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 to Radio 4's Today programme on Thursday about the prevalence of betting business sponsoring football groups.


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


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


The Football Association has complex guidelines presented in 2000 about how and where sponsorship might appear on football set.


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


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


Taking A Look At Premier League shirt sponsors given that the league began in 1992 informs us a lot about mindsets to particular products and the developing economy.


Since the league began, 60% of companies sponsoring shirts have actually fallen within 4 broad classifications: financial, electronics/technology, alcohol and gaming.


Electronics/technology


When the Premier League began, it was the big customer electronics companies that controlled the sponsorship.


Sharp would be Manchester United's sponsor up until 2000 while JVC featured on Arsenal's t-shirts until 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 business, including AST Computer at Aston Villa, Hewlett Packard at Tottenham, Brother at Manchester City and the software and IT services business Sanderson, which sponsored both Sheffield Wednesday and Southampton.


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


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


Financial


The 2nd most common type of t-shirt sponsor is the financial sector, with 90 seasons of t-shirts. There has actually been a financial shirt sponsor in the Premier League in all however one season.


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


In the noughties, the deals started developing, with the peak in 2010-11 regardless 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 until January 2012, when it was replaced by Virgin Money, which had actually purchased parts of it from the government. The 2010-11 season was also the year that Standard Chartered took control of as Liverpool's sponsor, which it has actually stayed ever considering that.


Alcohol


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


Companies offering alcoholic beverages peaked relatively early in its history, but have actually been nearly ever-present, with just last season and this one having actually no club sponsored by a beverages company. In total there have actually been 62 seasons of alcohol sponsorship.


The season with the biggest variety of alcohol sponsorship deals was 1994-95 with 6: McEwans at Blackburn, Coors at Chelsea, Carlsberg, which sponsored Liverpool for the very 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 style in recent years, with Chang Beer's 13-year handle Everton being the league's only one after 2010.


The Group, which represents drinks manufacturers, has a code of practice for alcohol business desiring to get associated with sports sponsorship.


The huge growth in gambling companies sponsoring Premier League clubs' t-shirts came after The Gambling Act 2005 allowed them to advertise on television and radio for the first time.


But betting companies had actually advertised on t-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 since then, and in the past 10 seasons, one-third of shirt sponsors have actually been betting business. The peak remained in 2016-17, when half of clubs had a betting business as their shirt sponsors. There have actually been 79 seasons of betting sponsorship completely.


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


The Premier League reacted by informing Reality Check that its clubs had always ensured they followed the guidelines in the Gambling Act.


"We extended our own wagering rules, including the prohibition on wagering on football to anyone working for the Premier League and its clubs, and improved our tracking of stability problems. We also remain fully committed to the marketing industry's guidance on betting advertising."


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


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


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, as with Wolves.


Others


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


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


There are likewise a couple of interesting business in the various 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 company Ty, popular for cuddly toys with huge eyes, which sponsored Portsmouth for 2 seasons.


Waitrose was the only supermarket to sponsor a Premier League 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 business also sponsored Liverpool in the old First Division.


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


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