“Hang your heads in shame” – Hull KR hammered over controversial deal

Hull KR have quickly become the ‘second team’ of plenty of people but the club are now facing backlash from their own fans over a controversial new partnership.

The Robins earlier announced that they have partnered with P&O Ferries with the company becoming a ‘Platinum Partner’ as well as the team’s ‘Official Ferry Partner’ for both the 2024 and 2025 seasons.

At a time when investment in the sport from major brands is fleeting, it would ordinarily go down as brilliant news among a club’s set of fans but that’s not been the case for Hull KR.

Hull is a city with a proud and longstanding history in seafaring dating back centuries with the city’s port currently handling over 100,000 containers every year, per the University of Hull.

The controversy around this current deal with P&O Ferries stems from the fact that P&O sacked hundreds of English workers, some of whom will have lived in Hull, to instead hire cheaper foreign labour.

P&O did so as a cost-cutting measure, one that ultimately cost 786 jobs, and for that Hull KR have been labelled “utterly disgraceful”.

“Hull KR must scrap this deal” argues leading Union

RMT are the biggest specialist travel Union and boasts more than 80,000 members, they’ve taken to social media to call on Hull KR to U-turn on the deal that they have labelled as “hugely disappointing”.

Sharing Hull KR’s initial post on X, the RMT posted: “They say you can be judged by the company you keep, so it is hugely disappointing that Hull KR should choose to partner with the toxic P&O ferries.

“800 seafarers sacked, via Zoom, many in Hull! Hang your heads in shame Hull KR”.

That garnered a hugely positive reaction with 550 likes at the time of writing, almost four times as many as Hull KR received on the initial post.

The RMT continued, posting: “Sickening ‘sports wash’ on P&O’s ships of shame. 786 UK seafarers were dismissed, including the Pride of Hull and replaced with overseas agency crew paid under £5 per hour to work an 84 hour week for 17 weeks. Hull KR must scrap this deal.”

They say you can be judged by the company you keep, so it is hugely disappointing that @hullkrofficial should choose to partner with the toxic @POferries
800 seafarers sacked, via Zoom, many in Hull!
Hang your heads in shame @hullkrofficial https://t.co/Gq9zzLdVG6

— RMT (@RMTunion) May 3, 2024

It wasn’t just the RMT who took issue with the partnership with Nautilis International, the union for maritime professionals, asking why Hull KR would partner with such a company.

They reasoned: “2 years ago, P&O Ferries sacked 786 UK seafarers, breaking UK law, some in Hull.

“They are *currently* employing crew below the UK minimum wage and on 4+ month long tours.

“Their actions have been universally condemned.”

There has also been widespread criticism from fans with numerous replies and shares condemning the sponsorship.

One fan posted: “Rovers get so much right on a consistent basis, how could they get this so wrong, I imagine there will be a lot of rovers fans who were on the receiving end of P&O’s disgraceful actions, this is a poor look for them.”