Southampton Photo Ban Comes To An End

It became news last week that League One's Southampton F.C. was going to try to make money in an entirely new way.

What they did was place a photography ban on all news outlets and websites for any game featuring the club.

Should media outlets want to use a photo of the game, they must buy them from one photojournalism outlet, Digital South.

Following the team's first game this weekend, where Southampton fell 1-0 to Plymouth Argyle, newspapers took shots back at the club.

The Herald (Plymouth) opted to send one of their cartoon artists, Chris Robinson, to the game instead of paying the fee to buy a few photos.

The Sun meanwhile, decided to just refuse to mention the team at all.

In this morning's edition, the headline of the game recap read, "Opposition 0, Plymouth 1," stating they were not using the team's name in response to the ban and claiming Southampton needed all the publicity it could get following mediocre play over the past couple years.

Fortunately, The Guardian is reporting today that Digital South has backed out of the agreement, with owner Robin Jones saying that he didn't agree with the ban put on by the club.

Though Plymouth had offered to release their own photos to news agencies, it looks as though this misguided attempt to make money has come to a well-deserved quick end.

And the problem will hopefully be put in the past, though some newspapers will likely still have a sour taste in their mouths.

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