Sunday 16 August 2009

FIFA World cup sponsorship 1966 versus 2010

My neighbour Keith Telfer was a match day steward at Wembley Stadium for a number of games during the 1966 World Cup finals and had been promising for some time to share his memorabilia including his programmes stewards passes and badges. We spent a very enjoyable hour reading his superbly well preserved programmes from the tournament and listening to stories of other big games at which he volunteered and ushered people to their seats.
Aside from discovering that England full back Ray Wilson was actually named Ramon, and that stewards had to be on site 4 hours before kick- off, the biggest discovery was the English FA’s Acknowledgements page- the mid sixties version of sponsor accreditation- in which they thanked the tournament Sponsors which for the sake of accuracy I copy here:


The Football Association World Cup Organisation wishes to acknowledge assistance it has received from many firms and organisations. The promotional success of the eighth Jules Rimet Cup competition has been aided by valuable contributions of services and facilities from many sources including:

The Royal Garden Palace Hotel, for making available the location for the FIFA Secretariat

The Imperial Typewriter Company, Limited for the provision of 750 typewriters for use in Press Centres and Press Working Rooms in all the staging towns and cities

Roneo Limited for the loan of duplicators

Umbro International Sportswear, for supplying the shirts, shorts and hose, and Adidas the football boots, worn by the 320 boys representing the 16 participating countries during the opening ceremony, each boy will retain his equipment as a momento of the occasion

Bridport-Gundry Limited, for providing the specially designed goal nets being used on all grounds staging World Cup final series matches
W.D & H.O Wills for supplying the briefcases and portable desks for the use of officials, press radio and television personnel

Note the loan of the photocopiers and the fact that the briefcases were supplied by a cigarette manufacturer

Compare this with the multi-million dollar 8 year, category exclusive sponsorship programmes, global activation, brand integration activities now operated by FIFA for South Africa 2010 and Brazil 2014 and smile at the simplicity and pragmatism of it all and how much our industry has grown in a mere 44 years!

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