Paddy Power ends Huddersfield speculation with Save Our Shirt campaign
The Irish operator has made its big reveal following a week of guessing games over the new Huddersfield Town kit
Paddy Power this morning revealed the real campaign behind its controversial sponsorship deal with Championship club Huddersfield Town.
The operator announced a new shirt deal with the Terriers ahead of the 2019-20 season and the first images of the club’s new home strip caused uproar on social media.
Many labelled it the worst football kit ever made on Twitter, but the Irish bookie appears to have had the last laugh after unveiling its Save Our Shirt initiative.
Paddy Power pointed fans towards a new web domain, savourshirt.co.uk, where a landing page reads: “It might sound grand and serious and game-changing – but although you could make it all of those things – save our shirt is actually just a common sense call for sponsors to stop barstardising football shirts and return them to the fans.”
The text continues: “We’re proud to be partnering up with Huddersfield Town for the 2019-20 season as the club’s lead shirt sponsor, but we understand that the shirt is a sacred thing, which belongs to the fans. Paddy Power is proudly unsponsoring Huddersfield Town.”
Huddersfield’s reveal of their genuine 2019-20 home kit – without a sponsor – has received almost 3,000 retweets and 13,000 likes on Twitter at the time of writing.
🙌 Here it is!
👕 #htafc can today reveal the ACTUAL @UmbroUK home kit!
😁 The shirt is part of @paddypower's new #SaveOurShirt campaign; an initiative that is backing a move towards unbranded football kits, effectively returning the shirt back to the fans.
More 👇
— Huddersfield Town (@htafc) July 19, 2019
The campaign has been incredibly well-received by fans of the club, with several touting the jersey to be the fastest selling in the club’s history.
The FA contacted Huddersfield yesterday to express disappointment after the club wore the novelty Paddy Power kit in a pre-season friendly match against Rochdale.
It remains to be seen whether the club will be on the receiving end of disciplinary action from the FA for breaching shirt sponsorship regulations.
Paddy Power’s head of PR, Lee Price, wrote on LinkedIn: “After months of work, by literally hundreds of people, Paddy Power can finally launch our #SaveOurShirt campaign – unsponsoring football.
“As a sponsor, we know our place – and it’s not on your shirt,” he added.