Football clubs sell children kits with gambling adverts
THOUSANDS of children are wearing replica football kits bearing gambling adverts, despite pledges to keep sponsors’ logos off merchandise for youths.
Junior strips for the nine Premier League teams sponsored by betting firms do not carry their logos as part of a voluntary agreement between the clubs and the gambling industry.
But, for three of these clubs, the maximum size for children’s shirts is age 13, while five teams have a top junior size of 14. Only Bournemouth has a junior kit that goes up to 16, and even this is two years before the legal gambling age. This means many under-18s are sold adult shirts that advertise betting companies.
Images of fans who appeared to be under 18 wearing replica kits advertising alcohol and gambling were even broadcast on Match of the Day, a study by Goldsmiths University found.
The researchers concluded: ‘ The codes are therefore ineffective in preventing young people aged between 14 and 18, or indeed younger children who are large for their age, from wearing branded replica kit and, in doing so, advertising gambling and alcohol while underage.’
Newcastle United has come under fire for using Lewis Cass, who is 17, to promote web betting firm Fun88.
Dr Jane Rigbye of charity GambleAware, said: ‘Children should be able to show their support for their club, without being forced to wear adult sized kits, emblazoned with gambling adverts. My own six-year-old son thought that his new football kit wasn’t the real thing because it “looked different” to the kit his favourite players wear. It shows how gambling is being normalised for children.
‘More needs to be done to protect children from the risks of gambling, and sports clubs need to consider their responsibility.’ The Industry Group for Responsible Gambling code requires that ‘gambling operators do not allow their logos or other promotional material to appear on any commercial merchandising which is designed for use by children. A clear example of this would be the use of logos on sports’ shirts.’
Under the code, children’s shirts and other merchandise are defined as those not subject to VAT. HM Revenue and Customs imposes zero VAT on clothes for children aged under 14, but only if the chest measurement for shirts is below 41in for boys and 41.5in for girls.
However, the largest junior shirts available at West Ham and Everton stop at 33 inches and for Crystal Palace and Stoke have a maximum 36 inches, according to their online size guides.
Last night West Ham said it was in talks with its sponsors to create an unbranded shirt for all under18s, a move it hoped would set a precedent for the rest of the Premier League.
Clive Hawkswood of the Remote Gambling Association which represents online gaming firms, said: ‘It may be that there is now more need for the clubs to demonstrate a greater awareness of the responsibility that rests with them, as well as with the gambling company, when they enter into shirt sponsorship deals.’