The National Rugby League (NRL) has again been left red-faced after a social media promotion for this weekend’s finals series showed one of the eight teams wearing the completely wrong jersey.
A cartoon was uploaded to the NRL’s Twitter and Instagram accounts that showed the eight teams competing in this year’s final series.
But eagle-eyed fans were quick to point out that New Zealand Warriors player, Shaun Johnson, had been drawn wearing the New Zealand national team’s kit and not his Warrior’s one. That’s Johnson bottom left in black below.
Officials quickly deleted the original cartoon and replaced it with a quickly drawn edited version with Johnson now wearing his Warriors jersey.
It’s not the first time the NRL has got itself in hot water over officials’ lack of knowledge of teams and players.
In 2012, the then newly installed chief executive Dave Smith failed to name any of the game’s biggest stars and didn’t even know who the Australian captain, Cameron Smith, was.
In March this year, NRL commission chairman, Peter Beattie, was asked during a TV interview if the Cronulla team was known as the Sharks, the Hawks or the Seagulls to which Beattie admitted, “I’ll be honest, I wouldn’t have a bloody clue.”
