Premiership Preview: not in front of the kids

The 2007/2008 season is set to be the last time alcohol branding can be placed on children's replica football shirts, following a Portman Group decision to ban the practice. It is a move many say could make drinks companies less attractive as sponsors to Premier League clubs, and which may damage their appeal to fans.

This new restriction will apply to sponsorship contracts signed after January 1, 2008. There are two Premiership teams currently sponsored by drinks companies - Liverpool with Carlsberg and Everton with Chang. The initiative was broadly welcomed as a signal that the industry is showing a responsible attitude to underage drinking, although time will tell what financial impact it will have.

David Poley, chief executive of the Portman Group, says: "Drinks companies are taking the lead even though this decision may lessen their commercial appeal as sponsors if clubs sell fewer shirts."

According to Carlsberg, fans aged under 18 account for a quarter of replica Liverpool shirt sales. It is feared shirts will prove less attractive to youngsters if they lack the labels worn by their heroes and adult fans. This could mean clubs sell fewer shirts, and it may ultimately dissuade them from signing contracts with drinks companies. This could only weaken alcohol brands' marketing and their association with the most viewed football league in the world.

Less attractive?​

Gareth Roberts, Carlsberg head of sponsorship and media relations, says: "As a main club sponsor, we may prove less attractive. There's potential we may not be as front-of-mind with pub customers."

He adds that children's replica Liverpool shirts without the logo have been available as an alternative to the branded version for the past three seasons.

Carlsberg, whose sponsorship contract with Liverpool runs until 2010, also has pouring rights in the club's ground, Anfield, and believes there are plenty of other ways to promote the brand's link with football. "We will try to retain official beer status with the club," says Roberts. "We may step up TV advertising, for example."

Meanwhile, on the blue half of Merseyside, the impact of the new rule will be felt by Chang, the Thai lager brand distributed in the UK by drinks company InterBev. Its marketing manager David Lind says: "There is an argument that children will see their shirts are not the same as grown-ups' and will not want to buy them."

However, he is confident that "shirt sales will not go down" and that Chang, which is poured at Everton's home, Goodison Park, can ride out the change in regulations.

Chang has only started to establish itself in the UK since the sponsorship deal with Everton began in the 2004/2005 season. "The sponsorship is about beaming our brand back to Thailand, proving it has international support," says Lind.

"Its core focus is on Asia, where it is massively popular. Chang is a premium beer. That and our involvement in Asia makes our proposition quite different from Carlsberg's. So the decision, will not impact on us going forward with other sports sponsorships."

While the brands question the link between alcohol advertising on children's shirts and its appeal to their wearers, they are putting on a brave face over this decision - even going so far as to applaud it. Poley says: "There's no evidence to link this marketing with underage drinking. Even so, drinks companies are concerned about the negative perception caused by their logos appearing on children's shirts."

"It's an image thing," adds Roberts. "There's a view that children wearing alcohol brands is not right. We're keen to do the right thing for the industry."