Premier League Shirts Row: The Fickle Fashions Of Sponsorship

Aus Vokipedia
Version vom 1. April 2026, 09:44 Uhr von LeilaniCurley (Diskussion | Beiträge)

(Unterschied) ← Nächstältere Version | Aktuelle Version (Unterschied) | Nächstjüngere Version → (Unterschied)
Wechseln zu: Navigation, Suche


21 September 2018
ShareSave


Anthony ReubenBBC Reality Check


Former Arsenal and England captain Tony Adams spoke with Radio 4's Today programme on Thursday about the frequency of gambling companies sponsoring football teams.


Asked whether he believed such sponsorship should stop, he stated: "Yes absolutely. I think it's time. Like the alcohol sponsorship of the past."


But in fact, there is absolutely nothing to stop alcohol companies sponsoring football teams in the English Premier League - it is down to the clubs to pick their sponsors.


The Football Association has actually complex rules presented in 2000 about how and where sponsorship might appear on football kit.


The guidelines prohibit the display of "any distasteful, threatening, abusive, indecent, insulting, discriminatory or otherwise morally or ethically offensive message, or any political message".


However, the only products particularly prohibited from being advertised on sets are tobacco items.


Looking at Premier League t-shirt sponsors since the league began in 1992 informs us a lot about mindsets to specific items and the establishing economy.


Since the league started, 60% of business sponsoring shirts have actually fallen within 4 broad classifications: monetary, electronics/technology, alcohol and gambling.


Electronics/technology


When the Premier League started, it was the big consumer electronic devices business that dominated the sponsorship.


Sharp would be Manchester United's sponsor up until 2000 while JVC featured on Arsenal's t-shirts till 1999.


In 1995-96, which was the first season when the Premier League was down to 20 teams from the original 22, half the clubs were sponsored by electronics and innovation companies, including AST Computer at Aston Villa, Hewlett Packard at Tottenham, Brother at Manchester City and the software application and IT services business Sanderson, which sponsored both Sheffield Wednesday and Southampton.


But by the start of the brand-new centuries that had actually fallen to 3 business, and in the last 10 seasons there has been no more than one business from this classification per season.


Despite that decline, more electronic devices and innovation companies have actually sponsored Premier League shirts than any other category, with 94 seasons in between them.


Financial


The second most typical type of shirt sponsor is the monetary sector, with 90 seasons of t-shirts. There has actually been a monetary shirt sponsor in the Premier League in all but one season.


But the sector did not make a strong start in the brand-new league, with Peterborough Building Society's sponsorship of Norwich City being the only handle the very first 3 years, followed by CIS Insurance's sponsorship of Blackburn.


In the noughties, the offers began building up, with the peak in 2010-11 regardless of the monetary crisis.


That year the foreign exchange broker FXPro sponsored both Fulham and Aston Villa (it now sponsors Watford) while Wonga was the sponsor for Blackpool's only season in the Premier League.


Northern Rock was Newcastle United's shirt sponsor, despite having been nationalised in 2008. It would remain so till January 2012, when it was by Virgin Money, which had purchased parts of it from the federal government. The 2010-11 season was also the year that Standard Chartered took control of as Liverpool's sponsor, which it has stayed since.


Alcohol


The Premier League itself was sponsored by Carling from its second season until 2001, known as the FA Carling Premiership.


Companies selling alcohols peaked fairly early in its history, but have actually been almost ever-present, with only last season and this one having no club sponsored by a beverages business. In total there have been 62 seasons of alcohol sponsorship.


The season with the largest number of alcohol sponsorship deals was 1994-95 with 6: McEwans at Blackburn, Coors at Chelsea, Carlsberg, which sponsored Liverpool for the first 18 years of the Premier League, Newcastle Brown at Newcastle, Labatt's at Nottingham Forest and Holsten at Spurs.


Alcohol sponsorship went out of fashion in recent years, with Chang Beer's 13-year offer with Everton being the league's just one after 2010.


The Portman Group, which represents beverages producers, has a code of practice for alcohol business wishing to get associated with sports sponsorship.


The big growth in gambling companies sponsoring Premier League clubs' shirts came after The Gambling Act 2005 enabled them to promote on tv and radio for the first time.


But betting business had advertised on shirts in the Premier League before then, with Betfair appearing on Fulham's shirts in 2002-03 and 888 sponsoring Middlesbrough in 2004-05 and 2005-06.


They have gone from strength to strength ever since, and in the past 10 seasons, one-third of t-shirt sponsors have actually been gambling business. The peak remained in 2016-17, when half of clubs had a gambling business as their shirt sponsors. There have been 79 seasons of gambling sponsorship entirely.


Labour's deputy leader Tom Watson has actually promised that a future Labour government would prohibit gambling business from sponsoring Premier League teams.


The Premier League responded by telling Reality Check that its clubs had constantly made sure they followed the regulations in the Gambling Act.


"We extended our own betting guidelines, consisting of the restriction on banking on football to anybody working for the Premier League and its clubs, and improved our monitoring of stability issues. We likewise remain completely committed to the marketing market's assistance on wagering marketing."


Shirt sponsorship in the Premier League by betting companies was estimated to have deserved about ₤ 50m this season. The Gambling Commission recently reminded business of its rules about sponsorship.


There are stricter rules for clubs' youth teams consisting totally of players under the age of 18, which might not wear t-shirts promoting age-restricted products such as alcohol or gaming.


Replica shirts in junior sizes are also banned from bring such sponsorship, so they are either made without it, as with West Ham, or have a totally different sponsor, similar to Wolves.


Others


An honourable mention goes to telecoms companies, which were especially well-represented at the turn of the millennium. They peaked at six offers in 2002-03 when O2 was sponsoring Arsenal and Vodafone appeared on Manchester United shirts.


Automotive business had their big year in 1999-00, with 5 offers, including Subaru at Coventry City, Autoglass at Chelsea and cars and truck dealer Reg Vardy at Sunderland.


There are likewise a couple of interesting companies in the miscellaneous column: companies that were the only representatives of their industries to sponsor a Premier League t-shirt.


These include Draper Tools, which sponsored Southampton in 1992-93 and the toy business Ty, well-known for cuddly dabble huge eyes, which sponsored Portsmouth for 2 seasons.


Waitrose was the only grocery store to sponsor a Premier League shirt when it appeared on the Reading set in 2012-13 while Crown Paints' three-year deal with Blackburn from 2008-09 was the only one of its sector, although the business likewise sponsored Liverpool in the old First Division.


And I believe we'll have to wait a long period of time to see a competitor of Laver sponsoring a Premier League t-shirt again - it appeared on the shirts of Sheffield United in 1992-93 and 1993-94. It's a lumber merchant.


What do you desire BBC Reality Check to investigate? Contact us


Read more from Reality Check


Follow us on Twitter

Meine Werkzeuge
Namensräume

Varianten
Aktionen
Navigation
Werkzeuge