Premier League Shirts Row: The Fickle Fashions Of Sponsorship

21 September 2018
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Anthony ReubenBBC Reality Check


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


Asked whether he believed such sponsorship must stop, he said: "Yes absolutely. I believe it's time. Like the alcohol sponsorship of the past."


But really, there is absolutely nothing to stop alcohol business sponsoring football groups in the English Premier League - it is down to the clubs to select their sponsors.


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


The regulations restrict the display of "any distasteful, threatening, abusive, indecent, insulting, prejudiced or otherwise fairly or ethically offending message, or any political message".


However, the only items specifically forbidden from being marketed on packages are tobacco products.


Taking A Look At Premier League shirt sponsors considering that the league started in 1992 tells us a lot about mindsets to specific products and the developing economy.


Since the league began, 60% of business sponsoring t-shirts have actually fallen within four broad categories: financial, electronics/technology, alcohol and betting.


Electronics/technology


When the Premier League started, it was the huge customer electronic devices business that controlled the sponsorship.


Sharp would be Manchester United's sponsor until 2000 while JVC featured on Arsenal's shirts till 1999.


In 1995-96, which was the very first season when the Premier League was down to 20 teams from the initial 22, half the clubs were sponsored by electronic devices and technology companies, consisting of AST Computer at Aston Villa, Hewlett Packard at Tottenham, Brother at Manchester City and the software application and IT services company Sanderson, which sponsored both Sheffield Wednesday and Southampton.


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


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


Financial


The second most typical kind of t-shirt sponsor is the monetary sector, with 90 seasons of t-shirts. There has actually been a financial shirt 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 first three years, followed by CIS Insurance's sponsorship of Blackburn.


In the noughties, the deals began developing, with the peak in 2010-11 in spite of the financial 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, regardless of having been nationalised in 2008. It would stay so up until January 2012, when it was replaced by Virgin Money, which had actually purchased parts of it from the federal government. The 2010-11 season was also the year that Standard Chartered took over as Liverpool's sponsor, which it has remained ever given that.


Alcohol


The Premier League itself was sponsored by Carling from its 2nd season until 2001, called the FA Carling Premiership.


Companies selling alcoholic drinks peaked fairly early in its history, however have 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 biggest variety of alcohol sponsorship offers 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 headed out of fashion in current years, with Chang Beer's 13-year handle Everton being the league's just one after 2010.


The Portman Group, which represents drinks manufacturers, has a code of practice for alcohol companies wanting to get included in sports sponsorship.


The huge growth in betting business sponsoring Premier League clubs' shirts followed The Gambling Act 2005 permitted them to advertise on tv and radio for the very first time.


But betting business had promoted on shirts in the Premier League before then, with Betfair appearing on Fulham's t-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 been gambling business. The peak was in 2016-17, when half of clubs had a betting company as their shirt sponsors. There have been 79 seasons of gambling sponsorship altogether.


Labour's deputy leader Tom Watson has actually pledged that a future Labour government would prohibit gambling companies from sponsoring Premier League groups.


The Premier League responded by informing Reality Check that its clubs had actually constantly ensured they followed the policies in the Gambling Act.


"We extended our own betting rules, including the restriction on wagering on football to anyone working for the Premier League and its clubs, and improved our monitoring of stability concerns. We likewise remain fully devoted to the marketing industry's assistance on betting marketing."


Shirt sponsorship in the Premier League by gambling business was approximated to have actually been worth about ₤ 50m this season. The Gambling Commission recently advised business of its guidelines about sponsorship.


There are stricter guidelines for clubs' youth teams consisting completely of players under the age of 18, which might not wear shirts marketing age-restricted products such as alcohol or gambling.


Replica t-shirts in junior sizes are also prohibited 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 reference goes to telecoms companies, which were particularly well-represented at the turn of the millennium. They peaked at six handle 2002-03 when O2 was sponsoring Arsenal and Vodafone appeared on Manchester United shirts.


Automotive companies had their big year in 1999-00, with five offers, consisting of Subaru at Coventry City, Autoglass at Chelsea and vehicle dealership Reg Vardy at Sunderland.


There are also a few fascinating business in the various column: firms that were the only representatives of their industries to sponsor a Premier League shirt.


These consist of Draper Tools, which sponsored Southampton in 1992-93 and the toy company Ty, famous for cuddly dabble huge eyes, which sponsored Portsmouth for 2 seasons.


Waitrose was the only supermarket to sponsor a Premier League t-shirt when it appeared on the Reading package in 2012-13 while Crown Paints' three-year handle Blackburn from 2008-09 was the only one of its sector, although the business also sponsored Liverpool in the old First Division.


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


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