Umbro suppliers to take legal action after FAI terminates shirt deal

JACC Sports Distributors are taking legal advice after the FAI abruptly terminated their sponsorship today.

 Photo by Stephen McCarthy/Sportsfile

JACC Sports Distributors, suppliers of Umbro kit to Ireland teams since 1994, are taking legal advice after the FAI abruptly terminated their sponsorship today.

Since Umbro succeeded Adidas for the 1994 World Cup, the brand has manufactured Ireland apparel – bar a brief spell from 2017 and 2020 when another of JACC’s stable, New Balance, provided the gear.

That 28-year partnership was due to run until at least 2026 under the latest extension unveiled in 2019 but JACC received a bombshell of immediate cessation through an email from FAI Chairman Roy Barrett at 9am on Monday morning.

A lunchtime announcement from the FAI said it had “terminated its sponsorship agreement with JACC Sports Distributors Limited, in accordance with the terms of the agreement.” Like all commercial deals, it contained a number of clauses, which the FAI have felt legally comfortable to invoke.

The basis for this premature action is now expected to be argued in court, for JACC will contend that the contract has four years left to run with orders of jerseys and shirts for the Christmas market at an advanced phase.

They claim to find the move “highly irregular and unwarranted” given JACC has contributed more financially than any other sponsor of the FAI.

The timing is also curious for its proximity to the final double-header international fixtures of the year.

The FAI will now have to source a new supplier for the visit of Erling Haaland’s Norway to Aviva Stadium on November 17, followed by another friendly in Malta four days later.

Vera Pauw’s Ireland’s women’s team are also due to have the first of their pre-World Cup friendlies earlier, in a fortnight’s time.

Halting the deal with JACC coincides with an opportunity for major commercial activations for the FAI ahead of that Women’s World Cup next July, following the draw in Auckland on Saturday morning.

There is already speculation in the market that the FAI has a preferred supplier lined up to take over from JACC, and any new provider will want their product launched well in advance of the Christmas period.

JACC was last week working out its own stock and supply strategies for next year’s finals which will see an unprecedented sale in women’s soccer shirts.

The company which is owned by Dubliner Jonathan Courtenay was completely taken aback by this announcement and, in response, have issued the following statement:

“This morning at 9.02am JACC Sports received a letter via email from Roy Barrett, chairman of the Football Association of Ireland, informing us of their intention to terminate the contract between the Association and JACC Sports.

“At 11.46am we replied stating the following to Mr. Roy Barrett: 'We refer to your letter of 24th October 2022 with reference to a supposed termination of the sponsorship agreement between the association and JACC dated 8 January 2020 (the Sponsorship Agreement) and the variation agreement to the sponsorship agreement dated 3 August 2021 (the Variation Agreement). We reject fully any purported effort by the Association to terminate the agreement…which termination is rejected'.

“We find it highly irregular and unwarranted in terms of any working (relationship), that the Association’s longest standing, most loyal sponsor, and the sponsor which has contributed more financially than any other sponsor to the association would be treated this way.

“The fact that Roy Barrett and the FAI have chosen to go public with something that we have rejected seems agenda-fuelled at best and malicious at worst. We are taking legal advice and will not be making any further comment at this time.”