In 1987, a German hockey team and jerseys were sponsored by Muammar Gaddafi

[monkeypower]

I just saw this in a Cracked article and I'd never heard it before, but in 1987 ECD Iserlohn was bankrupt so their owner went to Muammar Gaddafi to try to get some funding. Gaddafi agreed to give the team $900,000 for the season in exchange for the team promoting The Green Book, a book of his political philosophies, on their jerseys leading to probably the oddest (and maybe most controversial) jersey sponsor ever.

 

 

 

The team won their first game in the jerseys amidst criticism from the media, the German ice hockey federation and the public, with the players eventually voting to wear their old jerseys following protests and threats before an away game. The owner respected the decision and said that game would be the team's last because they wouldn't be able to continue anymore without the sponsorship. It appears without the player vote, the team would have folded anyways because the German hockey federation banned the sponsorship so the team would have be out of money either way.

 

Here's an article from a few years ago on the whole thing.

[BBTV]

Must have been awkward calling up Gaddafi  and reneging on the deal.  He doesn't seem like the type to simply let people walk away from contractual obligations.

[Gobbi]

I’ve got the feeling this doesn’t really fit with the whole no politics policy. 

[FightingGoldenDevil]

41 minutes ago, Gobbi said:

I’ve got the feeling this doesn’t really fit with the whole no politics policy. 

At this point it's just history

[BBTV]

49 minutes ago, Gobbi said:

I’ve got the feeling this doesn’t really fit with the whole no politics policy. 

 

probably one of those things you should let a mod decide.

[monkeypower]

To be honest the whole no politics policy didn’t even cross my mind because it was more history to me.

[Gobbi]

19 minutes ago, BringBackTheVet said:

 

probably one of those things you should let a mod decide.

 

6 minutes ago, monkeypower said:

To be honest the whole no politics policy didn’t even cross my mind because it was more history to me.

Fair enough, sorry guys.

[The_Admiral]

I'm mature enough to set my ardently pro-Qaddafi beliefs aside from an aesthetic analysis.