Young fans of some of Britain’s most popular football teams will have to wait until they are grown-ups to wear exact replica shirts after a ban on booze ads was announced today.
Clubs including Liverpool, Everton, Rangers and Celtic will be forced to blank out alcohol sponsorship on all their children’s size kits if they decide to renew the contracts with their current shirt sponsors.
The new voluntary code from the alcohol industry’s social responsibility organization, the Portman Group, supported by the English FA, will cover all teams, including cricket and rugby clubs.
If teams do not comply with the voluntary code, which will apply to all new or renewed contracts signed after January 1st next year, then the alcohol brand will be removed from the shelves of Britain’s stores, they were warned today.
David Poley, chief executive of the Portman Group, said the move came about because drinks companies were concerned their image was being damaged by youngsters acting as "walking billboards" for booze.
He said: "Drinks companies are concerned about the negative perception caused by their logos appearing on children’s shirts.
"Despite producers having only ever been interested in marketing their drinks to adults, some critics see children in replica kit as walking billboards for alcohol. This side effect of sponsorship is set to end."
As well as the two Premiership clubs, and three Scottish Premier League clubs which currently have alcohol advertising, cricket teams could also be forced to carry blank spaces on their replica youth kits if they renewed sponsorship contracts, with nine of the 18 first class counties currently sponsored by drinks firms.
Mr Poley added: "Drinks companies are taking the lead even though this decision may lessen their commercial appeal as sponsors if clubs sell fewer shirts."
Portman Group communications director Michael Thompson said: "Alcohol sponsors may be less attractive because children want to look like their sporting heroes and this could have an effect on shirt sales so football clubs make less money."
The English FA told the Portman Group it was concerned the move could lead to more fake shirts on the streets.
In a consultation paper, they wrote: "We would need to take account of the practical realities, including the potential for changes in policy simply driving consumers to counterfeit goods and logos in the desire for authenticity."
There would be no age limit on buying alcohol-branded replica kit, but all clothes classified as for children – which are VAT-exempt – would be covered by the ban.
The Portman Group’s code of conduct has been in force for several years and contains guidelines which include preventing the marketing of alcoholic drinks to under-18s, as well as banning any suggestion that the drink will lead to sexual success or increased popularity.
There is currently an exemption for replica youth shirts to be sold with alcohol sponsor branding, but this will be removed from January 1st.
The Group consists of most of the British alcohol industry, including Carlsberg, sponsors of Liverpool , Barcardi-Martini and Diageo.
However it effectively covers the entire industry because retailers, including Asda, Sainsbury’s Tesco and Morrisons, have also adopted the code. It is followed by more than 140 producers and retailers.
It means even brewers that have not adopted the code are bound by the rules, as shops would comply with orders from the complaints panel to remove a product that breached the rules.
Mr Thompson said: “We have written to football clubs and the FA and we would expect them to follow the code.
"There would be a commercial threat if someone did not follow the code. A complaint would most likely be made to the independent complaints panel and if they decided that a product was appealing to under-18s, it could be removed from the shelves.
"We held a public consultation and the vast majority of responses – from alcohol producers, charities, and the FA – concluded the exemption could not be justified."
A range of bodies were consulted about the move – part of a review of the code to be published on 19 June.
The FA was positive about the ban. In a statement, it said: "We do not want football to exhort children or vulnerable people to engage in behaviour damaging to themselves or society, and we are keen to use our profile to promote socially responsible behaviour.
"We note that no evidence exists that the application of a brand on children’s size replica kits leads to an increase in under-age drinking. However, we also note the stated commitment to protecting the longer term ability of sports to enter into commercial arrangements with alcohol brands.
"We believe that football has a responsibility to protect children and vulnerable people, and to promote healthy lifestyles."
Among the teams currently sponsored by alcohol producers are cricket counties Derbyshire, Essex, Glamorgan, Gloucestershire, Kent, Lancashire, Surrey, Warwickshire and Worcestershire plus Everton, Liverpool, Celtic, Hibernian and Rangers football clubs
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Comments
this nanny state is getting absurd
Portugese holiday homes?
Only gonna get worse and far worse before we know it...
I bet they won't do anything about gambling
oh yes but there's 24hour drinking and something like a 70% levy on cigarettes - shoots that theory down ;-)
Typical governmental quick-fix that looks good, gets a headline and achieves nothing.
If they wanted to stop under-age drinking they should invest heavily in a proper Liquor Licensing department which closely monitors pubs and off-licenses and shuts down premises which sell to under-age drinkers. The UK licensing laws are too lax, its too easy for kids to buy booze in the local Co-op or small store.
Same goes for selling booze on a retail basis, it can only be sold in specialist "bottle shops" (off licenses) where the staff routinely ask people in their mid-to-late 20's for ID to confirm they are legal buyers (I even got asked myself 10 years ago when I was 24 and balding!). I have NEVER seen them serve kids booze and even seen the young girl on the till refuse to serve a group of elder lads in their mid-teens who had no ID.
Of course, the problem we have here is that parents will buy booze for their kids to drink at home or at friends houses which creates a problem with drunk groups of kids roaming the streets looking for aggro.
my 3 grandsons all have Charlton shirts with Llanara on, but not one of them has bought a gaff in Spain ; )
lol