The Premier League has given Aston Villa permission to have a charity’s name emblazoned across their shirts next season instead of a sponsor’s name. The landmark decision by the Premier League will allow Aston Villa to have Acorns Children’s Hospice printed on its shirts.
“Real credit must go to Aston Villa for being the first Premier League club to use its shirt sponsorship to highlight and promote its charity partnership with Acorns, a highly public way of demonstrating that this type of commitment is central to the modern football club,” said Richard Scudamore, chief executive of the Premier League.
Let’s hope that this decision by Aston Villa will make other Premier League clubs consider doing the same in the future. During a time when generating massive amounts of revenue is high on the agenda for all clubs, Aston Villa has bucked the trend by deciding to allow a charity to be featured on their shirts instead of collecting massive money from sponsorship rights.
Of course, Aston Villa isn’t the first football club in the world to make this move. Barcelona has never worn the name of a sponsor on their shirt, but recently featured the name UNICEF.
Congratulations to Aston Villa and Randy Lerner for being so benevolent.
4 responses so far ↓
1 Paul Bestall // Jun 3, 2008 at 6:12 am
Just beat me to it. I think it’s a fantastic idea, another superb one from Mr Lerner. Well done Aston Villa.
2 Robin // Jun 3, 2008 at 7:58 am
Great move, hope this inspires others. Awesome Aston Villa!
3 Burt Reynolds // Jun 3, 2008 at 9:46 am
This was an old rumor, I guess now it’s just official…
4 Dave M // Jun 3, 2008 at 1:51 pm
This is a mighty swing of the pendulum for Aston Villa, considering they had “32 Red” in 07-08. Online Casinos are (imo) among the seemier shirt sponsors out there.
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