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Paddy Power hits out at FA for price of Millwall racism fine compared to Huddersfield fine for fake sponsored shirts

Huddersfield Town have been handed a massive fine from the Football Association after wearing their ‘fake’ Paddy Power kit in a pre-season friendly.

They went viral when they reveal it over the summer, then many waited for them to announce that it was indeed a fake but the Terriers surprisingly decided to wear it in a friendly at Rochdale, many started to question the club whether they did in fact know the advertising rules on kits.

The FA asked the Championship side to explain why they wore the kit which had a big diagonal sash with new sponsors ‘Paddy Power’ written in big down it.

They were auctioned off for charity, raising nearly £28,000 for three local charities.

A spokesman for the FA said: “Huddersfield Town FC has been fined £50,000 and warned as to its future conduct by an independent Regulatory Commission after admitting a charge in relation to The FA’s Kit and Advertising Regulations.

“Playing kit worn by the club’s first team during a pre-season friendly against Rochdale AFC on 17 July 2019 breached FA Regulation C.2(i).”

In Paddy Power’s statement, they compared the £50,000 fine to the £10,000 fine given to Millwall over alleged racist chanting by fans in an FA Cup match against Everton back in January.

The bookmaker failed to answer questions about the sponsorship.

Huddersfield Town chairman Phil Hodgkinson asked a referee to ban players from wearing a controversial kit.

Referee Martin Coy gave evidence: “The HTFC chairman informed me of the significant publicity around their Paddy Power sponsored kit and expected media attention for this match.

“He said that the kit was not actually their real kit and it was all part of an advertising campaign. He said that he did not want the squad to wear the kit as the FA had informed HTFC by phone call that it would be a breach of their regulations. He said that he was new to the chairman role, this being his first game and he didn’t want to be charged by the FA.

“He wanted me to ban them from wearing the kit and said that my decision could then potentially be good publicity and part of the advertising campaign.

“I was uncomfortable with this and felt it was not my place to ban the kit outright, but I informed them that I would recommend they followed the rules and advice from the FA. I also stated that I did not want to be part of any publicity. At this point the chairman said that the team would not wear the kit and I would not be part of any advertising…”

Phil Hodgkinson wrote to the commission: “We were threatened with legal action and the sponsor said that it would be deemed to be a material breach of the sponsorship agreement if the team did not wear the oversized logo.

“In the circumstances, when faced with the threat of serious legal action from the club’s main sponsor, and with no time to seek external legal advice, we felt we had no alternative but to wear the oversized logo in the match. This is an unfortunate event but we accept responsibility and offer a full apology.”

The commission, led by Christopher Quinlan QC, wrote: “If the sponsor said that, it is difficult to see why the club felt at all threatened by it. By Clause 5.1.7 one of the club’s responsibilities pursuant to the Sponsorship Agreement is that it “will comply with applicable laws and the regulations”.

“By virtue of Clause 1.1 of the Sponsorship Agreement “Regulations” include the FA’s regulations. Therefore, the club had a responsibility under the Sponsorship Agreement to comply with the FA’s Kit and Advertising Regulations. It could hardly be a material breach of the agreement to comply with its terms. That should have been apparent to anyone who read it.”

 

After finding out that Huddersfield Town were fined for wearing their fake Paddy Power kit during a pre-season game, fans took to slam the FA for the price of it, the sponsor simply compared it with the price of Millwall’s fine for racism – see those tweets on the next page.

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