Digital Map Share Your Memorabilia
Lleyton Hewitt & Mark Philippoussis, Queen's Club Championships, 2005

Mapping the History of Sports Sponsorship

Kicking the Habit explores ‘addictive’ sports sponsorship in the UK from the 1960s to the present day.

Help us map these histories by sharing your sports sponsorship memorabilia.

Digital Map Share Your Memorabilia
Lleyton Hewitt & Mark Philippoussis, Queen's Club Championships, 2005. Image: Shermozle. License: CC BY-SA 3.0
Lleyton Hewitt & Mark Philippoussis, Queen's Club Championships, 2005. Image: Shermozle. License: CC BY-SA 3.0
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The Project.

Kicking the Habit is a six-year project (2024 – 2030) funded by a Wellcome Trust. It explores why and how companies from addictive industries—tobacco, alcohol, and gambling—began sponsoring British sports from the 1960s to the present day.

The project examines what motivated these sponsorships, the harms they caused, and how they shaped public policy. It explores what happens to sport when the promotion of harmful products becomes integral to supporting it.

The research is divided into three strands:

We also welcome sports sponsorship memorabilia to create a shared history resource for all:

Share Your Memorabilia Digital Map

Kicking the Habit explores the history of sports sponsorship in the UK.
However, we recognise that people may be impacted by certain themes and may need Support.

 

Photo: Thomas. stock.adobe.com

Since 1965

Our timeline of ‘addictive’ sponsorship shows key dates in the emergence of tobacco (now nicotine), alcohol, and gambling industries’ sponsorship of British sports.

  • 1968 – John Player & Sons forms a long-standing sponsorship agreement with the Lotus Formula One team.

    Graham Hill in 1969. Photo: Lothar Spurzem. License: CC BY-SA 2.0 DE Graham Hill in 1969. Photo: Lothar Spurzem. License: CC BY-SA 2.0 DE

  • 1976 – Embassy cigarettes begin sponsoring the World Snooker Championships, doing so until 2005.

    Cue ball and reds. Photo: Ben Sutherland. License: CC BY 2.0

  • 1979 – Stella Artois begins its almost 30-year sponsorship of the Queen’s Club Tennis Tournament.

    Lleyton Hewitt & Mark Philippoussis, Queen's Club Championships, 2005. Image: Shermozle. License: CC BY-SA 3.0

  • 1987 – Courage becomes the first sponsor of the English Rugby Union Premier League.

    Rugby Union ball. Photo: SpesBona. License: CC BY-SA 4.0

  • 1991 – Tetley’s Bitter announces a £1.1m sponsorship package for English cricket, including a Sky TV deal.

    Headingley, 1983. Photo: Anthony O'Neill. License: CC BY-SA 2.0

  • 2002 – The Tobacco Advertising and Promotion Act becomes law. It bans tobacco sponsorship from British sport, but ‘global’ events are exempt until 2005.

    Image: Simon Taylor via Unsplash

  • 2002 – Fulham is the first club in the English Premier League to be sponsored by a gambling company, Betfair. 

    Craven Cottage, 2018. Photo: EL Loko. License: CC BY 4.0

  • 2005 – Guinness becomes the title sponsor of the ‘Guinness’ (Rugby) Premiership.

    Leicester Tigers v London Wasps. Guinness Premiership Final 2008, Twickenham. Image: Paul Paxford. License: CC BY-NC-SA 2.0.

  • 2017 – Betfred became the first bookmaker to sponsor the Super League.

    Super League Grand Final, 2024. Photo: Hullian111. License: CC BYSA 4.0

  • 2019 – British American Tobacco sponsor the McLaren Formula One team via a nicotine pouch brand, with the company claiming to promote a ‘smokeless world’.

    Lando Norris drives the McLaren MCL36, 2022 British Grand Prix. Photo: Timfilbert. License: CC BY-SA 4.0

  • 2025 – Eleven clubs of the English Premier League feature a gambling sponsor on the front of their shirts.

    Photo: Jason Charters via Unsplash

Our Research