Longstanding rivals Somerset Cricket Club and St George’s Cricket Club are banding together to create an official Cup Match brand.

“We are really pushing forward with the establishment of a Cup Match company,” said Richard Scott, president of Somerset Cricket Club. “This is a joint effort between the clubs.”

At this time of year, Cup Match paraphernalia pops up everywhere. There are umbrellas, towels, banners, hats and stickers sold that often say Somerset Cricket Club or St George’s Cricket Club, without the clubs benefiting from the sale.

When the new company comes into play, there will be tighter control of how the respective club names are used when it comes to merchandise.

Designers will not be able to use the names of the Cup Match clubs without first getting a licence from the company.

However, designers will still be able to use the words “Cup Match” and the holiday colours.

For Mr Scott, it is about taking ownership of what is theirs.

“I don’t know of too many people who just freely give away what belongs to them,” he said. “The advantage is both clubs taking another chunk of ownership that rightfully belongs to them in the first instance.”

The company will most likely be operational for Cup Match 2025.

“Hopefully, merchants who sell Cup Match wares will get on board and sell the official merchandise,” Mr Scott said.

He speculated that the company might hold a competition to decide who designs the official gear for the clubs.

“We want to make it inclusive,” he said.

The clubs have not yet calculated what the profit would be from such a venture.

“We are still ironing out the details,” Mr Scott said.

This Cup Match season, Mr Scott has been reaching out to Cup Match vendors to tell them about the plan, and the new rules on the horizon.

“We totally recognise that this has been something that various vendors have been doing for years,” he said.

“We are just making vendors aware that we could make it a legal issue. Some people are really doing it in the true sense of ignorance, while others just do not seem to care.”

Technically, the club already owns the name “Somerset Cricket Club” in Bermuda.

“We are actually Somerset Cricket Club Inc under the Somerset Cricket Club Act 1926,” he said.

Incorporating Cup Match as a company has been a long time in the making.

“We have been having this conversation for at least 25 years,” Mr Scott said. “It has popped up and then lost momentum.

“Sometimes you just do not have the right people in place, such as people with legal understanding. We are just at that place, so now is the time to really put the pedal down.”