ETHAN CLEMENTS is a 15-year-old local Fremantle resident and lifelong Dockers fan. Following the Grand Final he’s taken a deep dive into the grassroots “Get Off My Chest” campaign.
RECENTLY around 40,000 Dockers fans, including myself, celebrated the Grand Final in the heart of Fremantle.
Despite the City of Fremantle having a fossil-fuel advertising ban, the Woodside logo was likely shown around 40,000 times.
The local campaign ‘Get Off My Chest’ has one goal: To get Woodside, the gas giant, ousted as the Dockers’ sponsor and off our jerseys.
In the meantime, they’ve asked supporters to physically tape up Woodside logos on jerseys, t-shirts and other merchandise in protest.
Woodside has been their sponsor for over 16 years. That’s longer than I’ve been alive.
In late 2024, they extended their contract until the end of 2027.
When this deal was renewed, Woodside stated the Dockers and themselves both had a shared ‘focus on sustainability’.
The same Woodside was linked to an estimated 75 million tonnes of greenhouse gas emissions in just last year alone.
‘Get Off My Chest’ wants Woodside to not hide behind multimillion dollar sponsorships to green-wash West Australians of their actions.
Why would any child playing Auskick or watching from the stands question the actions of the corporation on their favourite team’s jersey?
The founder of the grass-roots campaign is Clare Lagan, self-described Freo fan, student and regular at Patio Bar. She’s an academic researcher and PhD candidate at UWA Law School researching climate litigation and human rights.
For Clare, the ‘Get Off My Chest’ campaign isn’t just an academic exercise, it’s a mission rooted in a life-time of being a Docker’s supporter.
Her campaign hits a nerve because it speaks directly to the internal conflict of many Dockers supporters wondering how they can support their team when their biggest symbol represents a climate-polluter.
That tension became very real when stepping out in Fremantle on match day.
When I was walking through the Cappuccino strip on Saturday, I wanted to support the Dockers.
The players I’ve grown up watching.
All the challenges and hardships they’ve faced since I became a fan.
Fremantle, the town I’ve always loved and known.
Instead, I was supporting a company on my jersey who is known for deceiving the public and driving up energy prices and destroying sacred Indigenous sites.
All I needed to do at that moment was stick some duct tape over the logo on my jersey.
Though this is a temporary fix, ‘Get Off My Chest’ wants a reality where fossil-fuel is never associated with the Dockers again.
Looking back at the Woodside logo, I couldn’t help but think how sports used to look.
Decades ago, Big Tobacco companies used massive sporting budgets and partnerships to normalise smoking and put their brand-names on players jerseys.
Sounds familiar?
This was then later banned because of the tobacco crisis.
Big Tobacco fought back using the same, tired playbook.
Excuses claiming the money was needed to “sustain grassroots kids sport” and that sports codes wouldn’t be able to adapt and thrive with ethical revenue streams without relying on the tobacco companies.
This same playbook is being used when suggesting the Dockers can’t find a new ethical-sponsor.
The Dockers have just had their best season in history; they would not currently be running short of partnership requests.
If the tobacco crisis warranted a ban on smoking companies advertisements, wouldn’t a climate-crisis be a good reason to stop fossil-fuel advertisements?
The group has gained large amounts of support.
From local-legends like John Butler and Kate Hulett to international-singer and Freo-local Tame Impala who taped the Woodside logo while wearing his jersey on stage.
Other supporters include members of the Greens – Sophie McNeil, Jordan Steele-John, and Adam Bandt – and Fremantle’s MP Josh Wilson.
Wilson’s recent endorsement proves this tension isn’t just felt by fans on the street, it has reached the highest level of local politics.
He told PerthNow “Australia is a place where people have the freedom to express their view and values through a range of creative and peaceful campaigns”.
Even though this will create large amounts of tension with his gas-supporting Labor colleagues, it’s good to see Josh finally listening to what his community wants and not the Woodside gas lobbyists demands.
The reach of this campaign can be felt and specifically seen across Fremantle.
You might have seen posters appearing across different parts of the city stating ‘Let’s go Freo, Let’s drop Woodside’. They even appeared in last week’s issue of The Chook.
The members of ‘Get Off My Chest’ have also spray-painted over the Woodside logo on a mural of the Dockers outside of Fremantle Markets.
They state Freo is the one place you can celebrate the Dockers without also being forced to celebrate their greedy gas-giant sponsor.
This community sentiment is exactly why the City of Fremantle adopted a landmark Fossil Fuel Advertising and Sponsorship Policy in March 2025.
They became WA’s first local council to ban fossil fuel ads and sponsorship on council land.
This has the support of a majority of 52 per cent of the city.
Cr Jemima Williamson-Wong recently posted a video explaining this ban and why there’s no ‘sneaky red logos’ on any of the Dockers bunting along the Cappuccino Strip.
This campaign has traveled all throughout the club.
From musicians, to politicians, and now the local council, it’s clear this campaign has support to gain actual, tangible momentum in the coming months.
The Dockers need a more permanent and inclusive sponsor that all fans can get behind and truly represents Fremantle’s progressive values of climate protection and community care.
If you like the sounds of this campaign, you can join me in getting some tape and covering up your Woodside logo on your jersey.
We still have quite a while until Flagmantle 2027 so start spreading the word.
Who knows, hopefully that ‘un-ignorable sea’ will be the MCG.