NL – Today FC Emmen released a statement on their website that Dutch football association KNVB hasn’t given Easy Toys, a sex toy shop, permission to be presented as the main sponsor of the football team. The team is upset about the rejection and will look further into the KNVB’s arguments.
It is not their intention to let go of a party that wants to become a main sponsor, the team said. “We are now going to consider how to respond to this, but we are certainly not planning to drop our main sponsor,” FC Emmen chairman Ronald Lubbers said to the Telegraaf.
FC Emmen and Easy Toys were planning to collaborate, but the KNVB rejected the offer. The CEO of Easy Toys, Eric Idema, tells FCUpdate.nl, that he is very disappointed by the decision that has been made by the association. The erotic toys webshop agreed to sponsor an amount of half a million euros per year, a considerable financial boost for the Drenthe football team.
The potential main sponsor is in conflict with the sponsorship regulations, according to the KNVB. The association refers to article 3 of the sponsorship regulations that states that a sponsor may not contradict “good taste or decency”. According to the association this is the case with the sex toy company, and that puts an end to the sponsorship.
FC Emmen was very eager to work with Easy Toys. FC Emmen and EasyToys had previously decided that youth up to the age of 18 could only buy an Emmen shirt without EasyToys on the shirt. The football club was never given the opportunity to present ‘the whole package’ around the sponsorship, Lubbers told the Telegraaf.
Eric Idema, CEO of Easy Toys, has confirmed to FCUpdate that the deal will not go ahead. He stated that the KNVB is against the sponsorship. “We have just received an email from the association that it is not going to happen. We are going to consider what we are going to do. It sucks. We had tackled everything; no shirt with printing because that would be a thing (for people under the 18 years). It was only expressions in the stadium, as is the case with FC Groningen.”
“”We wanted to break through something with this,” Idema, who is from the Emmen area, said. “We wanted to give something back to the club and Emmen came to us with a great proposition and we stepped in. It was the biggest deal we ever made. We were careful and wanted to break the taboo. We are a brand, and a gambling company like TOTO is allowed and we can’t. I am very disappointed.”
Chances are that Emmen and EasyToys will approach the association together to talk about the sponsorship. “We have to let it sink in. Emmen is also deeply disappointed. We are going to see what to do,” Idema said.
In a response to the Telegraaf, the KNVB referred to the items EasyToys sells, which include things like sex toys, condoms, lingerie, and bondage items. “The competition clothing must be in accordance with the Articles of Association, regulations and decisions of the KNVB (Article 6 paragraph 1 Regulations for Paid Football Matches). All clubs – including FC Emmen – have agreed to these regulations.”
These regulations stipulate that sponsorship statements may not conflict with “the law, public order or morality, the Dutch advertising Code, good taste or decency, the statues and regulations of the KNVB, and decisions of the professional football board”.
