Just Stop Oil jigsaw protest was ‘great publicity' ... for Wimbledon
Dan Ashmore, Wimbledon's head of retail, merchandise and licensing, said it was a 'shame' the jigsaws had to be pulled from the gift shop shelves in SW19.
Bosses decided to remove them after protesters scattered thousands of pieces on to courts in 2023.
Katie Boulter, the British tennis star, whose first-round match was interrupted by the stunt two years ago, said she was 'shocked' when an eco-activist threw jigsaw pieces and orange-coloured confetti on to the court.
Wimbledon previously sold jigsaw puzzles of Centre Court, its trophies and the players' draw board in its shop but they were removed at the end of the 2023 championships.
Centre Court puzzles are still available to buy online for £22.
At the time, the All England Club said the removal of the puzzles was due to a gift store shake-up, rather than being linked to the protests.
However, Mr Ashmore has now said puzzles and some other products are not sold at Wimbledon in case of future similar protests.
'We weren't able to sell that puzzle after that incident,' Mr Ashmore said. 'Which was a shame for me because I saw that photo all over the back of the newspapers, and thought, what a great advertisement.'
Disruption to Boulter's match followed a similar protest during a Court 18 clash between Bulgaria's Grigor Dimitrov and Japan's Sho Shimabukuro.
Boulter, who was the then British Number 1, and her opponent, Daria Saville of Australia, had to help clear up the mess after the 1,000-piece puzzle was scattered on the grass alongside confetti.
Activists Deborah Wilde, Simon Milner-Edwards and William Ward – who were all in their 60s – were found guilty of aggravated trespass at the City of London magistrates' court in 2024 following the incident.
In March, Just Stop Oil announced it would be 'hanging up the hi-vis'. The group was notorious for its high-profile stunts including blocking motorway traffic and disrupting other high profile sporting events like the World Snooker Championship.
Its main objective had been to wean the UK off fossil fuels – a policy which is now being implemented by Ed Miliband's net zero department.
As a result, the group held a final 'day of action' in London in April before disbanding.
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