Well, here we are on the eve of another World Cup and as always plenty of attention will be on it.
The Premier League in England is perhaps the strongest domestic league there is as shown this season with having English clubs in all three European finals and winning two of them.
Premier League football is televised to millions of people week in, week out and so has a fantastic opportunity to influence and support people in a positive way – so why don’t they?
There are lots of fine charity initiatives at clubs around the country and links with communities so this isn’t knocking them but on the front of their shirts they have the billboard of all billboards and who gets their names on there? Well, those who can afford to spend millions on doing so – many of them betting firms.
There is more info here on the season just past regards shirt sponsors and kit suppliers etc and the income for the clubs is significant, it’s hard to blame them for taking the deals.
As you can see from the graphic taken from scoreandchange.com 55% of shirt sponsors last season were gambling firms followed by financial services.
From next season (2026/7) gambling firms can no longer be front of shirt sponsors in the Premier League. They can still have their names on other parts of the kit. When La Liga in Spain made this decision a shift to financial service firms happened but what an opportunity for football to use its influence and power to promote good causes and wellbeing for all. Sadly, it doesn’t pay to do this and so as businesses it’s highly unlikely that clubs will go in this direction, certainly not at the top level given that they would be giving up on income in the tens of millions of pounds.
Looking ahead at next season, with many deals still to be announced some clubs are sticking with their non-betting firm sponsors, some are moving their name to their sleeves instead and some are still deciding which way to go.
What made me think about this was an excellent initiative by King’s Lynn FC of the National League North (a few levels below football league level) and their shirt sponsor has donated the space to a local men’s mental health charity – the 8:56 Foundation. Maidenhead United had the Campaign Against Living Miserably on their shirts.
What a statement it would make for clubs to all partner up with mental health/wellbeing charities and give them prominence on their shirts but then the danger could be overexposure to the degree that people stop even reading who the sponsors are. That would still be preferable to a situation where money is everything in top level football.
It’s hard as a fan to square this one off morally. Personally as a Nottingham Forest fan I have seen money from gambling firms coming into the club for years now and that plus the fortunes of the owner of the club have led the club to their most successful spell for over 20 years. In some ways as a football fan at the top level it’s something difficult to make a stand on, unless all clubs did it. At lower levels of football where the sponsorship deals are much less lucrative there is more space and reason to innovate but of course inversely it’s much less exposure for those clubs and causes.
Should big business football with it’s massive reach and influence do more to promote health and wellbeing?
As a slight aside, if anybody individually or a team wants to bear our name (hyperfocused.co.uk) on their shirts or kit/items we’d be glad to. This would help to raise awareness of ADHD and get people talking.
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