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 occurrence of gambling companies sponsoring football groups.


Asked whether he thought such sponsorship must 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 teams 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 guidelines forbid the display screen of "any horrible, threatening, violent, indecent, insulting, inequitable or otherwise morally or morally offending message, or any political message".


However, the only products specifically forbidden from being advertised on kits are tobacco items.


Taking A Look At Premier League t-shirt sponsors because the league began in 1992 tells us a lot about attitudes to particular items and the establishing economy.


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


Electronics/technology


When the Premier League began, it was the huge consumer electronics business that controlled the sponsorship.


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


In 1995-96, which was the first season when the Premier League was down to 20 groups from the original 22, half the clubs were sponsored by electronics and technology business, 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 millennium that had been up to 3 business, and in the last 10 seasons there has disappeared than one business from this classification per season.


Despite that decline, more electronics and technology companies have actually sponsored Premier League shirts than any other category, with 94 seasons between them.


Financial


The second most common type of t-shirt sponsor is the financial sector, with 90 seasons of shirts. There has actually been a monetary 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 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 monetary 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 t-shirt sponsor, in spite of having actually been nationalised in 2008. It would remain so till January 2012, when it was changed by Virgin Money, which had actually bought 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 since.


Alcohol


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


Companies selling alcohols peaked reasonably early in its history, but have been practically ever-present, with just last season and this one having no club sponsored by a drinks company. In total there have actually been 62 seasons of alcohol sponsorship.


The season with the largest number 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 went out of fashion in the last few 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 wishing to get associated with sports sponsorship.


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


But gambling 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 previous 10 seasons, one-third of shirt sponsors have actually been betting business. The peak was in 2016-17, when half of clubs had a gambling business as their t-shirt sponsors. There have been 79 seasons of gambling sponsorship entirely.


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


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


"We extended our own wagering rules, consisting of the prohibition on banking on football to anybody working for the Premier League and its clubs, and enhanced our tracking of stability concerns. We likewise remain completely dedicated to the advertising market's guidance on wagering advertising."


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


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


Replica t-shirts in junior sizes are also prohibited from bring such sponsorship, so they are either made without it, just like West Ham, or have a completely different sponsor, similar to Wolves.


Others


An honourable reference goes to telecoms companies, which were especially well-represented at the turn of the centuries. They peaked at 6 deals in 2002-03 when O2 was sponsoring Arsenal and Vodafone appeared on Manchester United t-shirts.


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


There are likewise a few intriguing business in the various column: companies that were the only agents of their industries to sponsor a Premier League t-shirt.


These include Draper Tools, which sponsored Southampton in 1992-93 and the toy company Ty, well-known for cuddly dabble huge eyes, which sponsored Portsmouth for two 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 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 think we'll need to wait a long time to see a of Laver sponsoring a Premier League t-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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