Top soccer club takes bookies’ name off shirts

SWANSEA City has become the highest profile football club to drop a gambling company as its shirt sponsor.

The side which finished sixth in the Championship – the tier below the Premier League – will replace online betting firm Yobet with Swansea University as its main shirt sponsor.

The decision comes after the club came under pressure from gambling campaigners.

Luton Town made a similar move after its boss Gary Sweet, a father- of-three, said it made him ‘uncomfortable’ that young fans were being bombarded with pro-gambling messages.

Last year, 27 out of the 44 clubs in the Premier League and Championship divisions had bookmakers as their main shirt sponsor. The list included big name clubs such as Newcastle United and West Ham United. Gambling campaigners have long argued that the normalisation of gambling in sport made children more likely to develop addictions as young adults.

Last night they welcomed the news about Swansea. Carolyn Harris, MP for Swansea East, and chairman of the all-party parliamentary group for gambling, said: ‘I’m over the moon. The club’s move away from sponsorship from gambling firms is a really positive step which will benefit their fans in Swansea and much further afield. I hope many more clubs follow their lead to help safeguard the wellbeing of their fans, particularly youngsters.’

Swansea, who lost out on the chance of promotion to the Premier League in the play-offs last month, is understood to have turned down more lucrative deals with gambling firms before signing with the university.

Gambling with Lives, a charity that represents families bereaved by gambling-related suicide, said: ‘This is an important stand. We know that the club could have got a more lucrative deal from a gambling company, but they’ve done a great deal for their fans and their children.’

James Grimes, of the Big Step, a group that campaigns to reduce gambling’s influence on football, said: ‘We got assurances from the club when we met them in February and we are glad to see them make this positive move.’ The Daily Mail’s Stop the Gambling Predators campaign continues to call for greater protection for addicts and has repeatedly highlighted failings within the highly profitable industry.

Rebecca Edwards-Symmons, Swansea’s commercial head, said the partnership ‘perfectly encapsulates our club and our city’. She added: ‘There is nothing better than having local, prestigious brands involved with us as a club.’

Last month a House of Lords committee report recommended that clubs should not be allowed to have betting firm logos on their shirts.