AB, you un-Australian ambush marketer, you

Submitted by Rick Eyre on October 11 2006, 2:00 am

"We think ambush marketing is fairly un-Australian,"

- Geoff Donohue, corporate affairs spokesperson for Fosters Brewing, as reported in the Sydney Morning Herald of 11.10.06

Allan Border's second stint as a national selector of the Australian team ended on Monday after just four months.

"...my various commitments are far heavier than I had expected back in mid-year and I don’t think it is appropriate to do what is a really important job if I am not able to give it the full attention it deserves."

he said in a Cricket Australia press release on stepping down. But Alex Brown, writing in Wednesday's Sydney Morning Herald, believes he has cottoned on to The Real Reason for AB's departure.

His Pugliness, it seems, has been moonlighting for The Other Side.

XXXX.

Border, you see, has been making appearances in ads for XXXX Gold, a beer produced by Lion Nathan.

Lion Nathan is one of the two major brewing companies in Australia. The other is Fosters Australia.

Fosters Australia is a major commercial partner of Cricket Australia. Fosters make, among other brands, VB and Carlton Draught.

We've had plenty of horror stories from India and the West Indies in recent years about players who have been dropped from the side because of competing sponsorship deals. But is this the first time an administrator has fallen foul at the Altar of the Commercial Partnership?