Paddy Power Huddersfield kit: Why the ‘new home shirt’ with giant sponsorship sash is obviously a prank

Huddersfield’s kit announcement has turned a lot of heads – it was designed to. Paddy Power’s sponsorship of the Championship club was always going to result in some interesting marketing ideas, given that this is the company which previously employed Ryan Giggs’ brother Rhodri to face the ‘Loyalty’s Dead’ TV campaign, erected a 108-foot Roy Hodgson statue and paid Nicklas Bendtner to wear their branded underwear while playing for Denmark.

Never fear, though, Huddersfield fans. This kit won’t and can’t happen. If the words ‘Paddy Power’ didn’t set enough alarm bells ringing in the first place, with the betting company acting as the club’s main sponsor for the 2019-20 campaign, it’s easy to debunk what looks to be yet another banal publicity stunt.

On Wednesday morning, Huddersfield’s official Twitter account shared some promotion for their new home kit for the approaching season. The vast majority of the shirt fits with the traditional aesthetic of the club: blue and white stripes.

Then there was the booming green text screaming ‘PADDY POWER’, stretched across the players’ chests like a gaudy take on River Plate, Peru and Rayo Vallecano’s far more tasteful sash designs. In the words of one fan in the replies: “Even as Huddersfield Town’s number one fan… That is f**king awful.”

#htafc's new home kit for the upcoming 2019/20 season has today been revealed!

Produced by main supplier @UmbroUK, the new home kit features a modern spin on the traditional blue and white striped home shirt thanks to new title sponsor @paddypower.

— Huddersfield Town (@htafcdotcom) July 17, 2019

Debunking the prank

While many fans have been quick to express their horror, loathing and disgust, one look at the FA Handbook reveals that this design wouldn’t make it onto the field of play.

Sponsors cannot exceed 250 square centimetres on the front of any football shirt in England, as per the regulations, while advertising cannot be larger than 100 square centimetres both on the back of shirts, on each sleeve, on the back of shorts and on each sock tie. A gargantuan sash screaming ‘Paddy Power’ certainly wouldn’t be permitted. As the screenshots below show, nothing even close to Huddersfield’s announcement would be considered by the FA.

On top of that, nowhere on the club’s official website is it possible to take a closer look at the kit, or indeed access an official shop to either pre-order or buy the kit outright. Then there’s the fact that the person who sent round the press release is an official Paddy Power ‘PR & Mischief Champion’. As if that is seriously a job title.

The job title of the person who sent round the Paddy Power press release about @htafcdotcom new shirt. pic.twitter.com/8FBnPHdnA7

— Ashley Broadley (@AshBroadley) July 17, 2019

It probably won’t be long until the joke is revealed, with a more understated Paddy Power sponsor placed in a more traditional manner, but their loud marketing has got the football world talking once again. Wahey.