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 prevalence of gambling business sponsoring football teams.


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


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


The Football Association has complex rules introduced in 2000 about how and where sponsorship may appear on football package.


The regulations restrict the screen of "any distasteful, threatening, abusive, indecent, insulting, discriminatory or otherwise ethically or ethically offensive message, or any political message".


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


Looking at Premier League shirt given that the league started in 1992 tells us a lot about mindsets to particular products and the establishing economy.


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


Electronics/technology


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


Sharp would be Manchester United's sponsor up until 2000 while JVC included 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 electronics 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 business Sanderson, which sponsored both Sheffield Wednesday and Southampton.


But by the start of the brand-new millennium that had been up to three business, and in the last 10 seasons there has actually disappeared than one company from this category per season.


Despite that decrease, more electronic devices and innovation business have sponsored Premier League t-shirts than any other category, with 94 seasons between them.


Financial


The 2nd most common type of t-shirt sponsor is the financial sector, with 90 seasons of shirts. There has been a monetary t-shirt sponsor in the Premier League in all however 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 deal in the very first 3 years, followed by CIS Insurance's sponsorship of Blackburn.


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


That year the forex 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, in spite of having been nationalised in 2008. It would stay so until January 2012, when it was replaced by Virgin Money, which had bought parts of it from the federal government. The 2010-11 season was likewise 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, called the FA Carling Premiership.


Companies offering alcoholic beverages peaked reasonably early in its history, however have been nearly ever-present, with just last season and this one having no club sponsored by a drinks company. In overall 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 beverages producers, has a code of practice for alcohol companies wishing to get involved in sports sponsorship.


The big development in betting companies sponsoring Premier League clubs' t-shirts followed The Gambling Act 2005 enabled them to advertise on tv and radio for the very first time.


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


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


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


"We extended our own wagering rules, including the prohibition on banking on football to anyone working for the Premier League and its clubs, and improved our monitoring of stability problems. We also stay fully dedicated to the advertising industry's assistance on betting marketing."


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


There are stricter guidelines for clubs' youth teams consisting totally of gamers under the age of 18, which may not wear t-shirts advertising age-restricted products such as alcohol or gaming.


Replica t-shirts in junior sizes are likewise banned from carrying such sponsorship, so they are either made without it, similar to West Ham, or have a totally various sponsor, just like Wolves.


Others


An honourable mention goes to telecoms business, which were particularly 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 huge year in 1999-00, with five offers, consisting of Subaru at Coventry City, Autoglass at Chelsea and vehicle dealer Reg Vardy at Sunderland.


There are also a couple of interesting business in the miscellaneous column: firms that were the only agents of their industries to sponsor a Premier League shirt.


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


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


And I believe we'll need to wait a very long time to see a rival of Laver sponsoring a Premier League shirt again - it appeared on the shirts of Sheffield United in 1992-93 and 1993-94. It's a wood merchant.


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