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    Hugo Boss to sponsor English cricket

    By Will 2 years ago, mid-August Leave a comment on this post

    We get all sorts of press releases at Cricinfo. Some are breaking news of a player’s injury; others are more PR-related (”Gloucestershire announce new chef - stop the press!”) and most are plain banal. This, however, takes the biscuit:

    Hugo Boss are to sponsor English cricket. According to the sickly email we received, Andrew Strauss said “The photo-shoot was a great experience and good fun, with all the boys really getting into it,” a statement bordering on the hilarious yet with a hint of the disturbing, too.

    I suppose it’s a good thing. Could you ever have imagined England cricketers being sponsored by anyone other than a tractor company, or Mrs Brabbleflop’s pork pies in Shrewsbury, in the 1990s? Although perhaps that’s just the point: with success (or at least an increase in popularity) comes commercialism, and hungry marketers desperate for a slice of your fame.

    I’ll leave the opinions of those pictured up to you. One final thought: is it significant that Strauss is pictured in the middle of the photo…?

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    17 Responses to “Hugo Boss to sponsor English cricket”

  • ty wrote:
    August 11th, 2006 at 9.43 pm

    2 words - OH DEAR!!!!!

    i cant actualy imagine Hugo Boss sponsoring England…. why would they do they it!?

    And I hope it’s NOT significant that Strauss and his hairy arms is in the middle of the picture, I think Freddie should definately captain the team and in his absence maybe KP should give it a go, or Goughy in the ODI’s.

    Nice to see Michael Vaughan still optimistic of an Ashes return though.

  • Sean wrote:
    August 11th, 2006 at 10.02 pm

    I really love the pic - seriously.

    However - Boss….. England

    Give me a break

  • Sean wrote:
    August 11th, 2006 at 10.04 pm

    Yes Will, I get the Strauss significance too.

  • Will wrote:
    August 11th, 2006 at 10.13 pm

    Vaughan, lurking in the shadows…mind you, this was probably taken ages ago before the captaincy decisions went arse over tit. Or not, as everyone has now forgotten all about Vaughan and just wants Strauss in charge!

  • Kathy wrote:
    August 11th, 2006 at 10.26 pm

    You guys are starting to sound like the conspiracy fantasists who would examine Beatles album covers for clues that Paul was going to die or some such tosh.

    Gorgeous photo.

    Strauss just might be at the front because he is by far the shortest of them all.

  • charlie bucket wrote:
    August 11th, 2006 at 11.18 pm

    Hahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha!!!!!!!!!
    Reckon they’ll be doing some Beckham-esque perfume ranges next, imagine…. “Eau de Yorkshire, a new fragrance by Matthew Hoggard”. Mmmm, my favourite.

  • Sean wrote:
    August 11th, 2006 at 11.26 pm

    It’s possible Kathy.

    It does make me chuckle though. For 20 years the sexiest thing at a cricket match in England (I accept that it is different in SA, Aus and the bootylicious Windies) has been yer gran doing her knitting.

    This photo could be the male version of Eva Herzegova (sp) saying Hello Boys or at least herald the same changes.

    Or is it that it is Friday night and I am pissed?

  • Kathy wrote:
    August 11th, 2006 at 11.46 pm

    Well, Sean, speaking as a heterosexual female, I’m not averse to my favourite players being sexed up. There’s plenty of raw material there to work with… ;-) …. and all in white…

    And this photo is a hell of a lot better than those awful “fashion” shots the ECB organised last year.

    Is it just me, or does Strauss have a little of the look of Prince Harry about him….?

  • Will wrote:
    August 12th, 2006 at 12.02 am

    It’s just you.

    He looks like a right mincer

  • Kathy wrote:
    August 12th, 2006 at 12.10 am

    “a right mincer” — you’ll have to explain that English idiom to me, Will!

    I’m sensing a lot of homo-erotic panic in these comments here. ;-)

  • Will wrote:
    August 12th, 2006 at 12.20 am

    Nope. They’re just made to look like mincers. Frankly, it’s just not cricket! Bring back Tetley bitter as the sponsors I say: English brand, a damn fine pint to boot.

    David Beckham is a right mincer too. Google will tell you more I’m sure.

  • japaddy wrote:
    August 12th, 2006 at 7.21 am

    That my friends is what the ‘beggining of the end’ looks like. It’s also worth noting that the last team Hugo Boss sponsored was the Third Reich, what ever happened to Aquascutum?

  • Alan R wrote:
    August 12th, 2006 at 8.19 am

    “A right mincer”? Strauss is left-handed. That would make him a “left mincer”, wouldn’t it? :-)

    I don’t know why people are worried about this. It’s the silliness of success in a capitalist society. And who cares whether they’re trying to persuade men to exude a flowery odor or to impair their judgment and livers? I was more disturbed by the fact that KP got paid to tell reporters that he drinks a Red Bull before he bats, because it’s deceptive (even if, in fact, they gave him a crate of the stuff and he actually drinks it). At least with this, you know it’s advertising.

  • japaddy wrote:
    August 12th, 2006 at 9.45 am

    Your right of course it’s no big deal, but ponder this would you want your countries 12 top models tying up valuable gray-nicoll’s contracts,…….

    On a more serious note in Australia we have watched with dismay as our top team sportsmen are glamourised, sanitised and finally commodified, only to go out and destroy it all in a moment of debauchery or thuggery.
    Sometimes it is best to let sports people just do sport.

  • Astrid wrote:
    September 2nd, 2007 at 2.35 pm

    The ECB did fashion shots? Where are they? I don’t care if they’re god awful… I’m looking everywhere I can’t find them. Was Vaughan involved?

    Help me! Oh please!!:)

  • Kathy wrote:
    September 2nd, 2007 at 10.36 pm

    Yes, Astrid, they did one of Vaughan, and you don’t want to see it, because it was crap. This Hugo Boss one is much better.

  • Will wrote:
    November 17th, 2007 at 6.14 pm

    More Hugo Boss stuff here for those interested

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