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 frequency of gambling business sponsoring football groups.


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


But in fact, there is 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 actually complex guidelines introduced in 2000 about how and where sponsorship may appear on football set.


The regulations prohibit the display of "any horrible, threatening, abusive, indecent, insulting, prejudiced or otherwise ethically or ethically offensive message, or any political message".


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


Looking at Premier League t-shirt sponsors considering that the league started in 1992 tells us a lot about mindsets to specific items and the developing economy.


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


Electronics/technology


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


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


In 1995-96, which was the very first season when the was down to 20 teams from the original 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 and IT services business Sanderson, which sponsored both Sheffield Wednesday and Southampton.


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


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


Financial


The second most common kind of t-shirt sponsor is the financial sector, with 90 seasons of t-shirts. There has been a financial shirt sponsor in the Premier League in all but 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 handle 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 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, despite 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 government. The 2010-11 season was likewise 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 2nd season till 2001, referred to as the FA Carling Premiership.


Companies offering alcoholic beverages peaked reasonably 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 company. In total there have been 62 seasons of alcohol sponsorship.


The season with the largest variety of alcohol sponsorship offers 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 headed out of style over the last few years, with Chang Beer's 13-year handle Everton being the league's only one after 2010.


The Portman Group, which represents drinks producers, has a code of practice for alcohol business wanting to get involved in sports sponsorship.


The big development in betting business sponsoring Premier League clubs' t-shirts followed The Gambling Act 2005 allowed them to market on television and radio for the first time.


But gambling business had actually marketed 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 gone from strength to strength because then, and in the previous 10 seasons, one-third of t-shirt sponsors have been gambling companies. 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 entirely.


Labour's deputy leader Tom Watson has promised that a future Labour federal government would ban betting business from sponsoring Premier League teams.


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


"We extended our own betting rules, consisting of the restriction on banking on football to anybody working for the Premier League and its clubs, and enhanced our monitoring of integrity issues. We also remain completely dedicated to the advertising market's guidance on wagering advertising."


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


There are stricter rules for clubs' youth teams consisting totally of gamers under the age of 18, which might not use t-shirts marketing age-restricted products such as alcohol or gambling.


Replica t-shirts in junior sizes are likewise banned from bring such sponsorship, so they are either made without it, just like West Ham, or have a completely different sponsor, as with Wolves.


Others


An honourable reference goes to telecoms business, which were especially well-represented at the turn of the millennium. They peaked at 6 handle 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 deals, consisting of Subaru at Coventry City, Autoglass at Chelsea and automobile dealership Reg Vardy at Sunderland.


There are also a few intriguing business in the miscellaneous column: firms that were the only representatives of their markets to sponsor a Premier League shirt.


These consist of Draper Tools, which sponsored Southampton in 1992-93 and the toy business Ty, popular for cuddly toys with big 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 package in 2012-13 while Crown Paints' three-year handle Blackburn from 2008-09 was the only one of its sector, although the business likewise sponsored Liverpool in the old First Division.


And I think we'll have to wait a very long time to see a competitor 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 timber merchant.


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