Please do buy these “Please don’t” T-shirts raising money for Auckland flood relief

The shirts, made by the company Greentees, are being sold on greentees.digitees.co.nz with 100 per cent of the proceeds going to CARE Waitākere Trust. Photo / Greentees.digitees.co.nz

A T-Shirt poking fun at a text from Auckland Mayor Wayne Brown to a reporter earlier this week is for sale online, raising money for Auckland flood relief.

The shirts have the slogan “Please Don’t”, referencing the text Brown sent to the reporter from the Herald asking him not to publish an article about his messages to a WhatsApp group chat in which he griped about having to cancel tennis “to deal with media drongos over the flooding tomorrow”.

The shirts, made by the company Greentees, are being sold on greentees.digitees.co.nz with 100 per cent of the proceeds going to CARE Waitākere Trust, who have been providing food parcels and support during the Auckland floods.

A message from Brown complaining about having to skip tennis “to deal with media drongos about the floods tomorrow” surfaced earlier this week.

The message is from a WhatsApp chat group Brown joined last month to co-ordinate matches at the West End Lawn Tennis Club in Westmere. The tennis team, known as The Grumpy Old Men, seeks to establish four-person teams to play doubles matches on Fridays and Sundays.

According to the messaging thread, Brown’s planned tennis match on Friday was cancelled due to rain, which he had previously mentioned as the reason he was unable to conduct an interview.

Around 4pm on Thursday, a radio producer organising the next day’s show sent a tweet in which he quoted Brown rejecting an interview the next morning, saying: “I am playing tennis then anyway.”

The message thread among the “Grumpies” showed a rain forecast sent to the group by a member warning of bad weather.

Brown responded at 8.24pm: “Bugger. I’ll look out the window first thing.” Then on Friday morning wrote at 6.46am: “And it’s pissing down so no tennis.”

The message from Auckland Mayor Wayne Brown to his tennis group, cancelling the next day's game. Photo / Supplied

Brown had committed to playing on Sunday then cancelled the night before. “Anyhow I’ve got to deal with media drongos over the flooding tomorrow so sadly no tennis for me tomorrow.” He signed off as “Browny”.

The Herald asked Brown to comment, saying a story was to be written on the message thread. He responded by text message: “Please don’t.”

When explained it related to questions about the council’s communications with the public, he said: “That was a private conversation aimed at giving a reason to miss tennis. It in no way means I am not taking communication with all levels seriously.

“There is no need to exacerbate a situation that is not about me but about getting things right for the public and especially those in need and in danger. Have commissioned a full review including communications and that includes everyone.”