Hooters sponsoring kids football team slammed by expert

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The American-owned bar is well-known for the outfits it provides its female staff members, which some have criticised as objectifying and demeaning to women. Its plans to sponsor Burton Joyce’s under 10s team in Nottinghamshire were criticised on The Jeremy Vine Show on Channel 5 today.

Speaking on the programme today, Katie Whyatt, a football writer at The Athletic, said: “Two reasons: I think the first being just the context of a junior football team feels deeply inappropriate in the same way that if you go to a football league club shop and your club is sponsored by a gambling sponsor, it will not be on the junior shirts.

“You can’t have the Sky Bet league badges, so I think the age thing is a big factor, and we saw with a lot of the comments on the post people sexualising the kids, saying ‘oh they’re loving it’, ‘they can’t believe their luck’, ‘look at that lad’s face’ and everything like that.

“The second one, I think, in the specific context of a young football team is that these kids are at a very very impressionable age and we know that the values that we link with football and the things that we learn through youth football, as with any school or kind of youth or community group, really form a foundation for our views in life and I think it’s very troubling after the summer we’ve had.”

Burton Joyce, which was founded in 1990, has male and female youth, senior and disability sides.

The news was met with outcry online, with many people claiming it was not suitable for the company to be sponsoring a youth team.

One person tweeted: “Why are Hooters sexualising kids and who on earth allowed them?”

Another person wrote: “This isn’t funny. Girls are playing for this team too.

“Also these lads are under 10, which makes the implication they’re going ‘phwoarrr’ at Hooters girls JUST a little bit creepy.”

A third person added: “These lads are under 10. I very much doubt they are aware of the sexual attraction of women. Wrong on so many levels.”

One furious person said: “What’s next? Ann Summers sponsoring the Scouts or a lap dancing club advertising at school events?”

Some people saw the lighter side, with one person tweeting: “This is quality! I’m having words with my sons club as to why they didn’t secure this deal.”

Another joked: “You can’t see how many Dad’s are there for the photo shoot!”

Hooters opened their Nottingham branch in 1999.

Hooters has been approached for comment.

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