Paddy Power have confirmed that their sponsorship of Huddersfield FC’s shirt in the friendly against Rochdale was indeed fake news. Thank God, because it was full on fugly.
The bookie is well known for its’ advertising stunts, so speculation was already rife after images of a Paddy Power sash laid crassly across the Terriers 19/20 kit were released.
In a tweet on the 19th July PP said:
“So yeah, our Huddersfield shirt WAS a fake. We’re not just sponsoring them this season, we’re UNsponsoring them too, through our Save Our Shirt campaign.”
Be honest, who fell for it?
So are They Sponsoring Them or Not?
Its confusing isn’t it. Paddy Power will indeed be the official sponsors, but they will not be ‘branding’ the kit.
The #saveourshirt campaign is all about handing the football shirts back to the fans, just like in the good old days. This would see football kits go back to showing nothing but their team’s badge and colours, so this season Huddersfield will be emerging from the tunnel unbranded.
It’s a Paddy Power initiative, and they say sponsorship has a place but has gone ‘too far’. It feels like an odd thing to get worked up about, but knowing PP, they are only doing it for the media attention.
I can’t really see the football world turning away all of that sponsorship money, can you?
Reaction
As you can imagine, initially, it didn’t go down well. Fans were angry about the new shirt as it was… well it was awful. Fans compared it to Miss World pageants and The Thunderbirds – I’m not sure which is worse.
However, commercial director of HTFC Sean Jarvis said that he knew fans might be upset but hopes they can see the bigger picture, adding, “We are happy to support Paddy Power’s save our shirt campaign with the launch of our actual 2019/20 home kit this morning.”
Since the big reveal, Paddy Power say they are pleased with the reaction, and the hoax shirts will be available to buy via auction with all proceeds going to charity. Awww.