News | Sunday, 19 July 2009

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No Lawrence, Sheffield Utd are not the oldest team in football

Matthew Vella
Comment is free, but facts are sacred. That’s what the Prime Minister should tell his advisers at the Malta Tourism Authority, who must have furnished him with incorrect information when he answered a PQ this week in parliament.
Lawrence Gonzi was asked about the MTA’s sponsorship deal with Sheffield United Football Club, but pointed out – incorrectly – that the Blades are the oldest team in football. “They are the oldest team in the game with a history that is part and parcel of football itself.”
Not so, as Sheffield Wednesday predates the club by 22 years, having been founded in 1867.
Sticklers would specify that the oldest football club in the world – founded in 1857 – is actually Sheffield FC, an amateur club that is still in existence, and which attracts around 200 supporters to their home games.
The MTA’s sponsorship deal with Sheffield United has cost €400,000 to feature the visitmalta.com strap on the team shirts.
But Gonzi says a private consultancy firm has quantified the benefits of the sponsorship at €1.7 million in terms of exposure for Malta.
According to the report by Havas Sport Insight, exposure of visitmalta.com to audiences of Sky Sports and ITV1, and readers of the Sheffield Star and Yorkshire Evening Post, was estimated at €887,000. Another €820,000 was described as “projected value from other tangible benefits”.
Live TV audiences averaged out at 280,000, but the derby between United and Sheffield Wednesday attracted the most viewers – 529,000. The report says they are mostly men (67%), 45% from the ABC1 group (managers, professionals, skilled workers), but just 14% are aged 16-34.
Gonzi told parliament that it was SUFC officials who approached the MTA about the deal. “We could have knocked on the doors of other English squads, maybe those more popular than SUFC. But then again, it would have been too prohibitive for the MTA’s budget.”

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