It struck us right to the core when during the Melbourne Victory’s horror 3- 1 loss to Daegu at AAMI Park was compounded by the team requiring a change to their costumes after it was discovered that their sponsor had links to a betting agency.
That sort of thing is frowned upon apparently, for reasons we cannot begin to comprehend, as we are just poor, honest writers who hope no one catches wind that we sometimes type whilst wearing a Neds t-shirt we discovered at an estate liquidation.
We are further guilty of not ascertaining if the t-shirt was an authentic item from Neds, or if it was an unauthorised knock-off.
The opener for the Victory in the Asian Champions League was sullied by the discovery that Kashi Entertainment, a media agency the Victory only recently inked to a sponsorship, had Asian lettering on the shirt that properly translated, was the name of wagering agency KashBet.
The sponsorship deal was vetted and approved by the Asian Football Confederation, but the connection between the so-called media agency Kashi Entertainment and KashBet was of enough concern to the Victory, which has a partnership with the Victorian Responsible Gambling Foundation, that the Victory played the game with Daegu wearing their away shirt with their home shorts and socks.
A fashion breach of that sort is not entirely unprecedented. It is often hard to discern whether the Collingwood Magpies are wearing black shirts with white stripes, or if the shirts are indeed white with black stripes.
It is a complex world in which we live. Look at almost any of the established Thoroughbred races and you often find the officially registered name of the race preceded by Ladbrokes, Sportsbet, or one of the other agencies.
The uproar turned out fortunately. The kit of the Victory did not clash with Daegu’s and the green keeper shirt of Lawrence Thomas simply had a piece of green tape applied to conceal the Kaishi logo.
As embarrassing as the fashion faux pas might seem, almost like something out of one of those anxiety dreams where a student finds him or herself at the head of the class wearing just their undergarments, the Brisbane Roar last year suffered the indignity of playing a qualifier with their numbers falling off their kits.