To say that the new deal between SBG and Reebok got off to a shaky start would be something of an understatement.
Just this week it was announced that the Dublin gym had signed an exclusive deal with the sports apparel giant but the contract was almost torn up by head coach John Kavanagh after a rather idiotic slip-up on the end of Reebok.
Reebok released a shirt on Wednesday which urged fight fans to “show your UFC territorial allegiance” and left Northern Ireland off the map of the island of Ireland.
only seeing this now. its about the dumbest idea i've ever seen. working on it. pic.twitter.com/3FiCA1gj8y
— Coach JK (@John_Kavanagh) October 21, 2015
Kavanagh threatened to pull out of the Reebok deal if the t-shirt was not removed from the website by the end of the day, referring to the product as an “incredibly insensitive stupid divisive idea.”
It didn’t take long for the top to disappear from cyberspace and Kavanagh went on to release a lengthy, considered statement in which he explained why he reacted so angrily to the t-shirt and you have to admire the fact that he felt such passion towards an issue that he was willing to stand up to the UFC’s biggest sponsor.
It also says a lot for the power the Dublin-based gym that its founder has the confidence to take on the apparel giant, which wields massive influence in the sport.
Reebok have since come out and apologised for the incident.
https://twitter.com/ReebokUK/status/656852940641144833?lang=en
At least it’s all cleared up now but we’d advise the Reebok designers to stay well away from massively schismatic political issues when they go about making sports tops from now on.
