Revealed – The Strangest Sponsors in Sport

The recent 2014 World Cup served to highlight a number of interesting issues on a global scale. While it was indeed one of the most watched events in sporting history, it also highlighted issues of corruption and just how important money is in the world of sport.

As sports become more global, a lot has changed over the years, including sponsorship deals. For example, in the world of football, while in the 80s teams would be supported by local businesses, they’re now being sponsored by huge multi-national companies.

Sometimes, however, the sponsor does not quite fit the product, and in some of the strangest and even hilarious match ups, here are some of history’s strangest sponsors in sport.

No smoking!

Over in the footballing world, things in the 80s painted a very different picture from what we have today – rather than Uruguayans biting Italians or superstars making headlines for wearing tiny shorts, we had one team making headlines for very different attire. Between 1985 and 1986, West Bromwich Albion took the moral high ground when they had a no smoking symbol on their kit. Ironically, this was more than 20 years before the UK smoking ban came into effect.

Go Long….er!

Meanwhile, in the United States, one sponsorship deal that was bound to raise a snigger or two was that of NFL quarterback Carson Palmer, who back in the early noughties found himself in a sponsorship deal with John Morrell hotdogs. It’s bad enough that a fast food company should work with an athlete, but the picture involved was even worse – Palmer was photographed looking rather frightening as he went to take a bite, all delightfully complemented by the caption: “Go Long…er!”

No Wonga for Papiss

Back in 2013, Newcastle United star Papiss Cissé caused something of a stir when he refused to play for the team after they revealed their latest sponsor: pay day loan company Wonga. Cissé allegedly objected as a result of his Muslim faith, which forbids ‘financial exploitation’, but ironically, was spotted gambling in a casino some months later.

Wonga is not the only sponsor which may have upset Cissé. Today, more and more online gaming sites are considering sponsorship deals with sports teams, with www.SpinPalace.com becoming the latest in a long line of other sites considering lending its name to a team. This may be controversial for some, but it’s becoming more commonplace for gambling providers to sponsor sports – after all, a huge part of their income relies on sports betting, and as such this is the beginning of a number of lucrative deals set to take place in the future.