Linfield Football Club is the most successful club in the Northern Irish football league [Getty Images]BBCSat, November 22, 2025 at 2:04 PM UTC·1 min readLinfield Football Club has terminated a sponsorship deal following a backlash over the involvement of a convicted sex offender.
The Irish Premiership champions announced earlier this week it was "delighted" that Mooney's Master Butchers on the Shankill Road had partnered with it for the 2025/26 season, and shared a picture of businessman Stephen Mooney holding a Linfield shirt.
AdvertisementAdvertisementAdvertisementBut in a statement on Saturday morning, the club said it had "terminated all sponsorship agreements with Mooney's Butchers, including sponsorship of the Linfield Academy."
Stephen Mooney was convicted in 2018 for sexually assaulting a woman. The club said it apologised for any distress caused.
In the statement, the club added it would be "putting measures in place to ensure that all future sponsorship arrangements will be subject to internal vetting procedures".
"In addition the club will be making a donation to a victims related charity and wishes to apologise for any distress caused by this decision."
AdvertisementAdvertisementAdvertisementLinfield is the most successful club in Northern Irish football and they play Bangor in an away fixture on Saturday.
