New Balance terminates contract with Ben Stokes

New Balance, the sportswear company and also the kit sponsors of England team, has decided to end its association with England all-rounder Ben Stokes which is of 200,000 Euros deal. The cricketer is under investigation following an incident in Bristol on September 26 where he was allegedly found punching a couple of men. He was also arrested on suspicion of causing actual bodily harm but was released later without any charges. Later the video footage of the brawl went viral which attracted a lot of criticism from all corners of the country.

The England Cricket Board (ECB) has already pulled out his name from Ashes squad and have announced that he will not travel with the team which is set to depart for Australia on October 28. Though there is a possibility as of now that Stokes may join the team later depending on the outcome of the police investigation. It seems highly unlikely that the case might get resolved by then as Avon and Somerset police have denied to prioritise it and they are also awaiting key witnesses who are yet to appear.

Stokes apologise to Katie Price

New Balance released a statement on Wednesday which read, “”New Balance does not condone behaviour by our global athletes that does not match our brand culture and values, and therefore we have ended our relationship with Ben Stokes, effective October 11, 2017. We will not provide further comment.” However, just a few hours before the announcement was made, Ben Stokes took to his official Twitter handle and apologised the celebrity Katie Price for mocking her son in a video which showed him allegedly doing an impression of her disabled son, Harvey.

He tweeted, “ “Earlier this year I was shown a clip of Harvey being asked on “Loose Women” how he responds to internet trolls. “I loved Harvey’s directness with his response – he said what most of us think but perhaps aren’t brave enough to say, let alone on live TV.” He also made it clear that he has written to Price and has also offered to meet in person last month.

“I foolishly attempted to copy the clip after I saw it a few times. I should never have done this and I am so sorry. It was absolutely not my intention to offend Harvey, Katie or anybody else. I have written to both Harvey and Katie to say sorry and prior to this offered to meet in person at the end of last month with a view to also getting behind their petition about online bullying. I do hope I can put this right,” he said in a statement.