The Big Ride for Palestine SA’s agreement with a sportswear manufacturer to create a jersey for its winter ride has been stymied by concern about its branding.
There is something quietly absurd about a cycling jersey becoming a flashpoint for corporate cowardice. Yet that is precisely what happened when an Australian sportswear manufacturer refused to produce a winter, long-sleeved jersey for the Big Ride for Palestine SA – a community cycling group raising awareness for peace in one of the world’s most devastating conflicts.
The design was, by any reasonable measure, unremarkable. It featured the Palestinian flag, the name of the ride, the logo of the Australian Friends of Palestine Association, and sponsorship acknowledgements from five trade unions. The words ‘Free Palestine’ appeared on the fabric. There was no mention of Israel. No mention of Zionism. No mention of Judaism. Just a flag, a slogan and a group of cyclists who wanted to wear their values on their sleeves – literally.
The sportswear manufacturer apparently found this intolerable. We didn’t receive a prompt or principled refusal. Instead, we were met with silence. Weeks passed after the design was finalised with the assistance of their own staff but with no confirmation of manufacturing details or payment arrangements. It was only when we followed up – chasing what should have been routine administrative steps – that the sportswear manufacturer’s position became a little clearer. The manufacturer cited difficulty with the branding on a ‘politically biased item’ and walked back from the agreement.
Let’s sit with that for a moment. A Palestinian flag – the official symbol of a state recognised by the United Nations and more than 140 countries worldwide – is apparently too politically charged for an Australian sportswear company to print on lycra. One wonders how the sportswear manufacturer feels about the many national flags that routinely appear on sporting apparel.
The irony, of course, is that in attempting to avoid political controversy, the company made an emphatically political decision. Refusing to manufacture a jersey because its message advocates for peace is not neutrality: it is a stance. It says, in effect, that some causes are acceptable to display on a cycling jersey and others are not. That some flags are welcome and others are not. That is discrimination, dressed up as corporate caution presumably. It may represent something else but the decision was not explained to us. Not until much later (see post scriptum).
The design complied fully with Australian law. It was not defamatory. It was not racist. It targeted no individual, no ethnicity, no religion. It was, at its core, motivated by a group of people wanting to go for a bike ride and say something about human suffering while they did so.
The Big Ride for Palestine SA is not a radical organisation. It is affiliated with the Australian Friends of Palestine Association and backed by five trade unions – organisations with deep roots in Australian civil society, organisations that have long stood for the rights of working people and the dignity of those without power, anywhere and everywhere. The riders are not agitators. They are cyclists. They are nurses, teachers, tradies and retirees who believe that a ride through South Australian landscapes might, in some small way, draw attention to a people enduring immense hardship.
The sportwear manufacturer’s decision to pull out of the contract/agreement at the last minute – after the design process was complete – left the group scrambling and literally cold. It also sent a message: that even the most benign expression of solidarity can be silenced if a corporation decides the optics are inconvenient.
Australia has a proud tradition of sporting protest. From Peter Norman standing on the 1968 Olympic podium to the long campaign for Indigenous recognition in sport, Australians have understood that the playing field – and the road – can be a place of conscience. The sportswear manufacturer’s decision sits poorly against that tradition.
Big Ride for Palestine SA felt that this was another small and insidious step in the suppression of free expression of public debate, which sits alongside the Minns NSW Government anti-demonstration legislation, thankfully rebuffed by the Supreme Court, and the Crisafulli Queensland Government crackdown on, and arrests for, publicly uttering the rally cry of ‘From the River to the Sea’. If they were not so dangerous, these might be seen as a laughable act of populism. We had to speak up.
The Big Ride for Palestine SA will find another manufacturer. The jerseys will be made. The riders will ride. We will be warm. But the episode deserves to be remembered – not as a story about cycling apparel but as a small and telling example of how the suppression of legitimate political expression works in practice. Not through law. Not through force. But through a quiet phone call, a vague excuse and a contract left unsigned.
That, too, is a political act.
Post scriptum
When the Big Ride for Palestine SA approached the Australian sportswear manufacturer during the writing of this article, to offer them an opportunity to respond prior to going to print, the tone changed. Completely. In their view it had been a misunderstanding. The Big Ride for Palestine had failed to grasp that the manufacturer had been referring to the presence of ‘their brand’ on the cycling jersey and not the Palestinian messaging. We pointed out that this had never been raised with us directly during the design and pre-manufacturing process. We also pointed out that after a thorough search, the manufacturer’s brand was detected on the inside of the jersey collar and hence, never visible in public. Unless of course it was washed and hung up, inside out, to dry. We asked whether they were prepared to proceed with the manufacture of the jerseys if their branding was omitted, they declined. You may draw your own conclusions.
Chris Yiallouros
Chris Yiallouros is a retired public servant who has had a long involvement in Union, local Community and political campaigns in South Australia. A long time supporter of the Palestinian cause and of the Australian Friends of Palestine SA (AFOPA). He is also a life-long committed cyclist and advocate for public transport. He is the Secretary of the Big Ride for Palestine SA, established in 2024 and part of an international and national community organisation that blends a love of cycling with campaigning and fundraising in support of the aspirations of the Palestinian people.