Traitor Joe’s Est. 01-20-21 Where Everything Is For Sale Shirt
The first official shirt sponsorship across Europe’s major leagues came in the German Bundesliga back in 1973; three years before Dougan and Kettering Town got scheming. Eintracht Braunschweig, like Derek Dougan, had their initial request to emblazon their shirts refused. Jaegermeister, the drink company, were the proposed sponsor and Braunschweig got around the refusal by voting to oust their club crest in favour of the Jaegermeister logo. Around the same time, Bayern Munich wore what looked like red Adidas t-shirts. Having followed the example of Braunschweig, Bayern removed their own club crest, and had their kit supplier blown up on the front of their shirts. Shortly after, the German FA caved in to the swirling tide of opposition and legalised shirt sponsorship.In Italy it was Udinese who first rocked the sponsor-free status quo in 1978. Teofilio Sanson, owner of Udinese and a prosperous gelato business, had his name printed rather discreetly on the side of the team shorts. The Italian FA, more direct than their English counterparts, skipped the letter of warning, took exception, and had him fined. However, they eventually followed suit and made shirt sponsorship an option for clubs in 1979. As one might expect, due to the stronger attachment to tradition, and the love of organisational bureaucracy, Italy would remain a little further behind in terms of shirt sponsorship. It wasn’t until mid-way through the 1990’s till most Italian clubs had shirt sponsors.
Traitor Joe’s Est. 01-20-21 Where Everything Is For Sale Shirt
Juventus, slightly ahead of the game, wore Italian domestic appliance manufacturer, Ariston, shirts in 1979. They were joined in gambling club tradition and honour in 1981 by AC Milan (Pooh Jeans), Roma (Barilla), Lazio (Tonini), Inter (Inno-Hit), and Palermo (Vini Corvo) in 1982.A similar story in Spain, where most clubs went without shirt sponsorship till the late eighties or early nineties. Real Madrid were La Liga’s first, wearing Zanussi in 1982. Celta Vigo deserve special mention due to having only one shirt sponsor in their entire history. Citroen have been proudly placed upon their sky blue shirts since 1986, and remain there to this day. Barcelona, famously, chose not to entertain the idea till 2006. Atletico Madrid have something of a unique and chequered history with shirt sponsorship. Like most La Liga clubs, they didn’t have a shirt sponsor till the mid to late eighties. Japanese photocopier manufacturers, Mita Copiers, were in place for the 1989/90 season, but the following season they found themselves ditched for the Marbella Tourist Board. President at the time, the ever stirring Jesus Gil, also happened to be the Mayor of Marbella. Between 2003 and 2005, Atletico were sponsored by Colombia Pictures. Rather than having just one logo on their shirts, the Hollywood giants used the shirts to promote several different movies including; Bewitched, Hellboy, Spanglish, S.W.A.T, Hitch and Spiderman Two. Each film saw a re-designed shirt. More recently, the Madrid club were sponsored by another tourist board: ‘Azerbaijan: Land of Fire’ between 2012 and 2015. Letters from several Human Rights organisations put a stop to this deal, many calling Azerbaijan one of the most repressive countries in the world.
