For all the fear that football has slipped from the hands of supporters and into the arms of corporate greed, Barnsley’s willingness to heed objections from fans and cut ties with its shirt sponsor, the cryptocurrency company Hex, offers a reminder that the channels of empathy between the terrace and the boardroom remain open.
Last week, the League One club severed ties with the brand that featured on their shirts for just two games. The catalyst was a movement from the bottom up – via statements from their Supporters’ Trust, the club’s LGBTQ+ fan group and a swell of supporters making their voices heard online – that made plain how far from the stated values of the club the new partnership fell.
It has been, at its heart, a story of supporter power, of a club listening to the concerns of fans and having the courage to say “we were wrong”. But it also raises questions that go beyond Barnsley and Hex. The world of sports sponsorship has long been blighted by the problem of what is and isn’t an appropriate commercial partner. The debacle at Oakwell has opened a new front in the struggle for football’s soul.
“Because [cryptocurrency] is such a decentralised thing, you can get some horrible people involved in it,” says one supporter who drew attention to disturbing social media posts made by people apparently central to securing the Barnsley deal. They have asked not to be named after receiving threats. “And you can’t do anything to stop it. Anyone can get involved.
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The Barnsley FC Supporters Trust had, in the days after the deal was announced, made public that they sought clarification from the club on exactly those points, chiefly which parties from among the loosely defined “Hex community” had brokered the deal. Concerns were also raised regarding the ethics of encouraging supporters to invest financially in an unregulated venture about which there were “numerous online claims that this is a Ponzi scheme or a hoax.”
In the end, it was the social media posts of two Twitter users who, a representative of Hex claimed, had been key in securing the sponsorship that brought the house of cards down. Those posts included a series of homophobic slurs. Once concern was raised, the post thanking and acknowledging the contribution of the two unnamed account owners was deleted, and their involvement was actively denied.
“We have got a big LBGTQ community,” says the supporter. “Oakwell has to feel like a safe space to them. Our ‘Rainbow Reds’ group put out a statement, then one of the main Hex guys replied which brought attention and abuse down on the group too.”
Part of the problem inherent to a corporate deal with a crypto company is that there is no company as such. It exists as a decentralised collective, and as such standards of public conduct become difficult to define and harder to enforce. That no mechanism was in place for identifying who had brokered the Barnsley deal further highlighted a lack of accountability in the system.
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“Once I’d highlighted this stuff online, I had the Hex army onslaught. I got no sleep for two days straight, with all the abuse I was receiving.
“I’ve had people threatening to sue me. When you ask questions of people involved in a cryptocurrency, every single one of them has something invested in it, so they’re protecting their investment.
“You’ve got a working-class town where the cost of living is through the roof, and you’re essentially advertising a ‘get rich quick’ scheme.”
Barnsley’s defeat at Derby County last Saturday saw them sport plain red shirts featuring only the club’s badge. It is unlikely to remain that way for the remainder of the season. Yet for an afternoon, it served as a visual reminder of the enduring influence of fan power.
“This shows that fans are still valued by the club. It shows hate will never win, despite the money. Our morals are not for sale.
“Other clubs should look at this example. They should realise it’s OK to make mistakes. As long as it’s rectified and you listen to your fans.”
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