New shirt sponsor for next season

Charlton’s shirts next season will bear the name of charity Children with Cancer UK. On the face of it, wonderful kudos to the club, but in fact they really didn’t have much to do with the decision, as it was made or at least offered to the club by current shirt sponsor BETDAQ.

BETDAQ have taken the initiative to withdraw their name from TV advertising, thus including sports sponsorship. This after pressure from the government, but BETDAQ’s parent company GVC have been ahead of the curve, so more-so kudos to them, yet it was only a matter of time before political powers ended gambling companies stranglehold on their sponsorship of mainstream sports.

GVC includes betting brands Ladbrokes, bwin and party poker as well as betting exchange BETDAQ. Sunderland’s shirts will also carry the Children with Cancer UK name. Almost all of the Championship clubs last season were sponsored by companies affiliated with betting, so it will be interesting to see where this goes.

Rumours had been circling that other companies were prepared to step in, but I think most of us will be happy that BETDAQ have donated their shirt sponsorship to such a worthy charity.