Ossie’s Dream is a product of Pid Army Insanity and we hope we’ll see more from Ossie down the road.
This is Part One. Part Two will come later this week.
We are now deep into the season and there is still a large chuck of burgundy on the Rapids jersey waiting to be filled with a corporate advertisement. Despite the brief speculation about a Porsche jersey sponsorship, which I think most of us knew was too good to be true, it has been extremely quiet on the sponsorship front. I don’t have any information if the Rapids are possibly close to deal. So let’s put the speculation aside and instead use the opportunity take a closer look at the history of jersey sponsorship in football. Today you just need to turn on the TV to see that everyone is a walking advertisement. Is that the way it always was? No, not really. So go grab a beer and lets take a look at just how all of this came about.
According to my research, admittedly half-assed, the first team to ever sign a contract for a shirt advertisement was the Uruguayan team Penarol in 1953. This outrageous intrusion of corporate advertising into the beautiful game was certainly not free of controversy. In fact in the game immediately following the shirt deal only 10 Penarol players took the field with the new jersey. One stubborn player refused to wear the monstrosity and suited up in the old logo free shirt. That player was Obdulio Varela. He refused to wear the new shirt by saying “They used to drag us blacks around by rings in our noses. Those days are gone.” While the noble Varela put up a good fight for his autonomy on the pitch one only needs to glance at any team in the modern game to see that his struggle was ultimately futile.
As with most things, once the door was open advertising continued to creep into more and more areas of the game. However, players didn’t become walking advertisements overnight. It was actually a much slower process. While Penarol were truly pioneers in the advertising world and way ahead of their time in the 1950’s, it took a much longer for true corporate sponsorship to reach Europe.
It is actually kind of funny to see how long it took for football clubs to realize their advertising potential. Even as late at the 1970’s, big English teams would pay sportswear companies like Umbro to supply their clothing. It apparently didn’t dawn on the teams that it was great advertising for the manufacturers to have some of the most famous footballers running around wearing their clothes. It took awhile for teams to realize that sportswear companies were essentially getting paid to advertise themselves. However, after a while clubs eventually got the point and realized there was potential money to be made.
One of the main catalysts of advertising was, of course, the increase of football on television. Television dramatically altered the advertising landscape and greatly raised the stakes in the potential money that clubs could make. One of the truly seminal moments came during the 1970 World Cup. Right before the start of the World Cup, Pele signed a deal with Pumas that offered him $25,000 to wear their shoes in Mexico and $100,000 for the next four years, plus 10% of the royalties on his Puma boots. While individual sponsorships with manufacturers were fairly common during this time, Pele took it to a new level. As the players were about to kick off the World Cup Final between Brazil and Italy, Pele asked the referee if he could hold off a moment so he could tie his shoes before the opening whistle. Pele’s request was granted and millions of viewers got a close up of his Pumas as the cameras zoomed in. This wasn’t completely Pele’s idea. He was just following the request of one of Puma representatives to make sure his shoes were visible to the television audience and Puma were getting their money worth from the sponsorship deal. After this stunt, it was obvious that the stakes had been raised.
The first European team to pioneer the fine art of corporate advertising was the German club, Eintracht Braunschweig in 1973 when they signed a deal with the local company Jagermeister. It was a controversial move and they even attempted to get Jagermeister’s name on the jerseys as well as renaming the club Eintracht Jägermeister. However, that move was rejected so they took a slightly more subtle approach and adopted the company’s logo as their crest. One can only image the delight of frat boys throughout the world as they had now found their favorite team.
It didn’t take long for Britain to follow suit. In 1979, Liverpool became the first professional English team to have a shirt sponsor with Hitachi. Initially there were some stipulations from the FA on the size of the sponsor logo they could have due to the non-advertising nature of the BBC who televised the games. Despite some initial resistance, it didn’t take long for the British to ultimately change their tune. While Liverpool was the first professional British team to obtain a jersey sponsor, they actually weren’t the first British team with a deal. Non-league Kettering Town holds that distinction. In 1975 Kettering signed a deal with Kettering Tyres to put their logo on the team’s jerseys. The FA shot the idea down and wouldn’t let them keep it. However, a year later they gave in and Kettering was able to have their ad.
It didn’t take too long for teams to realize that they could now turn the blank spaces on their shirts into dollar signs. In fact, nowadays it isn’t just teams that have secured sponsorship deals as referees have also gotten into the act. In Scotland the refs are sponsored by Specsavers, an eyeglasses company. No, I’m not kidding.
Needless to say, corporate sponsorships became big money and much needed cash for teams. Sponsorships have become so lucrative that clubs without a deal were missing out on easy income and have become increasingly desperate to find something.
In 1993 the Argentine club Racing didn’t have a shirt sponsor and published an advertisement in the Daily Clarin in an attempt to get one. Penarol took it even a step further in 2000 when they participated in the Copa Libratadores without a corporate sponsor. They actually entered the pitch with a white question mark on the front of their jerseys in a blatant attempt to attract sponsorship money. The ploy worked as they secured a sponsorship deal with Parmalot shortly after. Maybe the Rapids should take note.
However, securing a sponsorship deal can be a mixed blessing and the mad scramble for cash can often lead to some hilarious and frankly embarrassing results. Even some of the clubs that have been successful in securing a sponsorship may have regretted it in the long run once the unforeseen consequence of their blind cash grab came to light. You obviously have the Fioerntina Nintendos and the Manchester United IOUs but these are really just silly. Let’s take a look at some of the truly weird and often horrible jersey sponsors.
Lazio – Banco di Santo Spirito
In 1605 the Pope performed a miracle and transformed the Holy Spirit into a financial institution called Banco di Santo Spirito. Much later Lazio worked a deal to get them as a shirt sponsor. As Eduardo Galeano describes in his book “Soccer in the Sun and Shadow” it was an odd sight to see the Lazio players running around the pitch looking like God’s tellers. Despite what was clearly an unfair advantage for Lazio to be sponsored by God’s own bank, FIFA was apparently ok with it.
AC Milan – Pooh Jeans
This is one is just quite odd. You have to feel a bit bad for poor old Joe Jordan. It is tough to be taken seriously as a Scottish hardman in such a ridiculous shirt. I guess when you’re missing your front teeth you can look tough in anything.
Cyldebank – Wet Wet Wet
Remember the band Wet Wet Wet. No, I didn’t think so. You know that song from Four Weddings and a Funeral? Ok I didn’t see that either but maybe this will refresh your memory?
You have to give lead singer, Marti Pellow some credit. With the success of his hit “Love is All Around” he wanted to spread his love all around and help out his local football team. With his “hard earned” cash he sponsored Clydebank of the Scottish First Division back in 1994. On second thought there may have been a little more to it. Maybe he had some guilt from butchering the classic song by the Troggs and felt the need to give some of the money away.
One hit funders.
Wet Wet Wet aren’t the only musical group to get into the sponsorship game. Super Fury Animals briefly sponsored Cardiff City during the Welsh Cup in 1999 as well.
Good Band but Good Brand – ?????
Part Two will be later this week – so check NoFanAlone.com later.
