Jim's Mowing pulls sponsorship from Geelong greyhound racing after 6 years
(Facebook: Jim’s Mowing)
CONVERSATION #6: JIM’S MOWING, GEELONG, VIC
Jim’s Mowing has ended its support of Geelong greyhound racing after at least 6 years of sponsorship following an enquiry from this publication.
The company last sponsored a dog race in Geelong earlier this week, on Tuesday, March 24.
Jim’s Mowing is part of Jim’s Group, the largest home servicing franchise company in Australia, with an annual turnover of $500 million, and 3800 franchises. According to the company website, Jim’s is “the largest and best-known lawn mowing business in the world.”
Dog racing records show that Jim’s Mowing began sponsoring dog races at the Geelong greyhound racetrack as early as 2014, and continued to regularly sponsor races—often on a weekly basis—over the 6 years that followed.
Yesterday, the owner of the Geelong Bellarine & Surf Coast franchise of Jim’s Mowing, Benn Ward, confirmed in a brief statement that the company’s years-long sponsorship of greyhound racing had been terminated. “Our sponsorship has ceased with Greyhound Racing Geelong,” he wrote.
The founder and owner of Jim’s Group, David Penman (also known as Jim) also provided a brief statement via email yesterday that seemed to imply that the company’s sponsorship of dog racing had continued against internal advice.
“…this [was] not a decision of Jim's Group as such, but an initiative of our Geelong Franchisor (against our advice),” Penman wrote.
Penman did not respond to questions regarding his company’s oversight of sponsorships provided by franchisees, and company policies regarding the sponsorship of events involving animals.
In the first 3 months of this year, 58 dogs have died at greyhound racetracks around Australia, including 19 deaths at Victorian tracks.
Conversations with Sponsors is an ongoing project in which I speak with businesses who provide financial sponsorship to Aussie dog racing, exploring why they decided to sponsor, what benefits it brings to their business, and how animal welfare issues within the sport affects their decision-making.