It was supposed to be a mere publicity stunt, designed to help publicise a campaign with positive intentions.
But the killjoys at the Football Association tend to play everything by the book, and so Huddersfield Town’s one-off kit – as part of Paddy Power’s ‘Save Our Shirt’ initiative – has been given a thumbs-down by the authorities.
The FA have charged the Terriers with misconduct after they wore a home shirt emblazoned with a huge Paddy Power logo for a pre-season friendly against Rochdale.
That led to many speculating as to whether Huddersfield would be wearing the blue-and-white strip all-season long, but as later revealed it was just an eye-catching stunt to promote the bookmakers’ new campaign, which will remove all sponsorship from shirt fronts in an attempt to tackle the number of betting firms advertising their products to adults and children in the modern game.
According to the FA’s dusty rulebook, the front of each playing kit is allowed to have a sponsorship logo of ‘one single area not exceeding 250 sq/cm on the front of the shirt’. Huddersfield, with their one-off strip, significantly exceeded this restriction with their huge PP sash.
They have until August 16 to respond, and hopefully the authorities will see the sense in the bigger picture….although we won’t hold our breath, of course.
Bedale AFC Reveal ‘Banging’ New Kit
While Huddersfield Town were drawing the ire of the Football Association for their new kit, further across Yorkshire the non-league outfit Bedale AFC were earning exclamations of ‘what the hell is that?’ with theirs.
????????
Sausages ✅
Mashed potato ✅
Peas ✅
Gravy boat ✅Nope, not a shopping list. All these items feature on Bedale AFC’s new away kit!
Read all about it: https://t.co/RJvIvopqSr pic.twitter.com/P7b8mloArV
— BBC Sport (@BBCSport) 8 August 2019
They are sponsored by the sausage manufacturer Heck, who has inspired the club’s away kit this term with a bangers and mash design that has to be seen to be believed.