Aussie Rules: Australian Football Players Warned Not to Cover Logos

In America, the team owners of the NFL and NBA have locked out their own players as the two sides try to hammer out new collective bargaining agreements that will make every one feel like they are getting a fair chunk of the massive financial pie.

In Australia, the players of the Australian Football League aren’t happy about the way they are being treated, either. The Sydney Morning Herald reports that they have come up with a way to show their displeasure without having a full strike: covering up the AFL logo on their jerseys.

The league, which was founded in 1897, “has warned that clubs will face massive fines if players attempt” this  plan in the slightest, SMH notes. AFL CEO boss Andrew Demetriou says the fines could be as high as $5,000 for each player who tries to cover up the logo on their jersey.

While those fines likely make a pretty small part of the revenue pie for the AFL, Demetriou also announced that the league is bringing in some more big bucks from Toyota.

The Japanese car manufacturer has signed a new deal with the AFL that Demetriou “described as the largest sponsorship arrangement in Australian sport history,” the newspaper report adds. “Toyota will extend its agreement with the AFL as a major naming-right sponsor for three years until 2014.”