Blackburn gave 15-year-old debut in FA Cup, he wasn't allowed to wear a sponsor on his shirt

Blackburn Rovers handed a debut to a 15-year-old against Cambridge United on Saturday.

Jon Dahl Tomasson's side ran out 5-2 winners in the FA Cup third round clash, with talisman Sammie Szmodics bagging a hat-trick.

And there was a historic moment in stoppage time as young starlet Rory Finneran replaced Szmodics.

Finneran, who was named the Republic of Ireland's Under-15 Player of the Year, became Blackburn's youngest ever player.

However, there was a noticeable difference with the midfielder compared to his teammates.

That's because the Finneran did not have a sponsor on his shirt for his late cameo.

Image: Getty

Blackburn are sponsored by Totally Wicked, who have been an official club partner since September 2018.

The firm's chairman, Fraser Cropper, is a lifelong Blackburn fan and they became the official shirt sponsor halfway through the 2021/22 season.

Totally Wicked are a vaping company specialising in e-cigarettes and e-liquids and because of the nature of their products, Finneran is not old enough to have their logo on his shirt.

Image: Getty

His Macron jersey was therefore sponsorless. It appears as though the same would have happened had Blackburn's sponsor been an alcohol or gambling brand.

Finneran has been heavily linked with Premier League side Newcastle and his debut follows an appearance on the bench in the Championship.

"We have a great connection with the academy, we work very closely together," Tomasson told the Lancashire Telegraph last month.

"We are working very hard to try and create those players, we always speak about players. He has trained with me a lot of times as well.

"All of the players, even the Under-18s, we know quite well. We need to develop players as well so we can be sustainable over time.

"If it's a good player, it's a good opportunity to learn because the squad is stretched so we should use it."