership with Mr. Heeney pending completion of the investigation,\u201d a Colgate spokesperson said.<\/p>\n
\u201cAs this remains an active police matter, we will have no further comment at this time.\u201d<\/p>\n
Australian Red Cross Lifeblood has also said it has canned its experiential campaign with the Sydney Swans.<\/p>\n
The campaign was centred on a life-sized Swans jumper at Sydney Swans HQ, filled with blood-coloured liquid that was set to drain over 42 days. The campaign was bolstered by out-of-home, digital and match-day activity, encouraging Australians to become regular blood donors.<\/p>\n
As a result of the canned campaign, Lifeblood has confirmed to Mumbrella that it won\u2019t be activating on Sunday when the Swans take on North Melbourne at the SCG.<\/p>\n
On Monday Morning Victoria Police attended the Pullman Hotel in East Melbourne to investigate allegations of a sexual assault.<\/p>\n
After defeating Essendon on Sunday night, the Swans had locked in a top two spot on the AFL ladder heading into the finals series. The whole team and staff were staying at the hotel where the alleged incident occurred.<\/p>\n
On Monday morning, media outlets reported that Heeney, Chad Warner, Riley Bice, Nick Blakey and James Jordan had been linked to an investigation into an alleged sexual assault.<\/p>\n
The players have not been arrested, and no charges have been laid.<\/p>\n
Telstra and Colgate\u2019s suspension of Heeney\u2019s partnership follows the club standing down all of players involved in the active investigation.<\/p>\n
\u201cSydney Swans players Riley Bice, Nick Blakey, Isaac Heeney, James Jordon and Chad Warner will not be considered for selection for the remainder of the 2026 AFL Season,\u201d a Swans official statement read on the club\u2019s website.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe AFL is supportive of the Club\u2019s sanctions.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe respect there is an ongoing investigation by Victoria Police and the actions we have taken today are independent of this.\u201d<\/p>\n
As for the brands who sponsor the club rather than individual players, many are yet to make official decisions on their corporate agreements.<\/p>\n
B&T\u00a0has spoken to one industry insider who said as long as a club is transparent with its processes and are upfront about the situation, it shouldn\u2019t lose any sponsors.<\/p>\n
Major Partner REA Group has told B&T it is awaiting the findings of the investigation before it makes any moves.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe are deeply concerned by the serious allegations involving several Sydney Swans players. We are aware there are investigations currently being conducted by the relevant authorities and await the findings of those investigations,\u201d it said.<\/p>\n
Major partner QBE told Nine.com.au that it has acknowledged the seriousness of the allegations.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe have no tolerance for conduct that compromises the safety, dignity or wellbeing of others,\u201d a spokesperson said.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe support the club\u2019s position in condemning all forms of abuse and disrespectful behaviour towards women.<\/p>\n
\u201cGiven there is an active police investigation it would be inappropriate for us to comment any further.\u201d<\/p>\n
A similar statement was provided to Nine by Origin Energy.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe club informed us about this incident yesterday, and we are incredibly disappointed,\u201d the spokesperson said.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhile the matter is subject to an investigation, it is not appropriate for us to comment any further.\u201d<\/p>\n
B&T\u00a0contacted TAL, Tooheys, UNSW, Virgin, McDonald\u2019s, Nike and Sydney Marathon, who haven\u2019t responded at the time this article was published.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Following the alleged incident of sexual assault, Sydney Swans\u2019 sponsors have taken a stance with two major brands…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":76451,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[113343,113344,31749,247,5009,19326],"class_list":["post-76450","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-sydney","tag-colgate-palmolive","tag-origin-energy","tag-qbe","tag-sydney","tag-sydney-swans","tag-telstra"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/76450","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=76450"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/76450\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/76451"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=76450"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=76450"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=76450"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}