Logo on Shirts, Final Answer

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   Well I finally got the FAI reply lads, herewith for your info........

To answer your question, the replica Ireland football jersey cannot be bought without the sponsor's logo, eircom, on it.

The Ireland football jersey has been sold with a sponsor's logo on it for quite a number of years, back as far as the 1980's when Opel were title sponsors of the national team. As you will probably appreciate, sponsorship at that time was difficult to come by, and so Opel were granted the entitlement to have their logo on replica jerseys, in order to get money into the game, before the rise in fortunes of our international team.

eircom took over that sponsorship in the late 1990's, and paid the Association a considerably higher fee than any previous agreements, but that was on the basis that they received the same rights as Opel had received. We were therefore not in a position to take a higher sponsorship fee but reduce the rights that were granted, and so, the sponsor logo remained on the team kit. In the years that have followed, eircom have proven to be excellent supporters of all aspects of football in this country, and have continued to make a real and valuable investment in the game.

Worldwide, while it has not been the norm for national jerseys to carry sponsor logos, this is certainly changing, with the German FA now carrying a sponsor logo on their replica kit.

While I appreciate that this may not be the response you were looking for, I trust it answers your question, and gives you some historical context to why the sponsors logo first appeared on the kit, and why it continues to be there.
ENDS.