On This Day – 24th January
Kettering Town put their name into the football history books on this day back in 1976, by becoming the first football team to have a sponsor’s name on their shirt.
The man that made the historic moment happen was Derek Dougan, the former Wolves legend and Northern Ireland international.
Dougan had gained hero status during his eight years at Wolves, and also played in the Football League for Portsmouth, Blackburn Rovers, Aston Villa, Peterborough United and Leicester City. He then dropped into non-league and was player-manager at Kettering Town for two years.
‘The Doog’ – as he became known – was part of a quartet of pundits for ITV’s coverage of the 1970 World Cup in Mexico. This was the first time that this idea was used and it worked out very well and has been a part of football television coverage ever since.
On 24th January 1976, Kettering Town hosted Bath City at their Rockingham Road ground. The few fans that were present that day would have been shocked to see that the words ‘KETTERING TYRES’ were printed across the front of Town’s home shirt in bold capital letters.
Such a thing had never been seen before. The Football Association were furious and told Dougan that this advertising must be taken down. The club offered an alternative of ‘KETTERING T’, so it would stand for Town or Tyres. The FA didn’t see the funny side and ordered the removal or face a £1,000 fine.
Sponsorship was finally allowed on the front of club’s shirts the following year. Liverpool became the trendsetters for the First Division, opting for Japanese manufacturer ‘HITACHI’ in 1979.
It’s little nuggets of information like this that might one day come up in a pub quiz. I hope that through reading this article you might be able to win a point in a quiz somewhere in the future – if so, remember that you read it here!
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