For years I have been joking by saying it wouldn't be long before the FA will be looking for people to sponsor "Abide with me" and the National Anthem and I could see a day when the tannoy would announce "Please stand for the Ford motor Co. sponsored National Anthem" or we will now all join together in singing the Coca Cola sponsored hymn "Abide with me". But today the FA sunk to a new low by wrapping sponsor ribbons around the FA Cup rather than the winning team's colours at the presentation. I was willing the Wigan players to tear them off but I don't doubt for one moment they were told there would be consequences if they did. UIt stinks. It was bad enough seeing a woman singing both of the above with her tits nearly hanging out of her dress but those final pictures of the Budweiser ribbons just totally shocked me. The FA have hit a new low and have totally discredited the FA Cup. I have slowly come to realise I am a man of principle with strongly held principles but I don't belong in the modern world where the only thing that matters is eking the last penny out of every opportunity. I feel we have lost something rather special and valuable today and that it has been slaughtered at the table of corporate greed.
Well, they were blue. So they had the sponsor's name on, haven't they been doing that for years already?
That chick that nearly had the wardrobe malfunction was a welcome break from tradition. The cup is dying a slow death, need to jazz it up a bit. Cheerleaders would be my recommendation for next year, combined with a floodlight midweek kick off. That would pull the viewers in and fill up the ale houses. Not many want to start chucking them down their necks at that time sat, evening kick off and the pubs will be like an England game.
Every fibre of my being wants me to hate all this commercialisation, but as I mentioned earlier, there is probably a good case to be made that the quality of football benefits from it. The tits I can live with. I mean, if I must.
Oh I'm not defending it, I'd prefer it without the commercialisation as well. But for Godders to react like it's some new affront to football is just crazy. Here is the cup, as won by Everton, in 1995. Complete with sponsor's name on the ribbons. That's 18 years ago. please log in to view this image
Shows how football crowds have changed . 25 years ago there would definitely have been a rousing rendition of "get you tits out for the lads"
Other than scale, how is is this commercialism any worse than the days when the Saints programme would be dominated by adverts from local businesses? When it would be announced that the match ball was donated by (did we only ever have one in the old days?). I actually loath shirt sponsorship. For that reason I have clung to my sash shirt as I never liked walking around being a walking advertising hoarding for a now defunct insurance company, a rip-off airline or ( a personal favourite) apparently being a tool! One of the better things about the current sponsor is that at least it is a local company, but we all know that come the next round of talks they won't be able to put up the money required and we'll be back to a multi-national tax dodging corporate. However, as a price to pay for seeing my team compete in the modern Premier League I'll pay it. That is as long as we only have sponsors who run their business ethically. The old Marxist in me tells me that ethical business is an oxymoron, but you know what I mean. Please let's not have Primark or Starbucks, for example. As for the FA Cup, at least it is still called the FA Cup and hasn't lost its name like the poor old League Cup.
No no. The League Cup (not the championship) is now the Capital One Cup, having been the Worthington Cup; the Milk Cup; the **** knows what else cup ... The FA Cup is still the FA Cup
Well I call it the League Cup and nothing else. If everyone follows my lead, then all these corporations will realise the sponsorship thing is a waste of time and stop doing it.
The official name for the FA Cup is: The FA Cup with Budweiser So it's not officially known as the FA Cup anymore. However, to protect the identity of the competition, the sponsored name has always included 'The FA Cup' in addition to the sponsor's name, unlike sponsorship deals for the League Cup where the word 'cup' is preceded by only the sponsor's name. I refer to the Capital One Cup as the League Cup because the name, Capital One Cup sounds s**t in my opinion. At least Carling Cup sounded ok!
So, if I get offered a Cup Final ticket, should I say "I've got a ticket to the FA Cup Final with Budweiser", or should that be "I've got a ticket to the FA Cup with Budweiser Final"? I don't want to upset anybody by saying the wrong thing.
