Bohemians have had to scrap their 2019 away jersey design which included a picture of Bob Marley after the late singer’s agency said the club did not have the right to use his image.
The Dublin club have had to redesign the jersey which showed a silhouette of the singer and a Rastafarian flag down the side along with the logo of online casino sponsor Mr Green.
However, in a statement released on Monday the club said that there had been some confusion as they believed they had permission to use the image after buying it off a third party.
“Bohemian Football Club acted in good faith and followed the correct process when purchasing the licence for this image via a world-leading third-party photo licensing company,” the club said.
“However, the Bob Marley representative agency has informed us that this company did not have the right to grant any such licence for this image. We are dealing with this separately.
“Subsequently, following direct correspondence with the Bob Marley representative agency, they cannot license the image to the Bohemian Football Club due to their own contractual and other obligations.
“Consequently, we can no longer supply the jersey with the image of Bob Marley as advertised.”
The redesign now shows a clenched fist as “a symbol of solidarity and support used to express unity, strength and resistance” in place of Bob Marley’s face.
The club have said that anyone who had already registered for the jersey can now either claim a full refund, pick up a shop credit note or receive a new redesigned jersey.
They have also said that they will give 10 per cent of the profits from the jersey to a fund which will continue the already fan-led and previously fan-funded initiative of bringing people living in Direct Provision to games at Dalymount Park.
