A Brookline amateur soccer team has found a new way to raise money – sponsorship from a pornographic website.
Washington Square FC – whose roster includes men ages 22 to 29 – signed on with RedTube, a pornographic website, in August 2016. Since then, the team has sold merchandise with RedTube’s name on it, a team captain said.
“We wanted to bring something cool to amateur soccer that would bring some attention to what we e doing,” said Jon, the captain who asked that his last name not be used. “We asked what would be a big name to bring some attention to our team, our league, because amateur soccer does not get a lot of attention, especially over here in this country.”
Although the squad signed on with RedTube last summer, the relationship was publicized internationally this week.
Until signing up a sponsor, players had been paying out of pocket for field time, equipment and other costs, Jon said.
They were tossing around sponorship ideas, and players joked about signing on with a porn company. A player wrote up a letter and posted it to the team’s Twitter page, he said.
RedTube responded immediately.
“We figured why not? We are amateurs, we are not paid professionals, and we will get some revenue,” Jon said. “Now my guys do not have to pay money, which is what my goal was.”
Jon said the players did consider possible negative reaction from the community.
“We were worried about what our sponsor represented, but it is not about that,” Jon said. “Sure there are going to be people frowning upon what we do and I respect that, but some people use gambling websites [as sponsors] and some frown upon that.”
Jon added that the jerseys themselves do not include any graphic material, only the company name.
“It is not something we believe in or that we are trying to force on people,” Jon said. “It is a name on a shirt and that is a revenue stream. That was more important to us.”
Jon said the team has experienced an international response since the sponsorship.
“I have people that I am shipping jerseys to in Malaysia, Australia, all over Europe,” Jon said. “What we are doing is shining a light on something that people do not pay attention to and that is amateur soccer.”
